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Peace activists play amnesty card to win over insurgents

Amid the upsurge in violence in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south, a grass-roots effort is under way to negotiate the surrender of low-level militants.

Using a network of former separatist gunmen and community leaders, activists in Narathiwat province say they have persuaded more than 200 militants to turn themselves in to local authorities this year.

Suspects who surrender are paraded before the Thai media, given an amnesty for minor offences, sent to a re-education camp in Songkhla province and returned home with their records clean.

Some observers are sceptical of the value of suspects who come forward, saying that most are minor players in an insurgency that has recruited thousands of local Muslims into its ranks.

Others who surrender are thought to be petty criminals or poor villagers whose names are on police blacklists and who are too scared to protest their innocence, amid fears of extrajudicial death squads.

The battle is for the allegiance of Muslims living in Thailand's three southernmost provinces, whose Malay identity and language have long resisted Thai influence.

A previous generation of separatists led a decades-long insurgency that fizzled out in the 1980s as a government amnesty programme and political reforms in the south began to bear fruit. But a new insurgency emerged last year to challenge Bangkok's rule.

Peace activists argue that only through persuasion and example can the authorities hope to win over moderates and offer a future to the disaffected.

'If they're causing problems, but they're not the [insurgency] leaders, then we can clear their names,' said Suriya Tawanchay, who runs a peace foundation in Narathiwat.

In the village of Ban Pari, deep in the insurgency 'red zone', efforts to negotiate the surrender of militant cells have run into resistance.

Sitting on his porch, village headman Usman Tayeh points out the bullet marks in the door from a recent gun battle.

Mr Tayeh, 51, said separatist gunmen tried to kill him because he was trying to force their members to turn themselves in to the authorities.

So far, 28 men from Ban Pari have surrendered, and Mr Tayeh said the separatist ringleaders have left the village for fear of arrest.

Those who surrender and return to the community are paid 4,500 baht ($850) a month to work as village guards.

One of those is Ya Mameh, a rubber tapper who says he fell under the influence of an Islamic teacher who set up militant cells in the village, though he denies taking part in the violence.

'He preached about Islam and related it to his movement and said we must get back our land' from Thailand, he said.

Mr Tayeh said other militants who surrendered were accused of planting bombs, burning public schools and threatening government officials. Murder suspects are not eligible for amnesty, though leniency may be shown to those who co-operate with authorities.

But the idea of defeating the southern insurgency with targeted amnesties rings hollow to security analysts who track the conflict.

The previous amnesty programme in the 1980s came as the separatist movement was losing steam, unlike the situation today. Far from slowing the insurgency, the wave of surrenders has coincided with an upsurge in violence this year, they argue.

'It hasn't affected the ability of militants to stage attacks, even more lethal and sophisticated attacks,' said Paul Quaglia, director of PSA Asia, a security consultancy in Bangkok.

That those who surrender were able to return home without fear of reprisal attacks from militants also raises questions over their value, he said.

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