The recent conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and government forces threatened communities in southern Philippines, including the predominantly Muslim provinces in Mindanao. This resulted in 511,090 persons being displaced during the height of the conflict.

The prospect of serious renewed fighting breaking out in Mindanao after the end of Ramadan has got Christian and Muslim organizations trying to work out how best to help keep the peace and kick-start renewed talks while helping out in the huge relief effort needed.

The European Union is deeply concerned by the escalation of violence in Mindanao, the growing number of civilian casualties and displaced persons.

The nongovernment group Kabiba Alliance, a children’s right advocate based in Davao City, circulated photographs (such as the one at left) of children maimed and killed allegedly during military air strikes in Maguindanao. According to reports, the air strikes — supposedly aimed at Moro rebels — killed civilians, five of them children. The photos, which show graphic and grisly images of the children, can be viewed here.

By Carlos H. Conde
About the only thing that is different in the present war are the names of the military commanders running it. Everything else remains the same — the displaced civilians, the suffering children, the fragile peace process, and the ever-burning desire of the Moros to attain self-determination.

The MILF insists that a “final solution” that does not represent the aspirations and interests of the Moro people is out of the question. “The reality is, unless the economic, political, religious and cultural interests of the Bangsamoro people are protected, there will be no peace agreement,” MILF chairman Al Haj Ebrahim Murad said.

To say that Akas Unsay and his fellow Moro villagers are used to a life of constant displacement is an understatement. “We are forced to lead this kind of life,” he said.

The future of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Mindanao, the region in the southern Philippines that has been the hotbed of Islamic separatism, is in the hands of young Muslims like Manex Ulam. They want to see the peace process between the front and Manila succeed, but no one but the government should be blamed if it fails, Ulam said.

Since the government’s major offensive against the rebels belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front started in 2000, hundreds of thousands of Filipino Muslims have been displaced. Although most have returned to their homes and lands, there are still thousands of them in refugee camps such as the one here, their numbers swelling each time the government conducts more offensives against the rebels.

“Up to half a million people have been affected by the hostilities, and tens of thousands of them have had to flee their homes,” said the ICRC’s Dominik Stillhart. “Given the breakdown of the peace process, civilians will continue to suffer the effects of the armed conflict.”

Apart from the issues of custody arising from the Subic Rape case, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said that it also plans to question the “duration and scope of the seemingly permanent presence of US troops in Mindanao.”

By Carl Baker
Any peace settlement in Mindanao will require a serious rethinking of sovereignty in the Philippines and a lot of creative thinking about how to accommodate the interests of all parties.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today “scrapped a government peace panel negotiating an end to a deadly and drawnout Muslim rebellion in the nation’s south,” Agence France Press reported this morning.

Reuters reported this afternoon that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has threatened to altogether abandon the peace process if the Arroyo regime does not sign the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
“We’re not only disappointed and frustrated over government’s decision to turn its back on the ancestral domain deal, we’ve completely lost trust and [...]

Anakpawis party-list Representative Rafael Mariano today dared President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to immediately disarm and dismantle the armed vigilante group Reform Ilaga Movement in the province of North Cotobato saying “the resurrection of the dreaded armed group will only escalate the armed conflict in the region and lead to massive human rights abuses.”
“We demand Ms Arroyo [...]

By Leila M. de Lima
At the heart of this conflict really isn’t the failure of the BJE to materialize, or the breakdown of the negotiations of the MOA-AD. It is not the rogue armies that the AFP must hunt. These are causes. The heart, the heart — bled profusely — of this conflict is the civilian.

In a post at the MILF’s official website, the front lists the damage caused by the military offensive, both in terms of actual cost and lives lost/affected.

Bangsamoro Youth Leaders Forum
Press Statement
August 19, 2008
MORO YOUTH LEADERS PUSH FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
The Philippine government is once more trying to dupe the Bangsamoro people in its persistent desire to suppress the Moro’s inherent and legitimate right to govern themselves in accordance with the prescriptions of the Holy Qur’an. Still not contented with giving us [...]