Thailand, Mara Pattani held talks, agree to bring peace to Thailand's deep south

BANGKOK, Sept 3 (TNA) -- Thai government’s negotiators on Friday held preliminary talks with insurgency groups in Malaysia in a bid to resume negotiation to bring peace to Thailand’s deep south. Chief negotiator General Aksara Kerdpol revealed upon his return from Kuala Lumpur that the meeting only laid out details of the next round of talks facilitated by the Malaysian government. The negotiations to cease hostilities in Muslim-majority southern Thailand have been stalled until a renewed push by the Thai government in the wake of a series of bombings and arson attacks in seven provinces last month. He took the chance to ask the members of six insurgency groups whether they have been involved in last month’s attacks. “They said they had not perpetrated the attacks and agree to build peace in the south,” General Aksara said. Gen Aksara said no agreements had been reached in the talks; parties only discussed about preconditions of the negotiations, language to be used in the talks and other administrative issues. He echoed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha’s intention to build trust among the insurgency groups before the start of a formal dialogue. No date had been set for the next round of talks but Gen Aksara said it would be set when all parties were ready and Malaysia as the facilitator would notify Thailand’s National Security Council. Gen Aksara’s visit came ahead of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s two-day visit to Thailand on September 8, when insurgency and related issues are expected to dominate discussions. (TNA)