The decades-long struggle in Mindanao

Asiaweek, [1 March 1999]

[10]Mindanao's Chance: Manila wants to make peace with a Muslim rebel group still fighting for independence

OCTOBER 1972

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) launches its separatist war in the southern Philippines. Nur Misuari leads the group; Hashim Salamat is responsible for foreign relations.

DECEMBER 1976

The MNLF and Manila sign the Tripoli Agreement, which provides for 13 Muslim areas of autonomy in the southern Philippines. In these areas, Muslims are allowed to operate their own religious courts and schools, administrative and financial systems. Two provisional autonomous regions were to be formed.

JULY 1978

Salamat splits with the MNLF to fight for a separate Islamic state in Mindanao. His group comes to be called The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

SEPTEMBER 1986

President Corazon Aquino meets with Misuari in the Philippines. Misuari has been in exile in Libya and elsewhere since the 1970s.

NOVEMBER 1989

In a plebiscite, only four provinces opt to join the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Cotabato City becomes the seat of the ARMM government, which is inaugurated in 1990.

OCTOBER 1992

The first round of exploratory talks between the government of Fidel Ramos and the MNLF is held in Tripoli, Libya. The government re-establishes contact with Misuari.

OCTOBER 1993

The first round of formal negotiations between Manila and the MNLF is held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Officials sign an interim ceasefire agreement.

NOVEMBER 1995

Manila and the MNLF sign an interim peace agreement during the third round of formal talks in Jakarta.

SEPTEMBER 1996

Misuari signs a formal peace agreement with Manila that ends the 24-year separatist rebellion. Misuari is elected governor of the ARMM and becomes chairman of the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development, which will oversee the development of 14 mostly Christian provinces (including the four ARMM provinces) and nine cities.

JULY 1997

Manila signs a ceasefire agreement with the MILF, which now has about 14,000 members.

NOVEMBER 1998

Italian priest Luciano Benedetti, kidnapped by Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, is freed after 69 days in captivity in the southern Philippines.

DECEMBER 1998

Rebels free two Hong Kong nationals and one Malaysian held captive deep in the jungles of Mindanao for 15 weeks.

JANUARY 1999

A Taiwan grandmother and her Filipino maid are released by Abu Sayyaf after 130 days in captivity. The military launches an all-out war against the MILF after Salamat calls for independence. In 10 days of fighting, about 60 die and 90,000 are left homeless.

FEBRUARY 1999

Presidential adviser Robert Aventajado meets Salamat and persuades him to talk with President Joseph Estrada on Feb. 28. Brig.-Gen. Victor Obillo and Capt. Eduardo Montealto are captured by the communist New People's Army (NPA) outside of Davao City in Mindanao. Obillo is the highest-ranking military official ever held by the communists. Military intelligence reveals that the NPA and the MILF have formed an alliance and could be planning joint attacks.

References

10. http://www.pathfinder.com/@@k1M9DaEaJgEAQL6S/asiaweek/current/issue/nat4.html