2.8 million Filipino Muslims vote for self-rule and peace in Mindanao
2019-01-22 10:01:27 source：The Straits Times
January 21, 2019
MANILA - More than 2.8 million Muslims cast their votes on Monday (Jan 21) in a referendum meant to carve out their own territory in the restive southern part of the Philippines and end nearly half a century of separatist violence in a region plagued by poverty and Islamist extremism.
A clear "yes" vote is widely expected, despite opposition from a number of Muslim politicians who have refused to cede power to a new political entity that will control a third of Mindanao, the Philippines' second-biggest island.
The vote caps years of turbulence as the government in Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the main rebel group, tried to hammer out a peace deal to end the violence that had left over 120,000 dead in its wake and displaced some two million people.
Read more: