Rebels set for talks with Indian government

THAILAND: Indian negotiators were to open talks with an Indian separatist group Saturday in Bangkok to try to save a ceasefire from collapsing in one of South Asia's longest-running insurgencies, officials said.

Indian junior minister Oscar Fernandes and New Delhi's main peace negotiator K. Padmanabhaiah were due to meet leaders of the main rebel group in Nagaland state, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM).

"The two-day talks will primarily focus on the question of extending the ceasefire and other major demands," an Indian home ministry official said, requesting anonymity.

"We're confident of the two sides agreeing to extend the ceasefire as the people of Nagaland want peace and a permanent solution to the problem," he said, declining to elaborate. The nine-year-old truce expires July 31.

The NSCN-IM, led by guerrilla leaders Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, threatened last week not to extend the ceasefire and accused the army of supplying weapons to a rival rebel outfit to provoke a "fratricidal war."

"The question of extending the ceasefire depends on the outcome of the talks," R.H. Raising, a senior NSCN-IM leader, said by telephone from Nagaland.

The original rebel group split in 1988 and the two sides regularly clash for territorial supremacy. At least 200 members of both outfits have been killed in turf battles in the past five years.

The main NSCN-IM rebel group wants a "Greater Nagaland" to unite 1.2 million Nagas, a demand strongly opposed by neighbouring Indian states.

The Khaplang group, which struck a ceasefire with India's government in 2001, wants an independent tribal homeland and so far has held no peace talks.

BANGKOK, Sunday AFP