political clansviolence in the southern Philippines.pdfVIP

Peter Kreuzer Political Clans and Violence in the Southern Philippines PRIF Report No. 71 ? Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) 2005 Correspondence to: PRIF Leimenrode 29 60322 Frankfurt am Main Germany Telephone: +49 (0)69 95 91 04-0 Fax: +49 (0)69 55 84 81 E-mail: kreuzer@hsfk.de Internet: Translation: Catherine Mulder, Crowthorne (UK) ISBN: 3-937829-15-6 Euro 10,-- Summary Since 1972, a Muslim guerrilla has been waging a civil war in the southern Philippines, which has proved to be remarkably resistant to all attempts of peace. Still, under martial law, an initial agreement between the state and the guerrilla was reached, which aimed to put a stop to the violence, but which, so far, has not been realised. Following the return of the Philippines to democracy, there have been many attempts at peace, which, in 1996, resulted in a peace treaty with the largest of the guerrilla organi- sations, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The leading cadres of the “victori- ous” MNLF became part of the political mainstream, and some of the troops were inte- grated into the armed forces and police. The hitherto marginal Moro Islamic Liberation Front took over from the MNLF. In the following years, the violence escalated, finding its preliminary highpoints in several military offensives in 2000 and 2003. In addition to the growing violence between the MILF guerrillas and the state, the first years of the new millennium saw the gradual driv- ing out of the MNLF cadres from their political positions, the majority of which have now been reoccupied by the traditional political elite. Despite numerous efforts and a large number of agreements on certain aspects of the conflict, forging a workable compromise with the MILF guerrillas will not be easy. On the margins, this organisation a