{{Thailand’s military government said on Monday peace in the Muslim-dominated south was an “urgent national priority” for the Buddhist-majority country following a decade of unrest blamed on separatists.}}<\/p>\n
The message comes a week after the start of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan and days after the new government, led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, said it would revive talks aimed at bringing peace to the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.<\/p>\n
“The south is an urgent national priority. Prayuth wants firmer measures and more success in the south,” Udomdet Sitabutr, secretary-general of the ruling National Council for Peace and Order, told reporters ahead of a visit to the region.<\/p>\n
Prayuth said in his weekly speech to the nation on Friday the military government wanted to use political strategies over military tactics in the south.<\/p>\n
A low-level insurgency has claimed more than 6,000 lives since 2004 following the resurgence of a dormant Muslim separatist movement, according to Deep South Watch, which monitors the violence.<\/p>\n
Resistance to Buddhist rule has existed for decades in the predominantly Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, which were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate until annexed by Thailand in 1902.<\/p>\n
The government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinwatra, which was ousted by the military in May, started peace talks last year with the BRN, or National Revolutionary Front. <\/p>\n
The talks quickly collapsed and efforts to revive them were put on hold while Yingluck focused on containing months of street protests.<\/p>\n
Violent attacks spiked during Ramadan last year partly, authorities said, in retaliation to the peace talks, which some rebel groups refused to acknowledge.<\/p>\n
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