Thailand's military government is to revive talks aimed at bringing peace to the troubled south, where Muslim separatists have fought the government for over a decade, a senior military official said on Monday.
Udomdet Sitabutr, secretary-general of the military's National Council for Peace and Order, said talks, brokered by Malaysia, with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgent group would restart after stalling last year.
A low-level insurgency in the south has claimed more than 5,700 lives since 2004 following the resurgence of a dormant Muslim separatist movement.
"The talks are still alive but the details must be fleshed out so that we can move forward and draw up a road map to peace," Udomdet told reporters. "Thailand trusts Malaysia as the mediator. We must prepare details to go into the talks."
Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but parts of the south, in particular the three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, are majority Muslim and resistance to central government rule has existed there for decades.
Also on Monday, Thailand's military government said it had begun an overhaul of the electoral system following an announcement by junta leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha that polls could take place by late 2015.
The military took power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six months of street demonstrations that contributed to the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. A court had already ordered her to step down after finding her guilty of abuse of power on May 7.
Permanent secretary for defence Surasak Kanchanarat said political party reform, decentralisation of power and "investigations and penalties for those groups that commit electoral fraud" were top on the military's agenda.
"We will talk about obstacles to an election and corruption," Surasak told reporters ahead of a meeting later on Monday with the Election Commision.
The junta, formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order, has scrapped the constitution and its leader, General Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Friday that a new, temporary charter would be ready in July.
The army chief said this would allow an interim cabinet to be installed by September and a reform council would then start work on a longer-term constitution.
He also said in his weekly televised speech that a general election could be held around October 2015, the firmest date he has given until now.
The United States and European Union downgraded diplomatic ties with Thailand after the coup. Washington has called for a quick return to civilian government and a move toward "free and fair elections".
The junta's plans for sweeping electoral reforms echo demands made by the anti-government demonstrators who hounded Yingluck. They wanted reforms before a new election and disrupted a Feb. 2 vote that was later annulled by a court.
Yingluck's government and the Election Commission, which was accused of bias by Yingluck's supporters, failed to agree on a new election date prior to the military seizing power.
The toppling by the army of her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, in 2006 ignited a long-running struggle between the conservative middle-class and Thaksin's largely rural supporters. The military has said it wants to put an end to Thailand's often violent political cycle.
The protesters accused Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile abroad to avoid a corruption sentence handed down in 2008, of rampant vote-buying and said they wanted to eliminate his "toxic" political influence.
REUTERS