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| Southeast Asia |
| Thailand's chief ready to negotiate with jihadis |
| 2007-05-17 |
| Thailand's army chief said Wednesday he is ready to negotiate a peace deal with leaders of a murky insurgency in the country's restive south. "The military is stressing the need to negotiate a peaceful solution rather than one by force," Army Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin told a group of nearly three dozen Thai editors and columnists. "We have the names of the leaders of the movement in hand and are working to confirm their identity before approaching them." Sonthi did not say when or where peace talks would be held. Sonthi said he met recently with leaders of the separatist Pattani United Liberation Organization in an unidentified country and they told him they were not taking part in the insurgency. Instead, Sonthi blamed Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or National Revolution Front for much of the violence in the south. He also estimated that there about 5,000 militants operating in the country's three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, most of whom are part of the BRN. Meanwhile: Insurgents opened fire into a villager's home in Yala province before setting it on fire on Wednesday night, police said Thursday. Paisarn Maka, a rubber tapper, said he was sleeping with family members when an unknown number of insurgents fired into the house in Bannang Sata district. They then doused the door with petrol and set it ablaze. No one was hurt in the twin attack. Mr Paisarn did not dare to report to police until the morning because he was afraid of further attacks. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #4 I'm not sure you'll like their demands: Sharia Law, evict every single infidel, kill all apostates, you know, all the usual stuff. I don't think there can be any negotiating with them. After all your eagerness to negotiate is a sign of weakness, that means they must be winning, why should they negotiate when they can go for the big win now. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-05-17 23:51 |
| #3 Of course, he's a Muslim. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-05-17 09:50 |
| #2 Thailand's chief ready to Here, fixed it. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-05-17 08:33 |
| #1 Negotiating with this crowd validates their tactics. Their tactics are NOT acceptable, therefor negotiation is not acceptable. Civilized peoples everywhere seem to have lost their instinct for self-preservation. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-05-17 07:23 |