The History
There have been two guerrilla wars going on for several decades. The armed conflict in the North began in 1946 when an already existing communist army started to fight the Philippine government until 1954. In 1970 the New People's Army (NPA), the armed body of the newly founded Communist Party, took up the fighting again with the goal to enforce a socialist system with just land distribution. After 1986 the movement split over the issue of strategy. The NPA is also active in Christian areas of Mindanao. The main armed groups in Mindanao however have been Muslim guerrillas who fight for self-determination of the Bangsamoro or Muslim Nation in Mindanao.
Philippines: internally displacement incidents in Mindanao, 2002: Please click on the image to view it full sizeThe conflict in the South began when a massive resettlement program of Christians caused conflicts around land distribution with the Muslim population that felt discriminated against by the Christian North. The main guerrilla group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), signed a peace treaty, the Final Peace Agreement, with the Philippine government (GRP) in 1996. A referendum asked the municipalities and provinces with significant Muslim populations in Mindanao if they wished to join an Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao(ARMM) which had originated in 1990.
Today, five provinces form the ARMM. They are Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao in Central Mindanao, and the islands Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi in Western Mindanao. Since the municipalities of some of these regions are predominantly Christian, some of the cities are not in ARMM, including Cotabato City, Maguindanao, which is the headquarters of the ARMM.
MNLF leaders joined the government structures in Mindanao mainly in the ARMM. MNLF Commander Nur Misuari even eventually became governor of Mindanao before he got arrested in 2001 after leading a failed uprising. He is facing charges for mishandling of funds and is still in prison in Manila. Twelve thousand MNLF soldiers were demobilised, with about 8,500 of them integrated into the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that had split off from the MNLF in 1984, continued the fighting. Ceasefire agreements and peace negotiations with the MILF broke down several times. The last two all-out wars happened in 2000 and in February 2003, but already in March 2003 peace talks were resumed. In July, the government signed a new ceasefire with MILF ahead of talks in Malaysia. These negotiations are under way, and are supported by the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC).
Peace Talks
Peace talks between the Government of the Republic of Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic National Front (MILF) are facing a difficult task on the issue of ancestral domains. However, both parties are generally committed to resolve all the outstanding issues through dialogue and peaceful means. Since mid-2006, there have been two serious incidences of fighting between MILF and paramilitaries in Shariff Aguak and Midsayap areas of Maguindanao province which are still having simmering affects on the overall political situation.
Philippines: displacement incidents, 2006-2007: Please click on the image to view it full sizeThere are concerns about the implementation of the 1996 Peace Agreement between GRP and MNLF. Both parties came together for the 10th anniversary of the peace agreement and announced concrete steps to resuscitate the peace agreement and remove all the doubts and impediments in the way of implementation.
The civil society in Mindanao is playing a highly commendable and constructive role on its part to not let the ongoing peace process slip into complete chaos and disarray. The ray of hope is a well-organised and networked civil society that aims to end the cycle of violence and believes that proactive action can usher in peace with justice.
The political rise of traditional feudal chieftains Datos in the last two years in some provinces of the ARMM has intermeshed clan conflicts or Ridos with the larger peace process between GRP, MILF and MNLF. Active and simmering Ridos ensure that there is a socioeconomic basis to continuous warfare.
Volence in the South has been perpetrated by many more groups than MNLF and MILF, including other armed non-state actors (Pentagon in Central Mindanao, Abu Sayyaf, the South-East Asian Jemaah Islamiah etc.), Christian vigilante organisations and criminal gangs (Kidnap for Ransom Groups) and official and semi-official government agencies. Human rights organisations have counted at least 50 extrajudicial killings of drug offenders in the city of Davao. Family feuds with an ethos of revenge are also an important issue, especially in Muslim areas.
Abu Sayyaf has been accused of a close relationship with El Quaida, and the U.S. army has officially joined with the Philippine military in fighting the guerrillas in Mindanao. The U.S. is sending trainers and advisors. The Philippines are considered a close ally of President Bush’s “war against terror”. On 7 February 2005, a new armed conflict erupted in the area of the Sulu islands in Western Mindanao between troops allegedly part of the MNLF and government troops. The troops were avenging an attack by the army on civilians, killing a whole family. Since then, there have been several eruptions of violence in the Sulan islands.
All together, between 400,000 and one milion people have been internally displaced because of the conflicts, and 160,000 died (40,000 in the North, 120,000 in the South). Most of the internally displaced did return by now.