New peace talks chief ‘up to the task’, insists army
The newly-appointed chief of the Thai negotiation team for peace talks with southern insurgents has what it takes to deliver, Lt Gen Pornsak Poonsawat, Fourth Army Region commander said.
Lt Gen Pornsak said the efforts to bring peace to the violence-torn deep South will see progress under the guidance of Gen Udomchai Thammasaroraj, a former 4th Army commander, who was recently appointed as the new chief negotiator.
“It [the appointment] will help the missions to solve problems and restore peace move together in the same direction,” he said.
Lt Gen Pornsak was speaking at a forum on the southern unrest, held at the forward command of the Internal Security Operations Command’s Region 4 in Pattani’s Yarang district.
At the discussion, Lt Gen Pornsak said the separatist movement “remains a major driving force behind the southern violence”.
While some observers say the situation in the deep South is complex with networks involved in illegal operations involving drugs and contraband, with smugglers exploiting the unrest for their own gain, Lt Gen Pornsak insisted that the separatist movement is the main culprit.
Gen Udomchai has been appointed as the new chief negotiator in the peace dialogue with the Mara Patani, an umbrella organisation of insurgent groups in the South.
He replaces Gen Aksara Kerdphol, who has led the negotiation team for more than four years.
The appointment was approved at a meeting on Thursday of a steering committee overseeing policy and strategy in the southernmost provinces, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon.
Final endorsement for the appointment will be sought from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and the cabinet shortly.
Currently, Gen Udomchai sits on a government special delegation to end the southern unrest.
He also serves as an adviser to Lt Gen Pornsak, the new chief of the 4th Army Region who took up the post early this month.
Gen Aksara said on Friday that he was ready to step aside, adding that Lt Gen Udomchai, as the former 4th army commander, has what it takes to lead the talks.
He also insisted that during his four-year stint as chief negotiator, he has succeeded in bringing peace to the deep South.
Currently, there are less than 100 violent incidents in the region, compared to more than 500 in 2014 when he was appointed to the job, he said.
Gen Prayut is reportedly scheduled to hold talks with his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad about the future of southern peace talks when they meet late this month.
A massive cache of narcotics, including more than 47 million speed pills, has been seized by army border surveillance units this year, said an army spokesman yesterday.
Among the other confiscated drugs are 12,024 kilogrammes of marijuana, 2,738kg of heroin and 983kg of crystal meth or ya ice, Col Sirichan Ngathong, deputy spokeswoman for the army told the media.
“These narcotics were confiscated from smugglers along borders and resulted in the arrests of 3,299 suspects,” Col Sirichan said.
“In addition, about 26,000 illegal immigrants have also been arrested along the borders across the country,” she added.
The army has also been working with forest officials to combat illegal logging.
From the confiscated 17,000 logs, 9,356 are pricey phayung or Siamese rosewood, 844 teakwood, 713 Burma padauk wood, and some 7,010 logs of wood of other kinds. A total of 121 wood poachers have been apprehended, Col Sirichan said.
The forces have also stepped up border surveillance to monitor people moving in and out via border checkpoints and natural border channels. A total of 26,070 people have been detained for illegal entry, most of them illegal migrant workers, she said.
Col Sirichan said the forces have also sought cooperation from neighbouring countries to boost border security.
She added that army border defence forces have worked closely with other state agencies to strengthen air and land border surveillance.
Local residents have been helpful in providing information leading to arrests, Col Sirichan said.