It is easy to be disheartened about the violence that is sweeping across the Philippine province of Mindanao. It was thought to have been settled four years ago, but it has erupted once again. The government has had recent successes on the battlefield, but the rebels are not likely to be subdued.
The roots of the conflict date back 400 years, when Catholicism was introduced to the islands and set off a competition with followers of Islam who had come to the islands 100 years before. It is estimated that about 120,000 people have been killed since the early 1970s. In 1996, the Moro National Liberation Front signed a peace treaty with the government under which it gained limited autonomy for Muslims in southern Mindanao. Two dissident groups, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf, spurned the deal and continued to fight.
The government has gone on the offensive in recent months, spurred by President Joseph Estrada. There have been some successes. Since a June 30 deadline for a peace agreement expired, government troops have captured more than 20 MILF camps. Two weeks ago, they seized the MILF headquarters, along with stores of arms and ammunition. Mr. Estrada's claim that the tide had turned were countered by calls for a jihad, or holy war, by the MILF leader, Mr. Salamat Hashim.