Officials said Dr Rais (above) will meet with Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo on Wednesday, when the Philippine official is expected to ask Malaysia to keep its team in the Mindanao region where it is monitoring a ceasefire. -- PHOTO: AP

Officials said Dr Rais will meet with Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo on Wednesday, when the Philippine official is expected to ask Malaysia to keep its team in the Mindanao region where it is monitoring a ceasefire.

The visit follows an announcement by Kuala Lumpur last month that it would not send more monitors to Mindanao once its current mandate expires in September.

That move was widely seen as a sign of impatience at the slow progress of peace talks between Manila and separatist rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The 12,000-strong MILF had been fighting since 1978 to set up an Islamic state in the southern third of the largely-Christian Philippines.

The Philippines government and MILF signed the ceasefire in 2003 to open the way for peace talks hosted by Malaysia and other Islamic nations. A key stumbling block has been the extent of territory to be handed over to MILF.

The two sides struck a deal last November to create a Muslim homeland in the country's south. That agreement was expected to lead to a peace accord, but further talks have not been successful.

Malaysian troops have made up the bulk of an international team that has been monitoring the ceasefire since 2004. The outfit also includes officers from Brunei, Libya, Canada and Japan.

Since their deployment, violence between government and rebel forces has significantly decreased.

Britain announced last week that it will send experts in peace negotiations to the Philippines in the coming weeks to help re-start the stalled talks.

The MILF on Monday welcomed the British offer.

'It is a positive development and we hope the British experts will arrive very soon so we can meet with them and discuss the peace process in Mindanao,' said rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu. -- AFP