Embattled Moslems

When Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed martial law last September, one of the world's nastiest conflicts came to an abrupt if temporary halt. That was the four-year struggle between Moslems and Christians in Mindanao and the Sulu Islands in the south, where upwards of 3,000 have been killed, 500,000 injured and made homeless, and hundreds of villages put to the torch. As it turned out, martial law ended one conflict only to create another. Instead of fighting Christian settlers, the Moslems found themselves battling Philippine army troops who came searching for illegal weapons and for the leaders of the is lands' tiny but growing independence movement. Last week, as this new war mounted, Marcos called for another cease-fire and offered new terms to the Moslems for a still elusive peace.

Mindanao's more than 2,000,000 Moslems--roughly one-third of the region's population--hold a proud distinction: they have never been subjugated--not by the Spaniards during centuries of colonial rule, nor by their American successors, nor by the Japanese in World War II. But they have never been so imperiled as they are by their own countrymen, racially identical but better-off Christians who swarmed down from the crowded north after the war in search of land on the Philippines' last frontier. Unaccustomed to the concept of title deeds for land, Moslem peasants were gradually pushed off the best rice fields. Starting in 1969, when the Moslems suddenly found them selves outnumbered by Christians in territory they regarded as their own, they began to fight back with terrorist gangs called Barracudas and Blackshirts. The Christians retaliated with their own gangs, known as llagas (rats).

Neither side recognized the other's laws, or lawmen. Christians claimed that the Philippine Constabulary, which includes some Moslems, favored the rebels; Moslems maintained that the all-Christian army made common cause with the llagas. When the soldiers came searching for guns, the Moslems fought back fiercely. During one battle on Jolo Island last month, the military used jet planes against the rebels.

No Response. Calling a halt to the army's attacks, Marcos last week convened a conference with 300 Moslem leaders, and conceded that "some in justice" had been done to their followers. He offered a "selective amnesty" to guerrillas still in the hills, and a broad program of economic aid to the area's fishermen and farmers. So far, there has been no response from the guerrillas.

But Marcos was clearly under pressure to reach a settlement. He also had to move carefully lest he arouse the Mos lem majorities of his populous neighbors, Malaysia and Indonesia.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.