the rebels are demanding that the autonomous region have its own police force, but the manila administration says the m.i.l.f. must first disarm its fighters. another challenge is overcoming the religious divide. mistrust between the muslim majority and christian minority runs deep. christians have defended themselves by building barriers and shelters. outside help will be crucial to overcome the obstacles to peace. japan joined a five-nation cease-fire monitoring group in 2006. now he's on the international team. he was sent here by the japanese international cooperation agency. he helped to rebuild an elementary school destroyed in the fighting, a project funded by japanese aid. now children from christian and muslim families study together. that brings the parents into contact and builds trust. but he feels more support is needed to achieve peace. some muslim groups are still strongly opposed to peace. many people are expressing doubts about the feasibility of disarmament. in such a volatile situation, the international community will need to stay involved to ensure stability returns. >>>

manila. george washington was there not that long ago as was the eisenhower administration. we make more calls there. to make a base -- to return to a pace requires a series of deliberations that we have to work out. an agreement would have to be renegotiated. it required a long term commitment. >> can you elaborate on how the law of the treaty would impact do with respect to confrontations in the chinese sees? >> yes. i am a proponent. i support the law of the sea treaty, especially in the case of the south china sea. it would give us a document to continue these dialogues that we have with the chinese navy and with the chinese military. a reference that would articulate things like what international exclusive economic zones are laid out, territory elsie's, edam of navigation, and with those protocols are and that we could then continue the dialogue using a common document both nations have signed up to gratified. we have seen some examples of countries in southeast asia -- vietnam's and the philippines without using the loss of the sea treaty to determine territorial and