Philippines, rebels agree to end 40-year conflict

[NewsCaster]

Jay Directo / AFP - Getty ImagesPresident Benigno Aquino announced on Sunday that a deal had been reached with Muslim separatist rebels group Moro Islamic Liberation Front to end a decades-long insurgency that has left more than 150,000 people dead.By ReutersMANILA - The Philippine government and Muslim rebels have agreed a peace deal  to end a 40-year conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people, President  Benigno Aquino said on Sunday, paving the way for a political and economic  revival of the country's troubled south.

The agreement sets in train a roadmap to create a new Bangsamoro autonomous  region in Muslim-dominated areas of the south of the mainly Roman Catholic  country before the end of Aquino's term in 2016. Bangsamoro refers to Muslim and  non-Islamic minority people in the southern Philippines.


Follow @NBCNewsWorld   Expectations are high that after nearly 15 years of violence-interrupted  talks, both the government and the country's largest Muslim rebel group will  work side-by-side to realize the promises contained in the agreement, to be  signed on October 15 in Manila and witnessed by Aquino and Malaysian Prime  Minister Najib Razak.

NBCNews