Latest news with #MoroIslamicLiberationFront
GMA Network
01-08-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Palace sad over MILF decommissioning delay, eyes deeper talks
The Philippine government will discuss thoroughly with concerned parties the decision of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to suspend the decommissioning of its remaining combatants and weapons. Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said at a press briefing Friday that the information already reached President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. 'Yes po medyo nakalulungkot po na balita 'yan dahil alam naman po natin na ang gobyerno po ay talagang naglalaan ng pondo para sa magandang kinabukasan ng mga nagnanais na bumalik at magkaroon ng normal na buhay,' Castro said. (Yes, that is sad news since we all know that the government allots funds to provide better future for those combatants who want to go back to their normal lives.) Castro mentioned the forms of aid given to MILF combatants, including the P100,000 cash assistance for each MILF combatant as well as other socio-economic programs. 'So siguro lamang po ay mas kinakailangan pa ng mas lalimang pag-uusap para mas maging maganda ang kahihinatnan nito para rin sa miyembro ng MILF,' she said. (Maybe we just need to have deeper talks to ensure better outcomes for the MILF.) Asked what will be the next course of action on this matter, Castro said, 'Makikipagusap po nang mas masinsinan para po mas maging maganda ang resulta.' (We will have thorough discussions to attain better results.) To recall, the MILF had suspended the decommissioning process until the national government complies with the provisions of the Annex of Normalization, which is a component of the peace deal between the two parties in 2014. In a resolution by the central committee, the MILF stated that it would decommission ita remaining 14,000 forces and 2,450 weapons 'only upon the substantial compliance by the government of the Philippines in other tracks of normalization, including the provision of socio-economic package as agreed by the GPH and the MILF peace implementing panels to the 26,145 combatants.' — RSJ, GMA Integrated News
Toronto Star
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Rebels halt decommissioning of forces after accusing Philippines of reneging on peace deal
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The largest Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines has suspended the disarming of its remaining 14,000 fighters after claiming that the government has not fully complied with commitments it made under a 2014 peace deal, a Philippine official said Thursday. Under the peace deal, brokered by Malaysia, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels gave up their goal of a separate Muslim state in the south of the largely Roman Catholic country in exchange for broader autonomy. The group's 40,000 fighters would be ' demobilized ' and given livelihoods and other help to bring them back to normal life.
Winnipeg Free Press
31-07-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Rebels halt decommissioning of forces after accusing Philippines of reneging on peace deal
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The largest Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines has suspended the disarming of its remaining 14,000 fighters after claiming that the government has not fully complied with commitments it made under a 2014 peace deal, a Philippine official said Thursday. Under the peace deal, brokered by Malaysia, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels gave up their goal of a separate Muslim state in the south of the largely Roman Catholic country in exchange for broader autonomy. The group's 40,000 fighters would be ' demobilized ' and given livelihoods and other help to bring them back to normal life. The Bangsamoro region was established under the peace deal to replace a poverty-wracked five-province autonomous region with a larger, better-funded and more powerful area, which has been governed by former guerrilla leaders under a transition period that was to end with regular elections scheduled in October. Presidential Assistant David Diciano, who has been helping oversee the transformation of the Bangsamoro region, said in a statement that the Muslim rebel front's central committee has decided to 'to postpone the decommissioning of 14,000 of its combatants and 2,450 of their weapons.' He added: 'We also express our disagreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's recent resolution, claiming that the government has not delivered substantially on its socio-economic commitments.' He urged the rebels to use channels under the peace deal to address problems in its enforcement. Rebel front leaders did not immediately comment on his statement. Diciano outlined a range of government-provided benefits he said has been provided to more than 26,000 former guerrillas since 2015. The benefits included a 100,000-peso ($1,700) 'transitional cash assistance' given to each combatant after giving up weapons. The Philippine government has spent about 4 billion pesos ($69 million) since 2019 to provide health insurance, government registrations, job skills training and employment to former combatants, according to Diciano. Farm-to-market roads, bridges, drinking water systems, health clinics, irrigation and other infrastructure have been built in six southern rebel encampments from 2015. Since 2020, the government has provided the Muslim autonomous region with grants totalling more than 420 billion pesos ($7 billion) for infrastructure and other projects, he said. 'The transformation process necessitates a shift in mindset as the possession of illegal firearms is anathema to a peaceful and civilized society,' Diciano said. 'This constitutes the fundamental principle of the peace agreement, whereby armed revolutionary groups are to be transitioned into social and political movements.' The 2014 agreement eased decades of on-and-off fighting that have left about 120,000 people dead, displaced large numbers of rural villagers and stunted development in a region with some of the country's poorest areas. A separate communist insurgency had weakened but has endured for decades. Philippine and Western governments, along with the guerrillas, saw an effective Muslim autonomy as an antidote to more than half a century of Muslim secessionist violence, which could be exploited by foreign radical groups to gain a foothold in Southeast Asia.
