first day at school. the first climbing less of a minute or as grand the moment arrives. join your reckoning on her journey back to freedom. in our interactive documentary torah and overregulating returns home on t w dot com a tank. me

. too sir. there was good don't no one mother always burned the place let it go at it. really. if i have a minute of my job i want joined i see. this was squashed by an ideology that's fourteen or less violent extremists him coming into the country

from other countries. i'd say it's diminished but he never did a full peace. just the good relation of all this is just eat i know it's meant over liberation. i mean it's clear in the blink of an eye my children i'm gone i will never see them again i'm not some parable it's up to you. what the president believes in my are always a good lesson. this is only if you get. the money.

main. room move. move move move move move move move move move. move. we're on mindanao the second biggest island of the philippines. it's in the south of the country a little smaller than south korea and famous for its natural beauty. this

is also the site of one of the longest running conflicts in asia it's mainly a conflict between the christian majority and the muslim minority more than one hundred thousand have been killed over the past decades. may twenty seventeen saw a catastrophic development. the self-proclaimed islamic state also known as got involved in the conflict. with just a few hundred fighters it seized the mainly muslim town of mirali and held it for five months. the consequences were devastating for. the old. people the philippine president rodrigo to territory known for his brutal zero tolerance approach proceeded to bomb the city to hitler the world. we want to find out how it was possible for us to gain

a foothold in the philippines. and. we meet someone who witnessed the battle for murali the people who thought it's a joke how can you attack a city. and they cost tens of thousands of people. it's unthinkable but it happened and the terrorism plays its part because it can explode break out anytime anywhere from ground up to notre dame look mon is a historian and a member of a powerful muslim family nonetheless he has to ask the army for permission to accompany us into the center of morality it's now an exclusion zone the city has a population of two hundred thousand.

is not allowed to enter his house. not all the booby traps and explosive devices in the area have been cleared away. tell us where we may go and how long we may stay people here call the exclusion zone ground zero tens of thousands have lost their homes. this used to be the central mosque. who used to come here live stream here and pray

for the dead. artillery. pick up their gunships jet fighters. everything with. bombs but i was watching you the whole time with my two older stuff in trouble here . there was a time on the second day i think my brother went to jail bautista. and us came to stop the bombings but the army reject the death because they say. they can handle the situation. fontanes they were not able to handle the situation. i am spiders taken down. on may twenty third twenty seventeen government forces responded swiftly and harshly.

in this warfare you have to flush out the enemy from the defensive position. if you look at the experience of. the aleppo. all of this experienced bombings but in the case of. the. when we did the bombings it was been pointed to specific targets only. the battle lasted five months more than a thousand people were killed for the armed forces it was the toughest battle since the second world war i asked terrorists took hostages and murdered christians.

desperate terrified people sought shelter on no dean the man's property both muslims and christians. i was not afraid i just want to make sure that everybody is safe i don't care about death i was waiting to die. i don't know i did not fear death because. you know i was schooled you know really just so. the situation. we never think about that as an enemy. if it's god's will that you die you die if it's god's will that you really believe even if you're. right in the middle of morse or. or in damascus where. after twelve days of siege food and water were running out and.

look man whose nickname is norway decided to flee with those he had been sheltering . in front of the building. a boy was blocking my path. i was right in that basket ball. and then when i got near. he recognized me and said no way. and i said what are you doing here i know he's a local boy here what are you doing here. i hope that he's even so proud of it and then after that he said this is no way that let them pass let them pass so. when i passed by there i saw some snipers there in that building forty bullets in their guns. level looking at me as i did. but this they stopped firing and i felt so happy i mean you cannot explain the experience that in any other

situation but. i i felt that elation i think that it's almost divine. i'm still alive and the people are alive nobody got hurt that's ok thank god. look man became the hero of harare he led more than one hundred fifty civilians to safety. in parts of the city that were not destroyed life looks like it is back to normal though martial law is still in force throughout mindanao. here stopped repeatedly at military checkpoints.

