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A final peace agreement is expected to be issued soon by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, which could prevent foreign militants from infiltrating the country's south, said the leader of the country's largest Muslim rebel force. country, Murad Ebrahim. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has expressed confidence that foreign fighters, including Malaysians and Indonesians, may soon be driven from their sanctuaries as Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) comes into force. It aims to end decades of conflict in the southern Philippines by giving autonomy to the predominantly Muslim region. "We confirm that there are foreign elements that join these small groups," Murad told the Association of Foreign Correspondents of the Philippines.
"By the time these small groups no longer accept these foreign elements, they will not be able to come [to fight]," he said. Murad was referring to the extremist group Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives ratified the BOL after the Senate passed the bill a day earlier. Duterte was to sign him in the following days, the officials said.
The factions of the two southern groups have pledged allegiance to the Islamic extremist state (IS) and have engaged the army in sporadic clashes in recent weeks
. The commander of Abu Sayyaf Isnilon Hapilon, the recognized leader of the IS in the Philippines, led a five-month siege in the city of Marawi, Mindanao
Philippine security forces defeated activists after bombing the city. Mahmud Ahmad, a Malaysian considered one of the major ISE recruiters in Southeast Asia, was among the foreign fighters killed at the Battle of Marawi, announced Duterte last October. Hapilon and other local activists also died in the fighting.
Murad said the government's past failures to sign a lasting peace deal in the south had helped create several disaffected factions, including one led by the Maute de Marawi brothers.
"You will notice that most of these small groups, dissident groups, came into existence after the failure of the peace process," Murad said.
He noted that members of the Maute group had belonged to MILF, but they were further radicalized by the inability of the government to speed up the law on autonomy.
"They were able to capitalize (on this point) to recruit some of their supporters," Murad said. , the then President's government, Benigno Aquino III, concluded a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in which he passed a fundamental bangsamoro law (BBL) setting the limits of Muslim self-rule in the south
. The MILF has agreed to drop its military offer for independence.
But during the last two years of Aquino's tenure, the BBL never managed to cross a Philippine Congress dominated by Christians.
Break-ins
BIFF, a separatist faction of the MILF, pledged allegiance to ISIS, but did not send fighters to Marawi.
Instead, he engaged the army in attacks in central Mindanao. Military intelligence indicated that some foreign fighters had sought refuge in BIFF-controlled areas
Murad confirmed that Malaysian and Indonesian fighters were lingering in some southern areas under the protection of militant groups such as the BIFF. The group fought the military in communities near a sprawling swamp on Mindanao.
Murad refused to provide an estimate of the number of foreign fighters.
The Abu Sayyaf, on the other hand, would have fewer than 500 fighters, and is mostly in a criminal enterprise, including bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in the south. Over the last two years, the group has beheaded a German hostage and two Canadian hostages
Murad said the dissident groups were the "result of frustration with the peace process" in the past
"We are so confident enough if there is a political settlement acceptable to the majority of the Bangsamoro people, dissident groups will gradually be mainstreamed, "he said.
"It is very difficult for them to exist without the support of some people in the region, Murad says:
It took legislators four years to pass the legislation, largely because the politicians of The predominantly Catholic nation feared an autonomous Muslim region under the leadership of the former rebel group
.The two houses of Congress, Bill BOL reached through Congress and the Senate after intense deliberation.
The Autonomy Agreement is expected to settle decades of conflict that left over 120,000 dead in
Felipe Villamor in Manila contributed to this report
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