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| Southeast Asia |
| Muslim rebel says Thai govt sabotaging peace bid |
| 2007-03-15 |
| A Muslim rebel leader accused the Thai government on Thursday of sabotaging peace moves in the restive south of the country, stoking popular anger and fuelling more violence. Abu Najhan, a leader of the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO), said Thailand had misrepresented the position of Muslim rebel groups after they had held a series of recent peace talks in neighbouring Malaysia. The peace drive, brokered by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and backed by Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, called for an amnesty in exchange for ceasefire. "All of us signed the peace proposals but the Thai authorities are telling the people that we have surrendered. This has angered southern Muslims," Najhan told Reuters in a telephone interview, speaking from a secret hideout. "The Muslims are upset with us. We have been sabotaged." But a Thai general involved in the talks said the dialogue had been suspended after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a coup last September. "The unofficial peace plan, which former Prime Minister Mahathir was kindly helping, has come to a halt after the new government preferred to work with Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi," General Vaipot Srinual told Reuters. Until August last year, former prime minister Mahathir had been meeting Muslim leaders from the Thai south about possible conditions for striking a peace deal with Thailand. Mahathir has spoken of the potential for a form of autonomy for the south. The groups represented in the Mahathir peace talks were all separatist guerrilla groups active in the 1970s and 1980s in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, an independent sultanate until annexed by Thailand a century ago. The groups included Bersatu, an umbrella group, PULO, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or National Revolutionary Front in Malay, and the Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Pattani, or Pattani Islamic Mujahideen Movement. "There must be give and take," Mahathir's son, Mukhriz Mahathir, told Reuters on Thursday. He described the current security situation in the Thai provinces as alarming. "We were hoping the Thai government would engage the southerners to some discussions, by addressing the real concern." PULO's Najhan denied the rebels were behind the attacks on civilians: "Our fighters would not do that, we won't attack civilians. Our real enemy is the Thai military." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 Deport deport deport and patrol the border with shoot to kill orders |
| Posted by: anon1 2007-03-15 22:58 |