BANGKOK, Dec 12 (Bernama): The Thai government and the National Revolutionary Front (BRN), the most influential armed group in southern Thailand, are working on a draft agreement including a ceasefire so that peace talks can continue.
In a statement, BRN said the draft contained conditions such as a ceasefire and guarantees of safety and immunity for BRN representatives who would return to the country to hold consultations with local residents.
"This draft agreement is still in the discussion stage and it is important to end the conflict and create lasting peace in southern Thailand.
"It (the draft agreement) was announced before the next negotiations where the Malaysian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim acts as a facilitator so that it can bring positive changes to the reconciliation process in southern Thailand," he said.
The BRN said a meeting between chief negotiator General Wanlop Rugsanaoh and the BRN was expected to be held soon.
In the statement, BRN said it has never rejected peace negotiations.
"BRN is committed to finding a solution," he said.
Talks between the government and rebels that began in 2013 to bring peace stalled following a military coup in Thailand a year later. Negotiations continued later without the main parties including BRN.
However, negotiations between the Thai government and the BRN began in 2019. It has made concrete and significant progress that brings hope to an end to violence in Thailand's southern border region after a series of meetings.
Former Malaysian national police chief Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor, representing the Malaysian government, acted as a facilitator for the peace talks in southern Thailand.
Statistics by the independent monitoring group Deep South Watch show an unrelenting cycle of violence in southern Thailand, starting in 2004 in Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla, which has claimed more than 7,000 lives so far. - Bernama
