This week, Thai minister of defense speaks up for reassessment of approach in country’s South. US ambassador makes statement on determination of genocide in Sudan. After peace deal, essential supplies slowly returns to Pakistani district.
Thai Minister of Defense Speaks Up for Reassessment of Approach in Country’s South
Thailand’s minister of defense is speaking up for a reassessment of the country’s approach to conflict in its southern region. On January 6, Minister of Defense Phumtham Wechayachai announced the decision to lift the state of emergency in Yaha district of Yala province, Bangkok Post and Thai PBS reported.
South Thailand has a Muslim-majority population, and was forcibly incorporated into a Buddhist Siam in 1909. The region’s separatist insurgency escalated in the early 2000s, and has been met with violent suppression from the state.
With violence in South Thailand continuing to this day, Wechayachai called into question whether Thailand is taking the right steps to arrive at peace. He instructed relevant agencies to find solutions within a month, stressing that a new head of Thailand’s peace talk team will only be appointed when clear strategies are used.
This development comes after a high-profile case involving the deaths of 85 Muslim protesters in South Thailand was closed in October with no justice served. On October 25, 2004, seven protesters at a rally in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat province were shot dead in front of a police station, and another 78 suffocated after being arrested and stacked on top of one another in military trucks. The case was closed on October 25, 2024, after all seven defendants failed to report to the judges, passing the 20-year statute of limitations.
Wechayachai said that former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is now an advisor to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, could help to stabilize the Thai-Malaysian border, and support the region’s economic development.
Shinawatra has been criticized for his human rights record in South Thailand. Human Rights Watch criticized his emergency decree which was put into effect in 2005, saying the decree “violates Thailand’s international legal obligations, Thailand’s Constitution, and Thai laws, and may make matters worse.”
US Ambassador Makes Statement on Determination of Genocide in Sudan
On January 7, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield released a statement determining that “members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan.”
The statement mentioned that in 2023, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined that members of the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) had both committed war crimes. It went on to say that RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo had “wantonly ignored commitments under international humanitarian law, the 2023 ‘Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan,’ and the 2024 Code of Conduct produced by the Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan initiative.”
The statement declared that the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is now being sanctioned for destabilizing Sudan and undermining a democratic transition. However, it stressed that the US did not support either side of the war.
The RSF has rejected the move, and denies harming civilians, blaming rogue actors for this instead.
After Peace Deal, Essential Supplies Slowly Returns to Pakistani District
Last week, Sunni and Shia tribes reached a peace deal in Pakistan’s Kurram district, located in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Essential supplies is now slowly returning to the district.
On January 8, Dawn reported that a convoy of 40 vehicles carrying food and other essentials was dispatched to the district, after being delayed in Thall for five days, according to government officials. A Khyber Pakhtunkwa spokesperson said that 10 of the trucks, destined for the Bagan area, had made it there, and another convoy of 30 vehicles had arrived in Parachinar and Upper Kurram.
The spokesperson, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, praised the cooperation of Kurram’s elders in maintaining peace, saying that the participation of leader gatherings and peace committees was a major step towards long-term stability in the region.
Tara Abhasakun
Tara Abhasakun is Peace News Network (PNN)'s managing editor. She is journalist based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and formerly in Bangkok, Thailand. She has reported on a range of human rights issues involving youth protests in Thailand, as well as arts and culture. Tara's work has appeared in several outlets, including Al Jazeera and South China Morning Post.
