UPDATE - Thailand: Peace talks with insurgents set to resume

UPDATES TO ADD BACKGROUND

By CS Thana

BANGKOK (AA) - Peace talks between Thailand’s military government and insurgents in the country’s majority Muslim south are set to resume Friday, the deputy prime minister announced Thursday.

Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters that the government would be re-engaging in talks with Mara Pattani, an umbrella organization representing several insurgency groups, in Malaysia on Friday.

"However, we will not sign any agreement until there is a peaceful situation in the southern provinces," he said.

Earlier peace talks ended last year without any resolution.

There are also concerns from local analysts that Mara Pattani did not represent groups operating on the ground.

Several bombings linked to separatist insurgents and occurring ahead of the talks targeted resort towns and government offices earlier this month, leaving four dead.

The southern insurgency is rooted in a century-old ethno-cultural conflict between Malay Muslims living in the southern region and the Thai central state where Buddhism is considered the de-facto national religion.

Armed insurgent groups were formed in the 1960s after the then-military dictatorship tried to interfere in Islamic schools, but the insurgency faded in the 1990s.

In 2004, a rejuvenated armed movement -- composed of numerous local cells of fighters loosely grouped around an organization called the National Revolutionary Front or BRN -- emerged.

The confrontation is one of the deadliest low-intensity conflicts on the planet.