Over 10,000 combined govt forces to provide security in Thai South

BANGKOK, December 7 (TNA) - More than 10,000 combined government forces and volunteers will be assigned to provide security in deep southern Thailand during the upcoming New Year’s celebrations. Government and private offices will be closed five days, starting December 31, to celebrate the New Year’s holidays. Lt. Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, commander of the Fourth Army Region, also said the National Security Council is now drafting a framework for peace negotiations for the upcoming peace talks between government officers and insurgent representatives. He said the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Fourth Region Forward had already organised more than 40 platforms in which Wan Abdul Kadir Che Man, head of Bersatu, an umbrella organisation for a number of separatist groups, also participated and exchanged ideas. Besides renewed peace talks with the insurgents which would take place soon, military engineers had also constructed roads in the troubled southern provinces -- Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat – which has helped in a closer cooperation between the native people and state officials. The closer cooperation between the people and officials comes in line with the ‘Tung Yang Daeng Model’ which aims at easing the hard-line ideology of insurgents and cease violence eventually. (TNA)