Gen Prawit targets to conclude southern peace talks this year

BANGKOK, April 6 (TNA) -- Deputy Prime Minister/Defemce Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon on Wednesday said the government targeted to conclude peace talks in order to end slightly more than 12-year bloody violence in deep Southern Thailand within this year. He said this while travelling to the southern province of Narathiwat to preside over a ceremony welcoming more than 650 former insurgents who have decided to surrender their weapons and return to the society after feeling exhausted towards the ongoing fighting against the government forces. To date, nearly 2,000 insurgents operating in the deep South have turned over a new leaf. The Defence Ministry spokesman said some of the insurgents want to see peace and want to return to their families, especially the March 13 incident in which a group of separatists stormed the Cho-airong Hospital in Narathiwat and used it as a stronghold to attack a nearby government outpost. After presiding over the ceremony, Gen Prawit chaired a meeting of the Committee to Mobilise Policy and Strategy to Solve Problems in the Southern Border Provinces, visited paramilitary rangers and boosted their morale, and visited Cho-airong Hospital. Gen Prawit said he had discussed with Gen Aksara Kerdpol, chief of peace negotiations with the separatists, and had mutually agreed that the negotiations must be concluded within this year. (TNA)