REUTERS.COM: The Philippine government and Muslim rebels have agreed a peace deal to end a 40-year conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people, President Benigno Aquino said on Sunday, paving the way for a political and economic revival of the country's troubled south.
The agreement sets in train a roadmap to create a new Bangsamoro autonomous region in Muslim-dominated areas of the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country before the end of Aquino's term in 2016. Bangsamoro refers to Muslim and non-Islamic minority people in the southern Philippines.
Expectations are high that after nearly 15 years of violence-interrupted talks, both the government and the country's largest Muslim rebel group will work side-by-side to realize the promises contained in the agreement, to be signed on October 15 in Manila and witnessed by Aquino and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The two sides reached the deal for the resource-rich region during talks in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
"This agreement creates a new political entity and it deserves a name that symbolizes and honors the struggles of our forebears in Mindanao and celebrates the history and character of that part of our nation. That name will be Bangsamoro," Aquino announced via a live broadcast from the presidential palace.
"This framework agreement is about rising above our prejudices. It is about casting aside the distrust and myopia that has the plagued efforts of the past," said Aquino, surrounded by his cabinet ministers. » | Rosemarie Francisco | MANILA | Sunday, October 07, 2012
