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| Friday, 4 January 2002 |
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Indian officials to meet separatist tribal leaders in Bangkok GUWAHATI, India, Jan 3 (AFP) - Indian officials are to hold peace talks Friday with exiled tribal rebel leaders in Bangkok, in the latest move to end a 54-year insurgency in the northeastern state of Nagaland. "The meeting between the two sides is a part of the ongoing peace talks with the outlawed National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) led by factional leaders Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah," an Indian home ministry official said from New Delhi on Thursday. The official said a former federal home secretary, K. Padmanabhaiah, would lead the Indian side at the talks in the Thai capital, while Naga leaders Swu and Muivah would represent the NSCN. At least 30 tribal Naga community leaders, including representatives from the powerful Baptist church, are arriving in Bangkok to participate in the talks between government officials and separatist leaders. "We have been invited by the NSCN to take part in the talks," M Vero, president of the Naga Hoho, the supreme tribal council in Nagaland, northeastern India, said. "Reconciliation among all warring groups is the foremost issue in Nagaland and during the Bangkok talks we will focus on the need for unity among all the tribes and groups," he said. The NSCN, which is fighting for an independent tribal homeland, agreed a ceasefire with New Delhi in August 1997 following which several rounds of peace talks were held abroad between the militant leadership and government emissaries. The last round of talks was held in the Japanese city of Osaka in December when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee met Swu and Muivah. Although the Bangkok summit has raised hopes for peace in Nagaland, local leaders said New Delhi should sit down for talks with all Naga groups together. "There can be permanent peace only when the Indian government holds negotiations with all Naga factions and groups," Nagaland chief minister S.C. Jamir told AFP by telephone from the state capital Kohima. "Holding talks with one group cannot solve the problem." About 25,000 people have died since the separatist insurgency broke out more than five decades ago. |
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