Programmierter Dauerkonflikt? Die Suche nach einem tragfähigen Frieden in den Südphilippinen

Abstract The southern Philippines – Mindanao, Basilan and Jolo in particular – is plagued with the longest-running conflict in Southeast Asia which has claimed the lives of approximately 150,000 people. Several attempts since the midseventies to ease the tensions have ended in deadlock, the latest being the thwarted signing of the so-called Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) in August 2008.
This paper tries to explain the length of the conflict and its salient features. In particular, it deals with the interests pursued by the main protagonists and the factors leading to recurring internal frictions and divisions within the ranks of organized Moro resistance. It also sheds light on the prospects for the numerous NGOs and observers of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) stationed in the southern Philippines to ensure permanent peace in the region and to forge closer political as well as economic ties with neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia.