Can the new Aquino administration broker a lasting peace agreement with the MILF in Mindanao? Luke Hunt and Karl Wilson report for The Diplomat.

In a clearing just outside the southern Philippine town of Sultan Kudarat the leader of the country’s biggest Muslim group contemplates an uncertain future.

After 40 years of conflict, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), hoped the new Philippine government of President Benigno Aquino would finally do what past presidents have failed to do—bring peace to this south-eastern corner of the Philippine archipelago.