Sultan Kudarat, Philippines  - The Philippine government and the country's largest Muslim separatist rebel group have agreed to form an international team to monitor peace talks and agreements between the two sides, officials said Wednesday.

Presidential peace adviser Avelino Razon said the deal to form the International Contact Group was signed Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur by the peace panels of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

"The government of the Philippines welcomes this new development in our peace process that will eventually end the long-drawn armed conflict in [the southern region of] Mindanao," he said in a statement.

Razon said members of the group would "aid in building consensus that will effectively enable them to exert proper leverage" on the two sides and "maintain a level of comfort aimed at restoring mutual trust."

MILF Vice Chairman Ghazali Jaafar said the group would be composed of countries from the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the European Union as well as representatives of international non-governmental organizations.

He said the group would be closely working with Malaysia, the facilitator of the peace talks.

"They would be doing their jobs, their functions from their missions or embassies in Kuala Lumpur," he told the German Press Agency dpa in an interview at his home in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

"They will have the mandate to check if what was agreed upon is being implemented well, and they will have the mandate to give advice to both sides in coordination with the facilitator," he said.

Jaafar said another function of the group would be to "talk to the international community and win support for the peace talks so that once again permanent peace and justice will reign in Mindanao."

The government and rebel negotiating panels are also discussing a proposal to set up a civilian protection mission to protect non-combatants from outbreaks of fighting.

"We don't want to happen again what happened to almost 700,000 internally displaced people in the past," Jaafar said. "Their houses were burned, properties were lost, working animals no more. The intention is to protect the non-combatants."

He said the government was "receptive" to the proposed creation of the civilian protection mission.

In August 2008, fighting broke out between the MILF and the military in a number of provinces in Mindanao after a key territorial agreement with the rebel group was junked by the government because of strong opposition.

More than 300 people were killed while more than half a million people were displaced in the hostilities. While some of the refugees have returned home or moved in with relatives, many are still in evacuation camps. (dpa)