“This is a major milestone,” said Anthony Davis, a Thai-based analyst at security consulting firm IHS-Jane’s. The talks follow a shift in Thailand’s stance last year when it acknowledged the conflict’s “political nature” for the first time after years of relying on military action that has steadily alienated majority Muslims in the southern provinces. Successive Thai governments and the military have made contact with various rebel groups and are believed to have held secret talks, but they have never had open discussions. There was also no immediate word on when any peace talks would be held. The officials gave no details on whether the deal to launch a “dialogue process” would be accompanied by a ceasefire, following an upsurge in violence there in recent months. The agreement, signed in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur by senior Thai security officials and members of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) group, opens the way for the first formal peace talks with rebels seeking autonomy or even a separate state in the south. Thailand's government agreed on Thursday to start talks with a major Muslim rebel group, marking a breakthrough in efforts to end a worsening conflict in the country's south that has claimed over 5,000 lives since 2004. Witnessing the process is National Security Council of Malaysia's secretary Thajudeen Abdul Wahab. Secretary-general of Thailand's National Security Council, Paradorn Pattanathabutr (L), shakes hands with chief of Thailand's National Revolution Front (BRN) liason office in Malaysia, Hassan Taib (R), as they exchange documents during the signing ceremony of the general consensus document to launch a dialogue process for peace in the border provinces of southern Thailand, in Kuala Lumpur February 28, 2013.
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