The Star
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
OIC calls on Muslim states to aid Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in the Philippines
FILE PHOTO: Muslim women hold up placards to show their support for the framework peace agreement between the government and the Muslim rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), during a rally near the Malacanang Palace in Manila on October 14, 2012. - AFP COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called on its member-states and Muslim organisations worldwide to increase support for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) while also urging Moro leaders to unite in advancing the interest of their people. The call was contained in a resolution of the OIC's Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) during its 51st session in Istanbul, Turkiye, last month during which it considered the situation of Muslims in Mindanao. The pan-Islamic body composed of 57 member-states has been recognised as representing the collective voice of Muslims throughout the world. Its ministerial meeting also tackles issues of Muslim communities and minorities in non-OIC member states, such as the Philippines. Representatives of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) attended the recent Istanbul ministerial meeting as observers. CFM Resolution No. 2/51-MM, which covers 'The Question of Muslims in the Southern Philippines,' urged 'OIC member states, subsidiary organs, specialised institutions and affiliated institutions, including other stakeholders, to increase the volume of their medical, humanitarian, economic, social, educational and technical assistance to develop the BARMM with a view to accelerating socioeconomic development.' The OIC particularly called on its specialised and affiliated institutions, such as the Islamic Development Bank, Islamic Solidarity Fund, and Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to come to the aid of Muslim minorities. The OIC cited the need 'to strengthen the educational system, particularly through sending teachers to contribute to the education of the children belonging to Muslim communities and through the extension of scholarships for studies in schools and universities.' Following the OIC's call for aid for the BARMM, the CFM had requested the national government 'to facilitate a joint delegation of the General Secretariat, Member States and representatives of the Islamic Development Bank' to visit the country. The visit, it said, aims to develop a 'viable mechanism' to provide assistance and financing to the Bangsamoro region. The OIC resolution also welcomed the establishment of the Bangsamoro Normalisation Trust Fund managed by the World Bank for development activities in postconflict areas, and called on member-states 'to contribute to the fund.' As a result of four decades of armed rebellion to demand self-governance, the Bangsamoro region has been mired in underdevelopment. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
When guerrilla groups lay down arms
Representative Image (AI) PARIS: The Kurdistan Workers' Party ( PKK ), which on Monday announced its dissolution and the end of its insurgency against Turkey, is not the first group to end a decades-long armed campaign. Here are some other key cases: ETA The Basque separatist group ETA, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Liberty), waged a four-decade campaign of bombings and shootings for an independent Basque country in southwest France and northeast Spain. It declared and end to its armed operations in October 2011 and announced its dissolution in May 2018. FARC On November 24, 2016 former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos signed a historic peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's biggest rebel group, in a bid to end a leftist insurgency that had lasted more than 50 years. S antos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Some groups across the country rejected the demobilisation process and regrouped in two structures: Segunda Marquetalia and Estado Mayor Central (EMC), FARC's main dissident group. Violence involving another powerful leftist group, the ELN, as well as rightwing paramilitaries and drug cartels has also continued. Moro Islamic Liberation Front A 2014 peace deal between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ended a decades-long armed campaign for a separate state, and later for Muslim self-rule in the majority-Catholic Asian nation. The deal ended a deadly armed rebellion which broke out in the 1970s in the southern Philippines. But small groups of Islamist fighters opposed to the peace deal continued to operate on the island of Mindanao. Communist rebels also continue to fight in the region. Tamil Tigers The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist group based in Sri Lanka and known as the Tamil Tigers, were crushed in May 2009 in a huge military assault, ending a 37-year civil war. According to rights groups, up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the last weeks of the war, during the army assault that eventually crushed the Tamil Tigers' command. IRA After 35 years of efforts to find peace, the breakthrough Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998 ended a sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland known as the "Troubles". In 2005, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) officially gave up its armed campaign. In practice it had laid down its arms in 1997 to take part in the peace talks. It had ordered its members to use peaceful methods to achieve their goal of reunifying the island and ending British sovereignty over Northern Ireland. Its weapons were decommissioned in September 2005. Some paramilitary groups nevertheless remained active, including the New IRA. Unita Angolan forces killed Jonas Savimbi, leader of Unita (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) in February 2002, ending a 27-year civil war. A ceasefire was signed on April 4, 2002 in Luanda. UNITA then became the main opposition party.
