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Manila,
Luzon
 Themes
Regions
More
Information
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Mindanao
The cry for a separate
state
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Unrest
on Mindanao
Last
ten years the Philippines was several times world news because of
several kidnappings and bomb explosions on several different
locations. Almost all explosions happened in the southwestern part of
Mindanao. It is the region where almost all people are
Muslim.
Several
organized Muslim groups were all the time responsible for the troubles.
The Muslims (Moro's) wanted all ready for a long time an
independent Muslim state.
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The origin of the name
"Moro".
As soon as the Spanish colonizers
in the sixteenth century discovered that on Mindanao and the islands south of
Mindanao the Filipinos were Muslims, they gave them the name
"Moro". That was the name they gave already to the Muslims they had to
conquer centuries ago in the country Spain
itself.
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The
struggle for independency
The
strategy of the organized Muslim groups was to conquer the Philippine government
by armed attacks and
placing bombs on different places. In this way they tried to convince the Philippine
government that the Muslims had to be given an own state.
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Kidnappings
Last years there were regular kidnappings. The kidnappings were used, still
in 2002, as an
instrument to 'collect' huge amounts of money. The
money is used to buy weapons and is used for the 'way of living'
of the active members of the
organizations. The Abu Sayyaf
group, the most radical group, is
still active with kidnappings.
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An
Autonomous region in stead of total independency
Two
of the biggest Muslim groups, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) decided to sign a
peace treaty agreement. They agreed with a special form of autonomy in stead of a total independency.
The government promised to start development programs for the
autonomous region. The Autonomy, since 1996, meant that the
Muslims in the region now can make
their own decisions on
several maters in their region.
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An Autonomous Muslim Region!
The Autonomous Region of
Muslim Mindanao consists of four provinces. The autonomous area is
almost 12000 square km large. It is situated in the Western and southern
part of Mindanao plus the Sulu and Waki-Waki island groups. The autonomous
region is about 4
percent of the total area of the Philippines and has in 2002 more than
2.1 million inhabitants. Almost all Muslims
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Source:
© NSO 1997-2002 |
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