Peace talks stalled in Thailand southern provinces

The Thai government has postponed peace talks with a southern militant group indefinitely, and is reinforcing military strength in the country’s deep South, following escalating violence in the last several days, according to army chief Prayuth Cha-ocha.

Published

8 years ago

October 11, 2013

Bandid Nijathaworn

He said military forces were instructed to be on the offensive and work closely with 66 related government agencies to deal with militants’ attacks in Thai southern border provinces. The militants’ attacks were symbolic activities to mark their important days, compelling southern authorities to be on full alert, he said.

The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people and injured an additional 10,000 since 2004

The army chief said the fourth round of peace talks with militant group Barisan Revolusi Nasional BRN, originally scheduled for late this month, would be postponed until every party is ready since the southern militants have split into several factions.

Thailand will increase of number of security officials at the talks, he said, emphasising that the Thai government has not accepted any BRN proposals. BRN militants are pressuring the government to accept their five demands while the Thai authorities must be patient and avoid retaliations which could lead to the militants further demand for territorial separation, said Gen Prayuth. He said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was reassured by her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak during their meeting on the sidelines of the 23rd ASEAN Summit in Brunei that Thailand has been at an advantage since it was the BRN who initially asked for the peace dialogues. MCOT online news

The talks are a step toward ending the long-running conflict, but there is still no ceasefire agreement, and a political settlement is far away. The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people and injured an additional 10,000 since 2004, according to the Deep South Watch at Prince of Songkhla Univeristy in Pattani. While there was a rapid escalation of violence during the initial phase of the conflict and after the military coup in 2006, violence has remained at a steady level for the past five years. Separatist violence is currently concentrated in three Malay-Muslim provinces — Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat — as well as four districts in neighbouring Songkhla.

via Peace talks on Thailand’s southern unrest postponed indefinitely | MCOT.net | MCOT.net.

Tourism

Advance booking for Thailand national park visits extended to 60 days

Published

1 day ago

November 26, 2021

Tourism Authority of Thailand

94e28767 advance booking for thailand national park visits extended to 60

Bangkok, 23 November, 2021 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) would like to advise that tourists can now preregister for visiting national parks in Thailand up to 60 days in advance via the mobile application QueQ, from the previous 15-day advance limit.

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) instigated the change as of 22 November, 2021, to better facilitate visitors in their travel planning. For those who want to book accommodation in the parks, there is already advance preregistration required of up to 60 days.

The QueQ app can be downloaded from Play Store or App Store.

As well as helping visitors plan their travels, the advance booking system allows park officials to limit the number of visitors to each park.

There is a total of 155 national parks nationwide. At present, nearly all of Thailand’s national parks have reopened in the Central, Eastern, Northern, Northeastern and Southern regions, following temporary closure due to COVID-19 measures and the annual rainy season closure.

The latest to reopen was Doi Inthanon National Park in Chiang Mai on 10 November, 2021; home to the country’s highest peak the 2,565-metre Doi Inthanon, this park 90 minutes’ drive from Chiang Mai city is a popular place for viewing the so-called ‘sea of mist’ foggy morning weather of the current cooler months.

A list of the opening status of national parks can be seen at the National Park’s Office via this link, or its Facebook page: National Parks of Thailand. The TAT Newsroom (www.tatnews.org) is also providing a regular update on the latest opening and closing status of Thailand’s national parks.

When visiting national parks, tourists are advised to arrive at the park ahead of their preregistered schedule for screening and checking in with the government’s Thai Chana app. It is also important they observe social distancing rules and wear a face mask at all times while in national parks.

They are also advised to abide by the D-M-H-T-T-A precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19: D – Distancing, M – Mask wearing, H – Handwashing, T – Temperature check, T – Testing for COVID-19, and A – alert application.

Visitors to national parks are also asked to respect the natural environment and not litter, and to bear in mind that there is a ban on single-use plastic; such as, cups and eating utensils in national parks nationwide.

The post Advance booking for Thailand national park visits extended to 60 days appeared first on TAT Newsroom.

Asean

China Sustains Huge Ecommerce Development Investment Flows into ASEAN

What Asia Investment Research showed us that there were China outbound investments into several ASEAN markets, led by Singapore, and followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Collectively, these markets saw circa 30 investments n Q3, or about 15 percent of total Chinese outbound volume.

Published

3 days ago

November 25, 2021

ASEAN Briefing