The government said it had reached an agreement with the country’s main Islamic separatist group on carving out boundaries for a Muslim homeland in the southern Mindanao region, the scene of a insurrection that has lasted decades. Officials in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines have wrangled for years with the group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, about the extent of a territory that would fall under Muslim control. “Demarcation has been agreed,” Rodolfo Garcia, the chief government negotiator, said at the end of two days of talks in Kuala Lumpur with officials from the front. The two sides still have to write the text of the agreement next month and sign the deal, probably in January, he said. Officials from the front were not available to confirm or deny the report.

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