wanted posters for suspected terrorists are everywhere. who are they and what do they want. as we meet abdul he was recruited at the age of seventeen he didn't have a job i asked offered him money and a gun he says he trained in the jungle alongside local and foreign fighters. says i mean less obvious but i was enough and the comfort or just what the qur'an says. is an eye for an eye. and we have the right to take revenge but i know i don't know him since i've been out of. the i.a.s. commanders launched the attack earlier than planned abdul wasn't in morocco at the time. you know.

when we heard that they had started fighting those of us outside. and we discussed how to get to the center. but i mean we tried seven times we even used motor boats to try to get in from the lake but it didn't work. but. i do past information about the movement of government troops to his eye as comrades inside the besieged city by cell phone he tells us that forty of his friends were killed none the less he could imagine joining battle again. so. we have an advantage because we young people just blend in with the population. the military can't easily identify which of us are fighters who know

how to use a gun in a given. fight there or i'm i don't know coming home. i wouldn't fight in iraq. or any other muslim area the same thing would happen again . only muslim people would get hurt but if the battle took place somewhere else i would join somalia. out of a job and he's disappointed about losing the battle and about the empty promises i said made. the leaders of the fighters in morale we were two brothers omar and abdullah mounted. members of a powerful clan they are revered as heroes by their young followers. but most

muslims on mindanao have no sympathy for the ideology of the so-called islamic state other can share reef is a leading figure in the local muslim community he knew them out of brothers because of his long beard he has been dubbed bin laden as in osama bin laden. sharif likes the nickname even though he says he is opposed to violence and said that to the local i asked fighters. visiting me in my house and convincing me to join in there sometimes the told me please join us we will take you as our army. yes we will make you as our leader actually when you have talking with me he said but they have been letting you join us

because we cannot trust in them or people have been governments because they are always betraying us yes so that's why i did become. back because. sharif did not join the group led by the mountain brothers he told them he could not fight because he had heart disease. islamic state called on its sympathizers around the world to support the mountain brothers in the battle on mindanao. that's why i told him it is impossible because even you. win this water but the highlight of the predicted go but i mean will not allow it if you see in iraq. joining. me again so what. you will loose.

the sheriff run several religious schools in murali he says the kind of islam they teach is peaceful and has nothing in common with i.r.s. ideology. he tells us that muslims here are concerned to maintain their own culture independence is not a priority in fact he says many muslims in iraq we had actually voted for do territory. and yet it was the president himself he continues who provoked the attack on the city. what our president did use did by the. ok you can bore. me and bore. a chord in may on opinion this is the part of the r.c.c.

but the goldberg the go betterment also has a point because the did not allow us to negotiate with the devil. we accompany shareef to midday prayers in the mosque. feel safe. muslims make up just five percent of the philippine population the majority are catholics almost all the muslims live olenda now or. sharif says that many here feel marginalized and abused by the philippine government

a feeling only confirmed by the bombing of murali. as a result of the conflict and the destruction tens of thousands fled the city. we visit one of the many camps set up for the displaced. fatima is a widow and used to run a small shop downtown she has eight children since the battle erupted she hasn't seen four of them. and you know when i will know my strength comes from allah only from allah he keeps me alone. been talking. before i could hear my children's voices but not anymore. before in the middle of the night at one in the morning i could hear them crying asking for

help but now i can't hear them anymore my children are too far away already i can no longer hear their voices. for who have gone missing three girls and a boy were all in qur'an school when the fighting began. fatima and the four children still with her are tormented by thoughts of what might have happened to the others were they seized by the i.a.s. fighters are they long dead. missing. someone trying to hide my suffering from my other children. there are times when i pray to god to ask him to take my knowing. that when i see my children. i still so young.

i will go about that in every little my request and instead ask him to give me more years to live the good when among. all. who think you can. be forgiven. most of the children in the displaced persons camps don't go to school most of the families are poor. memory an important person has come to visit some miracle talk she's running for the senate and if she wins she will be the first muslim senator in a quarter of a century she's critical of the way to turn take conducted the campaign to retake.

