MANILA - A Malaysian team monitoring a ceasefire between the Philippines and the insurgent Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is to check allegations foreign terrorists are present in rebel camps, officials said today.

The Malaysians arrived in Manila yesterday for an eight-day mission to monitor implementation of a ceasefire signed last year between the government and the MILF before peace talks resume in April, officials said.

The group headed by Brigadier General Zulkifli bin Mohd Zain, would visit MILF camps in the main southern island of Mindanao, where the rebels have been waging a rebellion since 1978 for the establishment of an independent Islamic state.

MILF negotiator Roberto Alonto said the monitoring team was welcome to check camps in central Mindanao where the military had said some 30 Indonesian militants from the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) were being trained.

"They are free to go there and look at the area," Alonto said, adding he was confident the Malaysians will not be "specifically investigating the allegation" since their short mission would focus on implementation of the ceasefire.

Safety measures

Nevertheless, they can also check for JI fighters in MILF camps, Alonto said, stressing that the MILF has put in place "safety measures to ensure the ranks of the MILF are not infiltrated by so-called JI members or any so-called terrorists."

Alonto said, however, that the MILF in the past allowed foreign Muslim militants who wanted to study Islam into its camps.

JI is blamed for the October 2002 bombings that killed more than 200 in Bali, Indonesia.

Accusations by the Philippine military that the MILF were harboring JI militants in its camps had in past hindered progress of peace talks.

The MILF is the country's largest Muslim insurgent force fighting for the establishment of an independent Islamic state in the southern third of this mostly Christian country.

It signed a ceasefire accord with the government in July, and President Gloria Arroyo wants a negotiated settlement to the conflict ahead of the May 10 national elections. - AFP