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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai peace talks delayed |
| 2015-06-20 |
| [Benar] Thai officials trying to restart peace negotiations with southern militants are having problems getting different insurgent factions to cooperate. Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong, of the Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC), said that he was nevertheless continuing with efforts to get a new round of talks going. The process was still in the delicate stage of confidence building, as he described it. He said, "We need to build mutual trust. And to verify that they are legitimate representatives. I didn’t know who is who and what type of person they are." According to an academic involved in previous rounds, Thai government negotiators held a secret meeting early this month with militant representatives in Kuala Lumpur. They were trying to broker a ceasefire ahead of the talks, but failed. Srisompob Jitpiromsri said, "As far as I know, there was a meeting on June 8 or 9, between the Thai government representatives and those of MARA Patani, in Kuala Lumpur," referring to an umbrella group which was established recently among six militant groups in order to negotiate as a united front. MARA Patani consists of three factions of the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) and three other militant groups: the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), Barisan Islam Perberbasan Patani (BIPP), and Gerakan Mujahideen Islami Patani (GMIP). Srisompob said the secret talks focused on a proposed truce during Ramadan. He said, "There was a talk of a ‘ceasefire’ during Ramadan period but both sides could not strike such an agreement. We cannot say that there was an agreement to cease fire during Ramadan." Ramadan-time amnesty Maj. Gen. Nakrob would not confirm the pre-talk meeting, but he acknowledged that the government tried to persuade the militants to agree to a truce as a precursor to peace talks. As many as 473 militants, however, did agree to take part in a Thai military program granting temporary immunity from arrest so they could come out of hiding and reunite with their families during Ramadan, officials said. |
| Posted by:ryuge |