Ex-rebels now governing Philippines’ volatile Bangsamoro region vow ‘new jihad’ on corruption
- Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel chairman Murad Ebrahim assumed leadership on Tuesday in a ceremony in Cotabato city
- Philippine and Western governments and the guerillas see effective Muslim autonomy as an antidote to nearly half a century of Muslim secessionist violence
Former Muslim guerillas are now governing a poverty- and conflict-wracked Muslim autonomous region under a peace deal partly aimed at combating Islamic State-aligned militants in the southern Philippines.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel chairman Murad Ebrahim assumed leadership on Tuesday in a ceremony in Cotabato city of an 80-member transition authority dominated by his guerilla group to govern a five-province region called Bangsamoro.
The first large group of about 12,000 combatants is expected to be demobilised starting this year under the deal.
“Our enemy during this struggle is not the soldiers. Our enemy is not the government,” Murad said in a speech after taking leadership of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority as interim chief minister. He said he and his men would wage a new jihad, or holy war, against corruption and mismanagement.