Philippines ends stay of foreign peacekeepers in the south

By JIM GOMEZ
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Foreign peacekeepers credited with helping ease years of bloody fighting between government forces and Muslim rebels have left the southern Philippines after their term ended but talks are underway to allow their possible return. Officials and the rebels said Friday that members of the Malaysia-led International Monitoring Team, or IMT, flew out of the southern region of Mindanao on June 30 after their authority to stay as ceasefire monitors, which must be renewed each year, was not extended by the then-outgoing administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. It remains to be seen if new President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will authorize the return of the peacekeepers. Decades-long Muslim and communist insurgencies are among major problems he inherited after his landslide election victory.