Thailand To Lift Martial Law, Issue Amnesty

[george]

Thailand to lift martial law, issue amnesty

BANGKOK: -- Thailand will lift martial law in parts of the restive Muslim south and issue an amnesty for separatists in an effort to end three months of violence there, officials said Monday.

"This amnesty will be for people who are now hiding in the jungle, there are thousands of them," Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said after a meeting of top security officials to devise a new policy on the south.

Justice ministry officials said the amnesty was only open to those accused of separatist activity before January 5, the day after a raid on an army weapons depot which left four soldiers dead.

The attack kicked off an alarming spate of violence in the south, with brutal strikes against security forces and government officials that have left nearly 60 people dead.

Chavalit said the interior ministry will also decide which areas in the three worst-hit southern provinces currently under martial law will have the restrictions lifted. No date was set for the move. Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisang said the government expected that the new policy would restore peace in the troubled region, where a separatist rebellion raged until the 1980s.

"These measures we talked about today will solve the problems in the south, we are not talking about how to win the battle but how everyone can win without doing any battle," he said.

--AFP 2004-04-06