MILF urges Japan to boost development aid for Mindanao's poor

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is pushing Japan to boost aid to conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, saying it will hasten peace and development in the impoverished region, according to a report from Japanese newspaper.

The Japan Times quoted Al-Haj Murad Ibrahim, MILF chairman, as saying "we believe that Japan could play a very important role in bringing peace, especially to the conflict-affected in Mindanao." Mindanao, the second largest region and the birthplace of Islam in the Philippines, is home to about 10 million Muslims.

The Japan Times also quoted Murad as saying: "We requested Japan to play a leading role in the rehabilitation development and the need to focus on projects that will directly benefit the region's poor, including ways to boost the output of rice and other produce."

As noted in the report, Japan is playing peacemaker on the island scarred by decades of war that have stunted the growth of the mineral-rich islands. It is the first non-Islamic country to join the international monitoring team, a 60-member group keeping track of a 2003 ceasefire agreement.

Last July 23, Foreign Minister Taro Aso informed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Manila Japan's desire to contribute more actively to the peace process by assisting those living in conflict-affected areas to find a lasting peace.

The task force will formulate a development plan for Mindanao and coordinate to make sure the projects are implemented. Projects will focus on building schools, vocational training centers, water supply systems and health-care centers in the conflict-affected areas of central Mindanao.

Also in late July, Yoshinori Takori, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, said in Kuala Lumpur that Japan and Malaysia, the broker of the peace talks, have agreed to cooperate very closely in joint activities in Mindanao.

According to Takori, "Japan will take care of development and economic and social issues, and I think we can also cooperate closely with Malaysia, which is taking care of security."

Japan seeks to implement 10 projects in central Mindanao within a year through its grant assistance for grassroots human security projects.

Launched in 1989, Japan's aid program has carried out 367 projects throughout the Philippines, about a third of them in Mindanao.

Murad voiced hope that countries from the European Union join ongoing international efforts to rehabilitate Mindanao. Canada, New Zealand and Australia are among those that pledged aid while a peace accord is being worked out.

"I think we need more support in the aspect of technology. Although we need infrastructure projects, the priority should focus on improving the livelihood of the people," he said.

"We need to build peace on the ground. That way our people will feel that even before the signing (of a peace pact) there is already something concrete happening which is beneficial to them," the MILF chairman said.

He welcomed Japan's decision to send a "development expert" to the island, saying it signals Japan's willingness to play a more active role in the peace process. There are about 105 towns and about 4,000 villages in central Mindanao affected by the conflict that involves the MILF, which has a long-term aim of creating a separate Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

More than 120,000 people have been killed and more than 200,000 displaced in the war that has been raging since the 1970s. UNICEF puts the number of displaced much higher, saying that from 2000 to 2003 alone, 300,000 children were displaced. (ZS)