Armed Separatism and Muslim Autonomy in the Southern Philippines

Abstract

From 1972 to 1980, a ferocious war raged throughout the southern Philippines between Muslim separatist rebels and the Philippine military. An estimated 120,000 people died in the fighting, which also created one million internal refugees and caused more than 100,000 Philippine Muslims to flee to Malaysia. That war ended in a stalemate and for the next 18 years an uneasy and fragile cease-fire existed - one periodically broken by armed clashes between the military and separatist fighters who remain under arms in remote camps. A 1996 peace agreement between the Philippine government and the main rebel faction represents the first real progress towards a genuine settlement of the conflict and substantial political autonomy for Philippine Muslims. This article traces the remote and proximate causes of the Philippine Muslim (or Bangsamoro) rebellion and its consequences for ordinary Muslims.