Thailand, rebels hold peace talks as blast kills 3

Thailand held its first formal peace talks with a rebel group from its insurgency-racked south Thursday as a bombing killed three people in a stark reminder of the difficulties negotiators face. The one-day meeting with representatives of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgent group in Malaysia's capital was held in a frank but cordial atmosphere, Thai National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattanatabut said. "It was a good atmosphere today. It is a good sign because this is the first time we talked and we talked frankly, which means we trust each other," he told AFP by phone. Neither side released specifics on the discussions but said another meeting would be held in Kuala Lumpur on April 29. "We both want to reduce violence and make peace in the south," Paradorn said. He had said before the talks that Thursday's meeting would focus on ways of reducing violence, but Thailand blamed a morning bombing that killed three paramilitaries on militants seeking to sabotage the peace effort. Five paramilitaries were also wounded in the roadside bombing that targeted a security patrol in the southern province of Narathiwat. Several shadowy groups are waging insurgency in Thailand's southernmost Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia. More than 5,500 people have been killed over the past nine years. "The violence this morning is related to the talks in Malaysia," Thai deputy prime minister Chalerm Yubamrung said in Bangkok. He also voiced the view of many experts who say a generational gap between older insurgents who want to negotiate and more militant younger members will complicate peace efforts. "I am not confident either that (the BRN representatives) are real core leaders," he said. Underlining the highly tentative nature of the talks, Paradorn had acknowledged that Thailand was yet to determine whether the BRN envoys actually control battle-hardened militants on the ground. There is near-daily violence in southern Thailand including bombings, ambushes and even beheadings, but little is known about the various militant groups' identities, structures or aims. The BRN, whose Malay name means "National Revolutionary Front", is one of the larger groups held responsible by Thailand for the violence. "I'd like to be more optimistic, but I'm afraid my sense is that if these talks are going to accomplish anything, it's going to take a long time," said Liow Chin Yong, an international studies professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. He added: "It remains to be seen whether (BRN representative) Ustaz Hassan Taib has any clout at all over those fighting on the ground." But Paradorn said Thailand hoped BRN's involvement would trigger other groups to join future talks. BRN representatives did not make themselves available for comment. The roots of the Thai insurgency draw on longstanding ethnic Malay antipathy to rule by Buddhist Thailand, which started when Bangkok annexed the region in 1902. Muslim-majority Malaysia has already hosted negotiations between the Philippines and Muslim separatists in that country which resulted in a landmark agreement in October aimed at ending a decades-long insurgency there.