The Thai army chief who staged last month's coup said Thursday he has agreed to hold the first talks with Muslim rebels since an insurgency erupted in 2004, an abrupt policy change from the administration of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who led the bloodless coup against Thaksin on September 19, said that officials from certain rebel factions had contacted a top army commander and requested talks. "I have agreed to the talks," Sondhi said. "I stress that these will be talks, not negotiations." He did not indicate if any date had been set, the Associated Press reported. One rebel leader, meanwhile, urged authorities to investigate Thaksin for crimes against humanity, saying the ousted leader should be tried at the International Court of Justice for alleged murders and disappearances of suspected insurgents. "Thaksin Shinawatra's hands are full of blood," said exiled Muslim rebel leader Lukman B. Lima, head of the Pattani United Liberation Organization, one of several groups fighting for a separate Muslim state in southern Thailand. In an e-mailed message from Sweden, Lukman said Thailand's incoming interim government will not be able to fully solve the divisions in the south unless they "bring Thaksin and some of his generals ... to the court of justice in the Hague."
