Mr Najib said about 21 Malaysian officers will be called back in the first phase on May 10, with another 31 returning later. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Najib Razak's comments come days after Kuala Lumpur said it will not send any more monitoring teams to the region once its current mandate expires in September.

Mr Najib said about 21 Malaysian officers will be called back in the first phase on May 10, with another 31 returning later.

'We have decided to adopt a phased withdrawal... This is because we need to show that we cannot and we should not be there as part of the international monitoring team indefinitely,' he said.

'There has to be some degree of finality in terms of our presence there. We are going to start very soon - May 10,' Mr Najib told reporters.

The Philippine government and separatist rebels struck a deal last November on creating a Muslim homeland in the country's south, which was expected to lead to a peace accord but further talks have fallen through.

Mr Najib, who is also Malaysia's defence minister, hoped the withdrawal of the team would speed up the peace process.

'Because there is a need for us to indicate that we cannot be there forever... both parties must work closely together to thrash out a peaceful solution, and to underline the seriousness of the situation we've decided to withdraw some of our peacekeepers,' he said.

The Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) threatened to pull out in September this year if there was no progress in seven-year-old peace talks between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

A key stumbling block to the Malaysian-brokered talks was the extent of territory to be handed over to the MILF when a ceasefire was forged in 2001.

The Malaysian peacekeeping force has been in Mindanao since 2004 as part of the IMT. -- AFP