After four years of fruitless talks, a peace dialogue to end a separatist insurgency in southern Thailand may be set to gain traction.
The new head of Thailand's peace dialogue panel announced on November 29 that the main Malay-Muslim militant organization behind 15 years of insurgency may soon come to the table -- a development that would give a new lease of life to the moribund process. Days later came a report that representatives of this group, Barisan Revolusi Nasional Patani Melayu, known as the BRN, recently met Thai officials in Berlin.