Japan plans $ 3 mln projects in Philippine south

MANILA, March 1 (Reuters) Japan's development agency plans to carry out 3 million dollar worth of social and economic projects in conflict areas in the southern Philippines in the next two years, an embassy official in Manila said today.

The aid is aimed at helping push Muslim rebels sign a peace deal with the government, Taeko Takahashi, an official at the Japanese embassy in Manila, told Reuters.

Last year, Japan agreed to make a study and draw up a comprehensive economic plan to develop poor Muslim communities ravaged by about 40 years of separatist rebellion on the troubled southern island of Mindanao.

''The agreement would allow us to carry out 'quick impact' projects while trying to assess the needs of the people in these communities,'' Takahashi said.

''We're looking at small livelihood projects, including the building of village roads, water systems, clinics and educational facilities. We still have no idea how many projects would be done because it would depend on the actual needs on the ground.'' Representatives from Japan's International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were due to sign an agreement with the Manila government tomorrow to formalise Tokyo's development assistance.

Takahashi said a team of Japanese development experts has started initial work, talking to residents in conflict areas to find out the communities' development needs. The JICA team worked as part of the Malaysian-led International Monitoring contingent.

Since 2004, a 60-member monitoring team from Malaysia, Brunei and Libya has been deployed in Mindanao to sustain the July 2003 truce between security forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest Muslim rebel group in the south.

The rebels welcomed Japan's effort to move the peace process forward, saying the economic assistance would complement ongoing peace negotiations, brokered by Malaysia since 2001, to end a conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people.

''We can only build and nurture the belief and confidence of the people in the peace process by way of implementing relief, rehabilitation and development programmes while the peace negotiation is ongoing,'' said MILF leader Ebrahim Murad in a statement posted on the rebels' Web site www.luwaran.com.

Murad, who rose to head the 12,000-member rebel forces in 2003 after the death of MILF founder Salamat Hashim, said the group had learned from the an earlier peace deal between the government and the rival Moro National Liberation Front.

He said the Muslim people were frustrated because most of the development assistance promised by government and foreign donors was never delivered after the MNLF signed a deal in 1996.

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