Philippines: Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel group starts to disarm
Members of the biggest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines began to lay down their arms on Tuesday in a process policy makers hope will bring to an end more than four decades of violence in the country’s second-biggest island.
President Benigno Aquino and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front attended a ceremony in Mindanao ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The turnover of weapons is part of a peace agreement signed in March 2014 by the Aquino government with the secessionist group.
More than 100,000 people have died in the unrest, with the island’s economic development severely stymied.
Despite the agreement with MILF, the government continues counterinsurgency operations against militant rebel groups Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah in parts of Mindanao.