Philippines, Muslim rebels agree landmark peace deal_美文

Philippines, Muslim rebels agree landmark peace deal

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The Philippine government and Muslim rebels agreed a deal to end a 40-year conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people, President Benigno Aquino said on Sunday, paving the way for a political and economic revival of the country's troubled south.

The agreement begins a roadmap to create a new autonomous region in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country before the end of Aquino's term in 2016, giving the Muslim-dominated area greater political powers and more control over resources.

Expectations are high that after nearly 15 years of violence-interrupted talks, both the government and the country’s largest Muslim rebel group will keep their pledges in the agreement, to be signed on Oct 15 in Manila and witnessed by Aquino and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

"This framework agreement is about rising above our prejudices. It is about casting aside the distrust and myopia that has the plagued efforts of the past," Aquino said in a live broadcast from the presidential palace.

The new entity, whose exact size will be decided by plebiscites ahead of elections in 2016, will be called Bangsamoro - the term for those who are native to the region and which Aquino said honored "the struggles of our forebears in Mindanao".

The south's volatile and often violent politics could still hamper the plans. There is a risk that radical Islamic factions could split off from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and carry on fighting in a region that has a history of links with al-Qaida militants.