THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is preparing to sign an agreement with the government that is meant to end decades of conflict in the south of the Philippines. Government leaders hope that the rebel group will begin disarming in May. The southern region of Mindanao is home to most of the predominantly Catholic country’s Muslim minority. The MILF is the most important in a range of armed groups that have been fighting for independence for the majority-Muslim areas. After 18 years of negotiations, often interrupted by heavy fighting, the government and the MILF concluded the last and most crucial part of a four-part peace agreement on January 25th.

The first three parts gave autonomy—not independence—to the mainly Muslim areas, in return for peace. The fourth sets out how the government and the MILF will jointly restore order in the autonomous entity, to be called Bangsamoro. It also lays out how the 12,000 or so MILF fighters will put down their weapons, once all the other groups have been disarmed. This is the nub of the agreement.

That the negotiators have got this far demonstrates the determination of both sides, weary from 46 years of a conflict that has killed tens of thousands. A few obstacles remain. Hostilities have not yet ceased. Two days after the agreement, the army assaulted a stronghold of a faction of the MILF, known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), that rejects the agreement. The army said it boffed 37 rebels, a claim they rejected.