The Philippine government has announced a preliminary peace agreement with the country's largest Muslim group, a deal aimed at ending a 40-year conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III broke the news on Sunday in a nationally televised appearance and described the deal as a "framework agreement" — a roadmap for establishing a new autonomous region to be administered by minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's south.

The agreement follows marathon negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Malaysia, which is brokering the talks.

"This framework agreement paves the way for final and enduring peace in Mindanao," Aquino said, referring to the Philippines' main southern region and the homeland of the country's Muslims.

He cautioned, however, that "the work does not end here. There are still details both sides must hammer out."

The agreement is expected to be signed in a few days in the capital, Manila, officials said.

It spells out the general principles on major issues, including the extent of power, revenues and territory of the Muslim region.

If all goes well, a final peace deal could be reached by 2016, when Aquino's six-year term ends, according to the officials.

The deal marks the most significant progress in 15 years of negotiations with the 11,000-strong Moro group on ending an uprising that has left more than 120,000 people dead and held back development in the south.

Western governments have long worried that rebel strongholds could become breeding grounds for al-Qaeda-affiliated extremists.

"The parties agree that the status quo is unacceptable," said the 13-page agreement. It calls for the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region called Bangsamoro, to replace an existing one, which was created in 1989 and that Aquino characterized Sunday as a failed experiment.

The accord calls for the establishment of a 15-member "Transition Commission" that would thresh out the details of the preliminary agreement and draft a law creating the new Muslim autonomous region in about two years.

The rebels would undertake a "graduated program" to decommission their armed guerrilla units "so that they are put beyond use," the agreement said, without specifying a timetable.

The new Muslim region will be built upon an existing autonomous territory, among the country's poorest and most violent, which includes more than 4 million people living in five provinces, two cities, 113 towns and 2,470 villages.

The Moro rebels had earlier dropped a demand for a separate Muslim state and renounced armed assaults.