The leader of the Phili-ppines' biggest Muslim rebel group yesterday said a peace agreement with Manila is within reach, raising hopes of an end to more than three decades of fighting that has killed over 100,000 people and stunted economic development in the south.

"Just, honourable and lasting peace is close at hand," Ebrahim el Haj Murad, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf), told thousands of members and supporters gathered in a rebel camp near Cotabato City in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao for a three-day public consultation on Muslim self-rule.