This Week in Peace #72: February 28

This week, former Thai PM apologizes for Tak Bai Massacre. UN criticizes Sudanese RSF’s plans for parallel governing authority. Israel-Gaza ceasefire holds out despite difficult circumstances.

Former Thai PM Apologizes for Tak Bai Massacre

On February 23, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra apologized for the Tak Bai Massacre. The massacre, which occured on October 25 2004, involved seven Muslim protesters being killed at a rally in front of a police station in Thailand’s southern province of Narathiwat. Another 78 protesters suffocated while being transported in trucks to a military camp.

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. 

Shinawatra was Thailand’s prime minister at the time of the massacre. In an address to teachers and officials in Narathiwat on February 23, Shinawatra said, “If mistakes were made that caused dissatisfaction among the people, I would like to ask for forgiveness so I can help solve the problems,” as quoted in Thai PBS. Thaksin added that Muslims are taught to forgive, and that he wanted to apologize for the “mistake.”

This development comes after the case around the massacre was closed in October 2024 with no justice served, after all seven defendants failed to report to the judges, passing the 20-year statute of limitations. 

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.”

UN Criticizes Sudanese RSF’s Plans for Parallel Governing Authority

On February 26, the United Nations (UN) criticized the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for announcing plans to establish a parallel governing authority in areas under its control, Voice of America (VOA) reported. This condemnation came after, on February 22, the RSF and its allies signed a 16-page ‘charter’ in Kenya to establish a governing authority. 

The ‘charter’ said that the government did not exist to divide the country, but to unify it and end the war, and accused the army-affiliated government of failing to do this. The charter also called for “secular, democratic, non-centralised state” with one national army. 

However, U.N Security Council members are not convinced. Algeria’s Deputy Ambassador Toufik Koudri called the charter a “dangerous step that fuels further fragmentation in Sudan and derails ongoing efforts toward peace and dialogue.” This was on behalf of three African members of the Security Council including Algeria, Sierra Leone, and Somalia, as well as Guyana.

Council diplomats said that Algeria, Sierra Leone, and Somalia had proposed a draft statement for the council to consider expressing “grave concern” over the development. Nearly every council member disapproved of the move. 

This update comes after, 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.” 

Israel-Gaza Ceasefire Holds Out Despite Difficult Circumstances

Despite difficult circumstances, the Israel-Gaza ceasefire is holding out. Following a delay over what Israel described as “humiliating ceremonies” for hostages and hostages’ bodies released by Hamas, the Israeli government later agreed to a new exchange. As part of the Egyptian-brokered exchange, Hamas released four hostages’ bodies in exchange for Israel’s release of over 600 Palestinian prisoners. The exchange took place at around midnight between February 26 and 27.

On February 28, Israel and Gaza began negotiating the Phase 2 of the ceasefire, which is meant to bring an end to the war. Israel says there are 59 remaining hostages, 24 of whom are still believed to be alive, The Associated Press (AP) reported. The outlet noted that Hamas has returned 33 hostages, including eight bodies, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Keywords: peace, conflict, Thailand, Thai, Sudan, Thaksin, Thaksin Shinawatra, Sudan, Sudanese, Israel, Palestine, Gaza, conflict resolution, ceasefire