Former rebels seek new life in weaving

Bai Albaya Wampa inspects some colourful scarves and wonders if they will be good enough to export.

Wampa is chairwoman and founder of the Al Jamelah Organisation, a cooperative that seeks to empower women who were once immersed in conflict by employing them as weavers of traditional scarves and other clothing, mostly sold on the international market.

The majority of Al Jamelah members were formerly with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). The MNLF was founded in the early 1970s and fought a long, brutal war with the military in a bid to form an independent Islamic state on Mindanao, a mineral-rich island historically claimed by the Moros, the local Muslims.

Once the country's main Muslim separatist group, the MNLF signed a peace agreement with Manila in 1996.

"When the MNLF signed a peace deal, we found ourselves with nothing to do. Some of my friends were widows of MNLF fighters, while others, like myself, had been active in the organisation," said Wampa, who used to head the MNLF's provincial propaganda committee in charge of "selling the war to the people".

Under the peace deal, many MNLF fighters were integrated into the police and armed forces, while many more were forced to surrender their firearms to live as ordinary farmers in impoverished hamlets that fell under a Muslim autonomous area.

"Life was hard. It was difficult for many," Wampa told IRIN.

The origins of conflict in Mindanao

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was founded in the early 1970s by Nur Misuari. It fought a long war with the military in a bid to form an independent Islamic state on Mindanao, a mineral-rich island historically claimed by the Moros, local Muslims. Once the country's main Muslim separatist group, the MNLF signed a peace agreement with the government of Fidel Ramos in Manila in 1996, dropping its quest for independence in favor of limited autonomy. Misuari eventually became governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with a population estimated at about 4.5 million people. However, the region remains impoverished; Misuari failed to develop it amid allegations of corruption and infighting between former MNLF commanders who had become minor government officials. In 2001, Misuari launched a fresh rebellion, with his followers killing 100 people in raids on southern Jolo island. He was later arrested after fleeing to Malaysia and jailed on charges of rebellion. Nonetheless, the ARMM remains a regional government, still controlled by former MNLF officials. It comprises the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, and Maguindanao on Mindanao Island, and the islands of Tawi-Tawi and Sulu, as well as the city of Marawi, all of which are in the Mindanao region. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), splintered from Misuari's MNLF in 1978. The MILF recently engaged the government in exploratory peace talks that would have given it control over the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), which would encompass more than 700 towns and villages and be an expansion of the ARMM but under the control of the MILF. However, the agreement broke down in August following a court decision putting a stop to the deal after widespread protests from non-Muslim Filipinos. Shortly after that, MILF forces launched attacks on several towns and the government responded in force, with mounting casualties and displaced people. jg/bj/mw

With a few thousand pesos from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Wampa and a handful of friends in 1997 rented a small house on the outskirts of Cotabato city and began making scarves and batik fabric that sold for about US$6.

The project now earns enough money to sustain itself and employs 56 women.

"On good days, these women earn between 150 and 300 pesos a day [$3-$6]," said Wampa, whose brother Datu Og was among the key commanders of the MNLF until the peace treaty was signed.

"It is through these projects that we can help stop this war," Wampa said. "If people have livelihoods, the war won't go on," She was referring to the on-going conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a militant splinter faction of the MNLF, which is engaged in intense fighting with government forces on Mindanao Island.

For weaver Hainon Baraguir, the war for a Muslim homeland has only caused her grief. She looks older than her 32 years, and with five young children to feed, no longer considers rebellion.

"We are poor. We have children to feed. I am glad I have found solace in this place and a little money of my own," said Baraguir, whose husband was an MNLF fighter when the peace deal was signed over a decade ago. "He lost his youth to the cause," she said, adding that he is unemployed. "Now he has nothing to show for the experience. He has only his family.

"My hope is that, one day, this cooperative becomes very successful so we can have comfortable lives and my children can eat three times a day," she said.

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