Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Muslim rebels in the mainly Catholic Philippines began handing over their guns to independent foreign monitors Saturday, as part of a treaty aimed at ending a decades-long separatist insurgency that has left about 150,000 people dead.Just over a thousand guerrillas in the country's restive south were turning in 940 weapons in a single day, the start of a graduated decommissioning process that aims to turn the country's largest rebel force into a regular political party.The Moro Isla
Murad Ebrahim's life as the Philippines' top Muslim rebel led him into fierce jungle combat and to meet with Osama bin Laden, but a very different challenge now awaits him: governing.Murad has been tapped to lead the majority-Catholic nation's brand-new territory in the restive south where Muslims have won new powers and an influx of cash in a push for peace.After decades as a rebel, Murad will need to become a bureaucrat and complete complex projects as chief minister of the b
The Philippines on Friday handed over the reins of a new Muslim-led territory to rebel leaders who waged a decades-long fight for autonomy, but are now tasked with securing peace and prosperity.President Rodrigo Duterte personally swore in Murad Ebrahim, head of the Catholic-majority nation's largest Muslim group, as interim chief minister at a symbolic Manila ceremony.It comes after voters decisively backed in January the founding of the so-called Bangsamoro region in the south, the cul
A decades-long push to halt the violence that has claimed some 150,000 lives in the southern Philippines culminated Monday with a vote on giving the nation's Muslim minority greater control over the region.The poll is the final step in a peace deal with the Catholic-majority country's largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has been a key force in a separatist insurgency that has raged since the 1970s.Turnout was heavy in core areas of the propose
Today officially kicks off the campaigning period for the plebiscite on Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) scheduled to be held on 21 January, 2019.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he has signed a law which grants expanded autonomy for the mainly Catholic nation's Muslim south, a key step to ending one of Asia's longest and deadliest conflicts.The measure has for years been a crucial missing element to a languishing peace pact with the country's largest Islamic rebel group which, along with other guerrillas, has waged a rebellion in the southern Philippines that has claimed about 150,000 lives since th
Just a few days before the 17th Congress of the Philippines went on break, history was made on 31 May when the Philippines senate unanimously approved the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. Hours earlier, the House of Representatives approved its own version of the BBL bill with a 221 to 11 vote. The BBL seeks to establish a proposed new autonomous political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, replacing the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
