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The Philippines government and the biggest Muslim rebel group in the country have announced that they will start formal peace talks in April. The hope is for an end to a three-decade-old campaign for independence by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), militant members of the Muslim minority in the south of what is a predominantly Christian country. Malaysia is brokering the talks and has promised to arrange for international observers to monitor a ceasefire. Should negotiations fail, the Americans have hinted, they will declare the MILF a terrorist organisation. They are meanwhile spending tens of millions of dollars on improving the ability of the Philippines' armed forces to fight terrorists. The Philippine government wants peace so that Mindanao can fulfil its agricultural and mineral promise. Above all, though, both the Philippine and American governments want to prevent al-Qaeda and its South-East Asian component, Jemaah Islamiah (JI) from exploiting further conflict on Mindanao.

Discusses the implications of a United States-led military mission in Iraq following the collapse of the Iraqi government under President Saddam Hussein. It is indeed being greeted by many Iraqis--certainly most of the Kurds, probably most of the Shias, and possibly much of the Sunni minority as well--as a genuine liberation, rather than the" liberation" the critics of this war have for so long insisted on putting inside sneering quotation marks. Quite simply, the people of Iraq are being delivered from a terror that has endured for more than a quarter of a century. But Bush has chosen a horribly complicated country in which to learn the business of nation-building he was once so anxious to avoid. The scale of the atrocities practised by the regime makes it inevitable that there will be a period of bloody revenge-taking. Sectarian conflicts run deep. Iraqi Arabs might once again fall out with Iraqi Kurds. The Kurds themselves are divided between two rivalrous parties that have fought before and might do so again. The Shias might turn on the Sunnis or the religious on the secular. Armed remnants of the regime could make common cause with the Islamists they once suppressed against the infidel invaders. Or all of these things could happen at once. To Iraqis, moreover, the U.S. is an improbable liberator. Needless to say, those who predicted with such confidence that the U.S. would make a hash of the war are now predicting confidently that it will mess up the peace.

Discusses the reorganization of the Jordan government in preparation for the upcoming Arab-Israeli peace talks. Prime Minister Sharif Zaid bin Shaker; Opposition of Muslim Brotherhood to the peace process; Details.

The article covers the results of peace negotiations in the former Yugoslavia. The United Nations had ordered new sanctions on Serbia and its little ally Montenegro to be applied if the Bosnian Serbs refused to give their final assent to the peace plan. So, as the deadline set by the United Nations Security Council passed, new sanctions came into effect. They are meant to plug the gaps in the trade embargo that has been in force for almost a year. This has had a devastating economic effect-but has failed to change most Serbs' minds. The new sanctions seek to prevent Serbs buying goods abroad using money laundered in. The new measures will have no immediate effect, save to accelerate rump-Yugoslavia's descent from a relatively modern economy to an agrarian barter state.

The article focuses on peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) as of July 6, 2013 and in light of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to restart negotiations. The article suggests the PA's President Mahmoud Abbas will negotiate if Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promises to withdraw from the West Bank territory it has occupied since the 1967 war. It also notes the Arab Peace Initiative will recognize Israel as a state after the withdrawal.

Discusses the progress of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians over Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, as of January 18, 1997. Conclusion on January 15 of an agreement for withdrawal from Hebron; Involvement of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his government, and the Likud party in the Oslo peace process; Outrage of some members of Likud, over handover of territory; Prospects of continued deal-making.