From left: MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim, Malaysian PM Najib Razak, Philippine President Benigno Aquino, and Presidential Adviser Teresita Quintos-Deles sign pact, Manila, March 27, 2014.Photo: AFP

(VOVworld)- The Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, have signed a peace accord ending 4 decades of violence in the southern Philippines. Under the deal, MILF gunmen will give up their weapons in exchange for greater political autonomy. The Muslim majority Mindanao region which includes 5 provinces in the southern Philippines will become an autonomous region called Bangsamoro. At the signing ceremony, President Benigno Aquino threatened to punish anyone who hinders the effort to establish a new political structure in Bangsamoro.