Mindanao, disarming militias decisive challenge for peace
Postponed by Covid-19, the process envisaged by the agreements to set up the autonomous region of Bangsamoro to put an end to a conflict that has cost 120,000 lives has restarted. For every weapon handedover, USD 2400 will be paid. The unknown factor of the jihadist formations still active in the Philippines.
Manila (AsiaNews) - The ongoing disarmament of Islamic rebels in Mindanao, which began on September 27, represents a decisive step towards a peace that will put an end to the conflict of varying intensity that has lasted for fifty years with 120,000 combatants and civilians killed. The disarmament process that was supposed to be completed in 2019 was blocked by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The agreements in place for the full implementation of autonomy in areas with a majority or substantial Muslim presence in the South of the Philippines (the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region - approved by a plebiscite in February 2019), envisaged a multi-stage disarmament of the Moro Islamic Liberation front Milf), the strongest armed movement remaining as an interlocutor of the Manila government and whose fighters were partly integrated into the local security system and partly granted employment opportunities or economic benefits.
It is estimated that in this last phase of the disarmament of the almost 19,000 fighters still under the Milf banner, 2,400 firearms can be recovered out of an estimated total of 7,000, while another 5,000 have already been handed over in the previous phase.
As part of the disarmament process, each combatant who surrenders his weapons, thus accepting the new situation of autonomy, will receive USD 2,400 for each firearm surrendered. There are, however, many doubts raised by those who fear that the disarmament may only be formal and that, in any case, the ease of finding a cheap lethal weapon may neutralise the objective of the measure. A 2016 report by the International Alert Philippines, an organisation involved in monitoring the peace process, put the number of firearms in the southern Philippines at 50,000, a figure higher than a slightly earlier report by the Philippine Department of Defence.
In fact, it is practically impossible to know how many weapons are available to the various Islamic-inspired movements that over the years have fought and in some cases - such as Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic Freedom Fighters of the Bangsamoro, Jemaah Islamiyah - still operate in connection with international jihadism or engaged in criminal activities on the islands of Mindanao, Basilan, Jolo. Added to this is the availability of locally produced and smuggled goods.
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02/06/2018 07:43
