Philippines, Muslim rebels forge peace pact
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Benigno Aquino III announced Sunday that his government has reached a preliminary peace deal with the nation's largest Muslim rebel group in a major breakthrough toward ending a decades-long insurgency.
Aquino said the "framework agreement" — a roadmap for a new autonomous region for minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's south — was an assurance the Moro Islamic Liberation Front insurgents will no longer aim to secede from the country.
The agreement, to be signed Oct. 15 in Manila, spells out general principles on major issues, including the extent of power, revenues and territory of the Muslim region. If all goes well, a final peace deal could be reached by 2016, when Aquino's six-year term ends, officials said.
"The deal marks the most significant progress in 15 years of on-and-off negotiations with the 11,000-strong Moro group on ending an uprising that has left more than 120,000 people dead, displaced about 2 million others and held back development in the south. Western governments have long worried that rebel strongholds could become breeding grounds for al-Qaeda-affiliated extremists.
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