The Moros

Relations between Christian and Muslim Filipinos has always been tense. The Spanish never managed to establish complete control over the Muslim south, and the Muslims, known as Moros, had fiercely resisted the American conquest. During the 1950's and 1960's the Philippine government attempted to deal with the problem of land shortages by encouraging people to move from the northern areas of the Philippines to the southern, Muslim-dominated areas. Fighting between Christian and Muslim gangs broke out as the Moros saw themselves become a minority in their own land. When the Philippine army moved in to establish order, the Muslims believed that the soldiers were siding with the Christians.

Marcos declared martial law in 1972 and ordered all civilians to turn over their weapons to the government. Weapons had traditionally been an important part of Muslim Filipino culture, and the Moros did not trust the Philippine government. Widespread rebellions, known as the Moro insurgency, broke out on Mindanao and on the islands of the Sulu archipelago.

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), led by Nur Misuari, managed to bring most of the rebellious Moros together into a single organization. The goal of the MNLF was an independent Muslim nation in the Philippines, and the MNLF's military, the Bangsa Moro Army, fought for this goal with some support from Muslims in other countries.

The Moro insurgency calmed down in the late 1970's. In 1976 the Organization of the Islamic Conference, an organization of Muslim nations, sponsored talks between the Moros and the Marcos government. Marcos promised to grant the Moros greater control over their own affairs. Fighting among Moro groups also

Broke out, so that the united MNLF was less able to resist.

After Corazon Aquino came to power, she sought to reach an agreement with the MNLF. In 1990 the Philippine legislature, under the leadership of Corazon Aquino, established the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, an arrangement for greater self-government in the Muslim regions. Only a few provinces agreed to participate in the Autonomous Region, though, and Muslim forces continued to pose a potential threat to the central government of the Philippines. This threat was lessened primarily by in-fighting among Muslim factions.

By the late 1990's and early 2000's, Muslim guerrilla fighters became a central concern of the Philippine government. Although the large-scale, organized efforts of the MNLF had faltered, groups smaller and more ruthless than the MNLF continued to be active. These groups drew international attention as they turned to assassinations, bombings, and kidnappings for ransom. The best-known of the Muslim groups was the Abu Sayyaf organization, which kidnapped foreigners, as well as citizens of the Philippines. On May 27,2001, the rebels of Abu Sayyaf staged a raid on the Dos Palmas resort on the southern Philippine island of Palawan, capturing three Americans and seventeen Filipinos. The guerrillas beheaded one of the Americans, Guillermo Sobrero, in June, 2001. The two other Americans, the missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, remained in captivity for another year.

Authorities in the governments of the Philippines and the United States maintained that there was evidence that the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas had links to the al-Qaeda international terrorist network based in Afghanistan. After al-Qaeda terrorists staged an attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D. C., in September, 2001, the United States became more involved with antiterrorist activities around the globe.

In February, 2002, the United States sent special forces units into the Philippines to assist in training Philippine soldiers to fight Muslim insurgents, at the request of the Philippine government. By June, 2002, the Philippine military, with the assistance of American forces, managed to find the terrorists holding the two

American missionaries. In fighting on June 7, Gracia Burnham was freed from her captors, but Martin Burnham was killed. This battle did not end the threat of Abu Sayyaf, however, as the group kidnapped six Filipino members of the Christian Jehovah's Witnesses denomination on August 20, 2002. Two days later, the heads of two members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, together with letters calling for holy war (jihad) by Muslims, were found in an open air market in the island of Jolo in the southern Philippines.