by Santosh Digal

The diplomatic representatives of the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia arrived in the southern archipelago yesterday to show their commitment to peace and cease-fire.

Mindanao (AsiaNews) – Six foreign ambassadors have pledged their help to the peace process in the southern archipelago of Mindanao, a region that has been beset over the past several decades by a violent guerrilla war between Muslim separatists and the Filipino army. They are: Ryuichiro Yamazaki from Japan, Peter Sutherland from Canada, Kristie Kenney from the United States, Peter Beckingham from the United Kingdom, Tony Hely from Australia and David Pine from New Zealand.

The diplomats arrived here yesterday and met with senior military commanders and local government officials. Jointly they expressed a shared sentiment and reiterated their respective countries commitment to helping the troubled island in its development.

Their main interlocutor on the guerrilla's side is without a doubt the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which for years has been waging a guerrilla war to gain a degree of independence for the area where most Filipino Muslims live. Last year, peace talks with Manila were brought to an end by the government's refusal to concede 3,000 hectares of land to the rebels.

Various Christian and Muslim religious leaders have also entered the fray in an attempt to stop the killing of civilians and troops, urging the parties to sit down and talk which is the only way to find a suitable solution.

"These six countries all support a myriad of development projects in Mindanao, focusing on education and job skills training, small business development, local governance, improved healthcare, agricultural sustainability, poverty alleviation, peace building and counter-terrorism," said the US Embassy in a press release.

Canadian Ambassador Sutherland said that Canada is supporting the peace process and development efforts in Mindanao. "Our objective [. . .] is to demonstrate our support to the peace process and development in Mindanao," he explained, because we "have a collective interest in Mindanao to bring peace and development."

For its part, Japan has provided more than US$ 600,000 through its 'Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects' which is its way to support peace building.

For ambassador Yamakazi, it "is especially important to support the administrative capacity of the ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) government which is essential to govern large areas." It will be the basis of what the new Mindanao will look like.

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