Japan will take a more active role in helping the Philippines end nearly 40 years of Muslim rebellion by starting development projects in conflict-affected areas in the south, Japan's foreign minister said on Sunday.
In Manila to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations, Taro Aso told President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that Tokyo, which brutally occupied the Philippines during World War Two, would send a development expert to the restive southern region of Mindanao.
Peace talks between the government of the mainly Catholic Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest rebel group, have stalled over the size of a proposed homeland for Muslims in the south.
The rebels' chief peace negotiator told Reuters on Saturday the MILF was awaiting a new proposal from Manila to widen the area designated as Muslim ancestral lands and did not expect to resume talks in the next three months.