PHILIPPINES: Muslim-Filipino activists celebrating the upcoming final peace agreement between the Philippines and the largest Muslim separatist group pray for the victims of the Malaysian plane believed to have crashed off the Indian Ocean

Record ID: 349901

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Muslim-Filipino activists celebrating the upcoming final peace agreement between the Philippines and the largest Muslim separatist group pray for the victims of the Malaysian plane believed to have crashed off the Indian Ocean
  • Date: 26th March 2014
  • Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (MARCH 26, 2014) (REUTERS) MUSLIM FILIPINO ACTIVISTS CARRYING STRIPS OF PAPER DURING PRAYER RALLY MUSLIM ACTIVISTS CARRYING PAPERS THAT READ "WE PRAY FOR MALAYSIAN FLIGHT 370" BANGSAMORO NATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT SPOKESPERSON AGAKHAN SHARIEF OFFICIATING PRAYER MUSLIM ACTIVISTS PRAYING WHILE CARRYING PAPERS MUSLIM WOMEN CARRYING PAPER
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA69OUDA88MQYXO53G715J91SSP
  • Story Text: Muslim groups in Manila prayed for the victims of the missing Malaysian plane on Wednesday (March 26).
    Malaysia on Monday (March 24) said new satellite data suggested the Boeing 777 had crashed and all 239 people on board likely died, with an international search underway for physical evidence of the plane.
    About two dozen Muslim activists carried strips of paper bearing a message "We pray for the Malaysian flight 370" and held a short prayer outside a mosque in downtown Manila.
    The group, which has been celebrating the upcoming final peace signing between the Philippine government and the largest Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines, said they owed Malaysia for playing a large role in the negotiations.

    "We pray and we are one with Prime Minister Razak. We pray to Allah for the victims and their families. We sympathize with them," said Agakhan Sharief, spokesperson for the Bangsamoro National Movement for Peace and development.
    Malaysia has hosted peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) since 2001 to end a decades-old rebellion that has killed 120,000 people and displaced 2 million in the poor, but resource rich region in the southern Philippines.
    Muslims in Manila expressed their optimism for the peace agreement with a small celebration and a unity march on the streets, hoping that the final peace pact will bring a conclusion to the bloodshed in the southern region.
    Hadjie Eksam Abdulmadid, an MILF commander who joined the celebration, hoped to open a small business with his family and get back to civilian life once peace has been restored in his hometown.

    "We can achieve peace in Mindanao and we have found a way through our leaders, between the government and the MILF," he said.
    The signing of the final peace agreement on March 27 will create a new political entity in the Muslim-dominated provinces in the southern Philippines, replacing an existing five-province Muslim autonomous region with a larger territory, expanded jurisdiction and greater powers to generate taxes.
    Two previous laws set up autonomous governments for Muslims in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country state, but poor implementation and a lack of legitimacy meant the separatist violence continued to fester.
    Once the pact is formally signed, legislators can begin in earnest drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law to formally set up the new political entity.
    But Julkipli Wadi, Dean of the University of the Philippines Institute of Islamic studies, said the peace agreement may be short-lived unless the government can fully resolve the political situation, which included the breakaway factions in the southern Philippines.

    "There has to be a comprehensive reform agenda that has to be put in place from above, and also a cultural reform that should come from below, so that the sub-state will be able to effectively work," he said.
    Several breakaway groups have expressed dissent over the peace negotiations, including a faction led by the founder of the original autonomous region, Nur Misuari, which occupied a city in the southern Philippines in 2013 that led to a bloody confrontation which killed more than 100 people.
    Four decades of conflict in the south have killed 120,000 people, displaced two million and stunted growth in the poor but resource-rich area. Muslims account for about 10 percent of the total population of 97 million.
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