Mindanao

The immersion of foreign terrorists in the long-running Moro Islamic insurgency in the southern Philippines turned the Philippines into a front line in the regional war on terror. The direct links between terrorist safe havens in Mindanao and the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 brought this traumatically home to Australia. The decade-old peace process between the Philippine government and the largest insurgent group, the MILF, offers the best chance of permanently ending the insurgency and its links to regional terrorism. The paper analyses the prospects for peace in Mindanao and the threats facing the peace process. It also offers a number of policy recommendations for the involved foreign governments to better the odds that a sustainable peace deal can be struck and implemented.--Publisher.