En fredsaftale mellem Filippinernes regering og muslimske oprørsgrupper på øen Mindanao fører ikke fred med sig, når den underskrives i næste uge. Iagttagere peger på, at udelukkelse af radikale muslimske grupper i fredsforhandlingerne sandsynligvis vil lede til opblussen af konflikten.
MANILA, 19 March 2014 (IRIN): A key drawback of the deal is the exclusion of important stakeholders.
“If groups are disenfranchised (holdt udenfor), like the BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters) and the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front), they may work to fill a vacuum by gaining critical mass and stepping up insurgency-style attacks,” Matt Williams, Philippine director of the international security think tank Pacific Strategies and Assessments, told IRIN.
“This could be a scenario of unintended consequences, where any leap forward negotiating peace with the MILF is offset by factions excluded from the agreement.”
Fra oprørsgruppe til politisk parti
The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) envisages the creation of a new autonomous region covering a chunk of southwestern Mindanao as well as numerous islands further southwest.
The proposed region is broadly similar to the current Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARRM) which it will replace.
Under the deal, MILF will cease as a rebel force and reform itself into a political group that will take the reins of the newly established autonomous region by 2016 when President Benigno Aquino ends his six-year term.
The government and MILF will share income from taxation, as well as power in the newly named Bangsamoro political entity, which would cover areas traditionally claimed as the “ancestral domain” of Muslims and indigenous groups.
Hardlinere på sidelinjen
However, the deal does not include BIFF, a group of hardline Islamists who split from MILF in 2009 and advocate the complete independence of the Bangsamoro people, despite calls by the government for BIFF to join the peace process.
“We ask them to listen to the plea of their own brothers and sisters to give peace a chance,” the government’s chief peace negotiator, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, said in an official communiqué in January.
It also fails to include followers of former rebel leader Nur Misuari – currently on the run – who in the early 1970s founded MNLF, the forerunner of MILF, but who on 3 March was ousted from his leadership role by his own constituents after what they described as his departure from the “Bangsamoro dream”.
Also excluded from the deal are Islamist groups like the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and Khalifa Islmiyah Mindanao, a shadowy group of jihadists reportedly comprised mostly of young Muslim radicals.
They believe their MILF counterparts have betrayed the independence aspirations of Muslims in the south; both groups have been labelled as “terrorists” by Manila.
Leaders of indigenous peoples in Mindanao (collectively known as `lumads’) have also been consulted on the peace deal, and many MILF members are `lumads’, but the extent to which they are included in CAB as a distinct group is also unclear.
FN: Eksklusion fører til fornyet konflikt
According to a recent UN report evaluating progress in building lasting peace in countries emerging from conflict since 2010, “exclusion is one of the most important factors that trigger a relapse into conflict…”
“Almost all cases that have avoided such a relapse have had inclusive political settlements, achieved either through a peace agreement and subsequent processes or because of inclusive behavior by the party that prevailed in the conflict.”
Inclusion in a peace process for all groups affected by a conflict, and in the future governance of a country, is an important tool in ending conflicts, said a recent policy brief on the current situation in South Sudan.
Et skridt i den rigtige retning
Inclusivity is just one of a number of challenges: Many details of the CAB are not yet being openly discussed.
Pacific Strategies’ Williams says that while the peace deal – if signed – is a step in the right direction, there remains “a greater law and order challenge to be addressed before meaningful peace is achieved”.
“It is highly unlikely that the MILF will totally disarm,” he said.
“It is unclear if the Philippine government will look the other way and accept this as a fair compromise or push for strict interpretation of disarmament.”
BIFF and other armed groups would continue to “play agitators”, potentially destabilizing Mindanao over the near term, he said.
Uklar aftale – uklar fremtid
While the accord envisages the demobilization and disarmament of thousands of MILF fighters, details of the process (which would probably not be completed until 2016 according to MILF vice-chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar) remain unclear.
“The first phase of decommissioning would focus largely on inventory and verification of MILF weapons and combatants,” Coronel-Ferrer said.
“The actual mechanics will be drawn up by the Independent Decommissioning Body in consultation with the parties. We have been studying different models, including warehousing, which most likely will be the option. But how, where to do this, would still require a lot of planning and negotiation.”
It [the disarmament] will be gradual and “commensurate” with other steps, said Jaafar in a recent interview.
And then there is the idea that some of these same fighters will somehow be integrated into the ranks of the armed forces or the police – a goal not yet fully explained.
“Incentives are the key to mitigating threats. Even the MILF combatants are threats because of the possibility of crossing over to other groups. Unless they are provided with the right incentives and feel secure about their livelihood, they will hold on to their guns,” warned Ed Quitoriano, a political analyst.
He does risk assessments for various Western embassies in the Philippines and he has studied the arms trade in Mindanao.