the debris set up all of this is just. kind of announcement of our liberation but the real liberation is not living in this kind of the ways on this is not the way we were this is not the kind of life we want this is not the kind of freedom that we want for children missing amongst thousand people missing is not an achievement it is a moral disaster it's in funny it is infamy for us. that can never be repaired. nobody knows how many civilians were killed during the siege. so mere a good talk takes a. to a mass grave outside of town it's not known who is buried here. none of the victims

were ever identified. is an example of discrimination on of not allowing traditional indigenous mediation systems if we keep on making peacekeeping as a decision of only men in uniform and the national with local civilian population on it will always be a lock and failed experiment it's a failed decision my ra is a failed decision on it cannot be any more used as a template for any other. the following day we have an appointment with the largest muslim rebel group on mindanao the moral islamic liberation front or m i l f we are told to follow the black pickup in front into territory controlled by the group.

for decades the rebels fought for independence from the central government in manila many thousands were killed in the fighting. wait wait wait wait wait. but since i asked burst into the same the former archenemies the front and the government have become strategic allies. now. we lead a rebel leader who played a key role in dialogue with the government under successive presidents. gods only jaafari tells us of his determination to establish an autonomy as homeland for his people found some moral. negotiations lead to

a deal codified in the bungs a more organic law the basis for the new bangs and moro autonomous region in muslim mindanao we could see on current government budget and islamic legal system. what is the reason why these are not obvious seeds how it is because of this injustice this young people are never fed up that's why i say then here come the group which is more militant. approach them of course when all. they isis. they isis. play the. whole can be. there to be our ally outside of the middle east. and. they believe. mindanao are a place. that made their ally. because. they are

muslims are not satisfied. but example are there so much corruption. and overall. and miss marr administration. noticed in the development. we're allowed to visit the headquarters of the military wing of the liberation front. as follows he's. the chief of staff isn't in uniform

a sign perhaps of the shift from armed struggle to political action and responsibility. we ask what might happen if the project of autonomy doesn't go well . then maybe day. people maybe saudi leads us but our committee really did a lot of people really become diminished and that's the time that the isis with. his station double means all the followers of the old joe in for their good will and the time that they can become bigger. say the liberation front has a lot of support among the muslim world for many believe their ancestors were victims of a historical injustice committed by christians the spanish an american colonists and the philippine government in manila. the prospect of autonomy and peace has

given the people here new hope. the m i l f says it will disarm up to thirty thousand fighters once autonomy for the muslim majority region is implemented. what they have not been based but the support of the men we will not. you commission our forces and we will not give up our fight arms which we promised to go in. the rebels take us on patrol. out in the marshes here there are still fighters loyal to i.a.s. lying low. we have the impression the m.i.l.f. men want to show that they are still in charge as if to say without us there can be

no peace on mindanao. the movements leaders evidently think highly of president hu territory for advancing peace but also because he too is from mindanao and has muslims in his family. history misses even the peace process that's why i really thought us president the good thing because obey his pronouncement his actual. foley's. a caveat that the words have been displaced that's why i really thought i suppose that instead. we ask ourselves who does the land really belong to to the muslims whose ancestors settled on mindanao in the thirteenth century or to the christians who came much later but now account for the majority of the island's population.

we visit the village of mother all one hundred families live here they're all catholic. and the only dust to carve out looks after the small chapel the villages within the new bangsamoro autonomous region. possibility. and. my worry is that we just don't know. if we go to the town hall for example we don't

know what will happen to us when the muslims are in poland and what they can do to us. even though i'm an american and. so they're going in that look i know that's why i'm scared when i do it is in town and not christian and my gun on my. security. more. and madge look like they look at that mean i'm a good i don't let them was my of course i'm afraid that my robbery will happen again i saw what happened in the city was destroyed and our livelihood would also be destroyed if this were to happen somewhere here in our area that we let the daily income it was all i want to in our. life here we don't want to be evacuated we don't want to live without direction and they don't like it was

a lie in their mind but with the man. when i only saw woman who. was who would be. the villagers are descendants of christian settlers from the north most of whom came here while the philippines was under u.s. control which only ended in one thousand nine hundred six. many here don't trust muslims. as you noted in the book when muslims come to our village says no problem but when we get to where they are they want to cut off our heads well let me in. the middle of you know most long as that's why we don't want them to rule in our community that it's on them and that's the attitude of muslims is very different from our christian attitude. the one knock on money it's terrifying. what will happen to our children when we have to live under muslim broke. muslims and christians are different than what i was a child simply had looked at me and once the muslims are old i will make us the

slaves and steal the harvest well and tell me what. i'm going to welcome to our house. after church on sunday in a nearby village it's time for some cock fighting. it's a bloody spectacle and a favorite pastime for many in the philippines mainly among christians.

