Bangkok To Continue With Southern Thailand Peace Talks - Head Of Negotiation Panel

By Mohd Haikal Mohd Isa BANGKOK, May 3 (Bernama) -- Bangkok will continue talking with militant groups in southern Thailand to secure lasting peace in the volatile region, despite both sides failing to agree on a key aspect of the talks during their meeting in Kuala Lumpur last week. Head of the government negotiation panel to the peace talks, Gen Aksara Kerdphol, said talks between the government and the militant groups remained the only option in resolving the problem in southern Thailand. "Every time when I come back from the peace talks, I always report to the Prime Minister (Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha), who tells me that the (peace) talks must be continued but it needs time." "If we do not continue the talks (with the militants), what is the peaceful solution for resolving the problem (in southern Thailand)?" he told Bernama in a telephone interview recently. He was replying to a suggestion by the local media that the peace talks which were facilitated by Malaysia be abandoned after the two parties failed to reach agreement on the terms of reference for the talks. Last week, representatives from the government and Mara Patani, an umbrella body of southern Thailand militant groups, met in the Malaysian capital but failed to make any headway in the talks. According to Aksara, both sides still encountered major differences on several key issues and needed to iron them out before talks could progress to the next stage. "We (the government) wanted the peace first, then the agreement on the issues, but they (the militants) want to sign (the agreement) first, before the peace," he said. Aksara acknowledged Mara Patani's disappointment over the government's refusal to endorse the terms of reference. The government, he said, also could not agree with Mara Patani on the need to officially recognise the umbrella body as its counterpart in the peace talks, and still referred them as "Party B". On the next meeting with the militant groups, he said, the schedule had not been decided yet but both sides needed to have an agenda before setting the appointment for the meeting. --BERNAMA