Thai peace chief says all insurgent groups welcome in peace talks

The Thai southern peace negotiator chief said he welcomed all insurgent groups to the ongoing peace talks as Thailand wanted to see long-term and sustainable peace in the South.

Thanut Suvarnananda said he planned to include the Patani United Liberation Organisation (PULO) and other groups in the talks with the Thai government.

He was speaking in response to a statement by PULO president Kasturi Mahkota, who said that his group rejected new peace talks between the Thai government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani (BRN) if the process did not involve other insurgent groups.

Besides PULO, the Patani Islamic Liberation Front (BIPP) and the Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Pattani (GMIP) should also be involved, as violence in southern Thailand does not involve only one party, he said, according to Utusan Malaysia, a Malay-language newspaper.

“I agree with the view of former PULO leader Samae Tananam, who said that violence in southern Thailand was not caused by any single group or simply by those with differing views,” Kasturi said.

He said peace talks had been held for many years without producing a successful resolution, adding that resolving conflicts was difficult, as some countries had managed to settle their conflicts while others had not.

Kasturi was commenting on Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s decision to appoint National Intelligence Agency director Thanut as head of the Royal Thai Government Peace Dialogue Panel (PEDP/RTG), replacing Gen Sommak Rungsita.

The peace dialogue between the Thai government and insurgent groups in southern Thailand began in 2013, with Malaysia serving as facilitator.

Calls for political solutions

Kasturi, who was attending an international symposium on minority issues in Türkiye, said the Thai government must be prepared to discuss genuine political issues as part of efforts to resolve the conflict.

“I have proposed many things to the government to resolve the problems in the southern border provinces. These include granting amnesty to those accused in security-related cases,” he said.

His comments come as the Thai government prepares to pursue a new phase of peace dialogue with the BRN, which has been the main insurgent movement involved in the formal peace process in recent years.