Thailand's new government must continue engaging with insurgents in the country's south to ensure peace, a top Thai official involved in the talks said on Friday.
An alliance led by the progressive Move Forward party, which won this month's general election, says it will prioritize peace-building in the predominantly Muslim and ethnically Malay southern provinces, where conflict has flared on and off for decades.
General Wanlop Rugsanaoh, head of Thailand's Peace Dialogue Panel said the next government must "maintain continuity and momentum of the talks", which resumed last year after a two-year suspension due to the pandemic.
The region shares a border with Malaysia and was part of an independent Malay sultanate, Patani, before it was annexed by Thailand in 1909 as part of a treaty with Britain.
The most recent phase of conflict erupted in 2004, and more than 7,300 people have been killed since then, according to Deep South Watch, a group that monitors the violence.
Read more here.
