Philippine peace on shaky ground after attacks
KAUSWAGAN, Philippines (AP) — The latest violence in the southern Philippines took the government — and the military — by surprise, coming just weeks after Muslim rebels initialed a peace accord.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas angry over snags in the peace plan went on a rampage Aug. 18 in the southern hinterlands, shooting or hacking to death at least 37 people as they fled in panic from houses
that had been set on fire. Lani Banglos was one of those caught in the middle. Her small village store and her family’s home in Kauswagan township were burned down and some of her neighbors were killed.
The 27-year-old had labored for more than two years as a housemaid in faraway Qatar to earn the money to build a store to support her parents and her siblings. Poking a stick into the gray ash, she searched for money in the rubble of her shop.
“These are all that’s left,” she said of seven, soot-covered coins in her palm as she wiped away tears. “I’m
back to square one.”The peace process may be, too. Just weeks ago, a deal to end a decades-long insurgency in the troubled south had seemed within reach after the government and the rebels initialed an agreement on the crucial point of ancestral domain — the size of an expanded Muslim autonomous area.
But Christian politicians, wary of losing land and power, challenged the deal in the Supreme Court. Two rebel commanders — described as frustrated with yet another delay in the peace process — then led their men on raids Monday on five coastal towns in Lanao del Norte province on southern Mindanao island, killing 37
people and sending 44,000 fleeing their homes.
The province is in the same area as the autonomous zone and the violence displaced Christians and
Muslims alike. In some areas, the rebels targeted Christian politicians.Rebel leaders said they did not sanction the attacks but have refused to hand over the two commanders. The government has announced it no longer plans to sign the territorial accord, throwing the peace talks into disarray.
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