muslim religious leaders and the moro islamic liberation front disapprove not of the cruelty but because it involves gambling.

we reached the biggest city in mindanao. president was mayor here for more than twenty years. this is where he began his notorious war on drugs seemingly deploying the police as extrajudicial hitman. estimates of the number of people killed ranged between five thousand and twenty thousand. the next morning we meet an old friend and confidant of the president faces today

so. he invited us to see his fish farm. because so this is what i earn my money beyond what they are being told there are more here than we think people really care. oh he's a busy politician so he soon heads back to the city. we arranged to meet him again later. which. is a mainly catholic city and it's striking how prosperous it appears to be compared to

muslim communities in mindanao it is also considered the safest and cleanest city in the country. many say that's thanks to rob riggle two territories tenure as mer. case used to race and agrees we meet him again at his waterfront resort he says do tell is a man of action not words watch only what the doc's the option that it takes that is how you measuring him don't measure him by what comes out from the small he is doing to be unprecedented when he was mayor here for more than twenty years in this city that was his way of doing things and he had to do it hands on you know i he's my friend. during night time during times when there are high incidence of holdups all doxy drivers he would drive

a taxi himself. how about guns ready and drive and go to places where holdouts are usually happening he once also will be held up because he can personally counter them in his own way drugs corruption violent extremists if you handle them with kids gloves and all that maybe you will just prolong the agony. for you but i have to research does p.r. for detail taban ever he can. for many years he was presidential peace and visors he explains the peace plan from mindanao to a group of visitors many of whom are fans of the president. was easily. the racist says it's a very western point of view too accused of abusing human rights and argues that to

tertius so popular because he both pursues reconciliation and in bodies toughness as he demonstrated with respect to morale we. it is a strong signal to the bad guys that don't bear around with this country i have been in the peace process under several presidents and we have not moved it as far as we have this time the president feels that we can improve as a nation if we try to give more authority and power for the locals. we head back to murali to meet not look mom again. he shows us the small museum that his family sponsored.

the central exhibit is a painting depicting a battle between muslims and spanish colonizers who arrived in the sixteenth century and were the first christians to settle in mindanao. what happened in my our city is a continuation of the colonial war against our people. and that is what's happening now. and until now is the circle i mean what city has that in resolve. and healthfully. we can resolve this peacefully without going through a war. i said. look

man says he's going to run for deputy governor political developments over the coming months will prove decisive. oh. little little. he views the prospect of autonomy for muslims in the region as an opportunity to overcome old enmities but as a historian he's all too aware of a long history of conflict or many centuries or many decades for many generations. most of the problems that have a saw an internet has to go to war. every don't want war and war but if it comes then so be it.

at the end of our trip we take part in a ceremony to mark the start of reconstruction in. well over a year after the brutal battle little what. are. the event had been postponed several times so that president deter take could attend. but in the end he doesn't show up. will leave mindanao with the feeling that regional autonomy will not amount to much unless the muslim minority see real improvements in their everyday lives. enduring poverty and discrimination would only keep the threat of islamist terror alive and render peace an empty promise with.

the. chopin for the twenty first century. dannielle twenty four. unique interpretation of. a tesla in concert and the world of a young piano genius. parts twenty one presents danny in a tree for nothing new. in thirty minutes on d w.

and your replaceable chain reaction of this. began around six hundred years ago. in the midst of the revolution in far enable us many people became aware of their abilities and strengths and a new way there was an outpouring of self-confidence mentions eps the. market. some. artists. in the darkest enjoy. the renaissance fair to. start a full twenty seven. w. .

this is c w news live from berlin and sudan's new interim leader says the country will have a civilian government he addressed the nation saying a government will be in place within two years he also listed a nighttime curfew which many pro-democracy demonstrators had already defied and they claimed another victory as the country's security chief steps down hours after .