No headway in talks with separatists
Insurgents have shot down the government's offer to hold peace talks to end the violence in the southernmost provinces, Defence Minister General Boonrawd Somtas said yesterday.
"The government has tried to approach various insurgent groups, but there are many groups, so it's hard to hold talks and to find quick solutions," the minister said."Most of the militant groups are sticking to their violent methods as well as their separatist ideology," he said. He said the government had yet to identify a major leader of the insurgency, and said he doubted that older separatist groups retained any operational control over forces on the ground. "The government cannot find anyone willing to come to the negotiating table, because we cannot identify the real leaders." Authorities so far have only managed to identify low-level leaders, who rarely know any of the superiors above them, he added. Boonrawd said he believed the militants feared losing public support due to new reconciliation efforts launched since the September 19 coup in Bangkok.
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