Army takes over peace talks?

Thongchai "Bird" McIntyre’s song, Noei Mai? (Tired?), appears to fit the condition of the peace talks between the government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional separatist group which are marred with obstacles

          News about the new round of peace talks which used to occupy the air space and space on the printed media on a regular basis in the past several months have suddenly disappeared after the government decided to postpone the talks until after October 25 but without specifying when the talks take place.

          Army Commander-in-Chief General Prayuth Chan-icha, in particular, is fiercely against the five demands put forth by the BRN.  His hardline position against the demands has raised a big question mark about the future of the peace talks.

          Meanwhile, the Internal Security Operations Command also share General Prayuth’s objection to the demands although the command publicly said that the demands were accepted for consideration.

          Several peace advocacy experts said that the talks appeared to have collapsed because the two parties had nothing to talk about because the government had slammed the door shut on the BRN’s demands.

          Informed sources said that the army had taken the leading role in the peace talks from the National Security Council and the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre. 

          From the beginning, the army and ISOC were sidelined from the peace talks despite the fact that the two organizations had played the pivotal role in dealing with the insurgency problem.  This started to change after the BRN made the five demands prompting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to pay more heed to the army.

          An academic who used to provide advice security matters to the previous government of Thaksin Shinawatra noted that none of the five BRN’s demands could be accepted because they all linked together – that is if one demand was accepted, it would have consequences on the others.

          For instance, if the government accepted the demand for the ownership right of Patani territory, it would amount to the recognition of the BRN’s demand for the creation of a Special Administrative Region, explained the academic.

          Signs of the army taking over the peace talks from the NSC and SBPAC are evident in the escalated military crackdown on suspected separatists.  The escalated crackdown is part of the military strategy to gain an upper hand over the BRN in the peace talks.

          The army’s approaches towards the other separatist groups are also a part of the same strategy to undercut the bargaining power of the BRN.

          To sum up, the peace talks are not yet dead although it is still a question mark about whether or when the talks will proceed.  It appears that there are two persons who have the real say to decide on the fate of the talks.  They are Thaksin and General Prayuth.

          But, so far, we are yet to hear from the two men.

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Caption : General Prayuth Chan-icha Army Commander-in-Chief

Photo by : Kunlaphun Siripimamporn from The Nation

Note : This article was translated from the editorial of Isra News Center http://bit.ly/1a7f3z4