Thai PM vows to stick with rebel peace talks

THAILAND: Thailand's army-backed Premier Surayud Chulanont on Thursday pledged to stick to a plan to hold talks with separatists in the nation's Muslim-majority south despite an upsurge in deadly violence.

"I think before the end of my government, I think we can make some progress in terms of trying to calm down the violence and initiate some talks" with "terrorists who are trying to create violence in the south," he told the BBC.

Surayud said his government was ready for peace talks, but acknowledged in the interview with the British network that there could be no quick fix to the three-year insurgency raging along Thailand's border with Malaysia.

"I think it will not be very easy to stop all this violence within a four-month period. It will take a long time, trying to convince people that this is not the correct way to solve the problem," Surayud said.

"If they want to solve the problem, they should come and talk. That's the best way," said the former general. Surayud, who came to power after a September coup that ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, quickly adopted a conciliatory approach in a bid to solve the insurgency, which has claimed nearly 2,000 lives since January 2004.

In a reversal of Thaksin's heavy-handed tactics, Surayud apologised to Muslims for past abuses, offered to hold talks with insurgents and proposed a special economic zone in the south, one of the kingdom's poorest regions.

Bangkok, Thursday, AFP.