Man-Hee Lee, an arbitrator who ended the conflict at Mindanao

     Man-Hee Lee, a peace leader of private peace organization, played a big role for ending the conflict at Mindanao. This visit was at the request of Archbishop Antonio Ledesma Cagayan de Oro.

     Mindanao is an Island of Philippine where severe religious conflicts took place for over 40 years. Mainly, the fights were between Islam and Catholic. It was so tense that it was not safe for the citizens to live. The streets were full of soldiers and gun shooting every day. However, the religious leaders from Catholic (the former archbishop Fernando R. Capalla of
Catholic representative) and Islam (Esmael G. Mangudadatu of Islam representative and Maguindanao governor of Islam) signed the peace treaty.

     The former president of Philippine expressed his gratitude towards Man-Hee Lee representative saying that he has done what the president couldn’t do.

     In addition, on January 24th -25th, Man-Hee Lee and emissaries of peace set a peace walk with about 1000 religious leaders and local youth beyond religion and faction. After he Peace Walk, all kinds of religious leaders signed the peace agreement and agreed for ending the war and pursue world peace. This peace agreement was a decisive catalyst to the Philippine government accepting Islamic autonomy of Mindanao.

     Man-Hee Lee representative spoke about his aspiration for peace that he will continue the peace activity with all nations and peaceful reunification of Korea. 

Northern Ireland peace process

Did you know that England and Ireland were in conflict for years? Or Ireland split into two countries and had civil war? Ireland was ruled by England starting in 12^th century. Ireland wanted to be independent and declared independence on 21 January 1919. However, on the same day, the guerrilla war started when the two British policemen in Ireland were attacked.

After the bloody war, both sides agreed to ceasefire and signed Anglo-Irish Treaty. A year later, Ireland became a self-governing state except Northern Ireland (remained within United Kingdom).

Because of the difference in religion and politics (republicans vs. loyalists, Irish Catholics vs.Protestants), the violence continued in Northern Ireland. Moreover, the disagreement among republicans over the Anglo-Irish Treaty led to a civil war for 11 months in 1922, and the disputes did not stopped until 1994.

In 1994, the leaders of Ireland and Northern Ireland tried to end the disputes and bring peace to both countries. This act is called Northern Ireland peace process. After this act, there has been no dispute but peace until now.

             From this act, I imagined how it would be like to have a peace process between South and North Korea. It is such a heart-breaking for hearing the news of the separated families of South and North Korea get together only for a short time and they have to wait for another years to see them. Even though, Koreans are same nation, they consider each other as enemies. I, as a peace lover, hope these two countries will be united someday and live in concord.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_peace_process

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