|
|
Article: Thai coup may ease violence in south; Army chief, a Muslim himself, favors a softer approach to separatist guerrillas in the three Muslim provinces.(WORLD)
- Article from:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- Article date:
- September 26, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Christian Science Publishing Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Byline: Daniel Ten Kate Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
BANGKOK, THAILAND -- The bloodless coup last week that deposed Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's twice-elected prime minister, has given Muslim leaders in the country's violence-plagued southern provinces hope that the separatist struggle may soon abate.
In the weeks before the putsch, coup leader and army commander Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who now heads the military junta, sparred publicly with Mr. Thaksin over the best way to calm the insurgency that has devastated the majority Malay Muslim provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.
Commander Sondhi, the country's first Muslim ...