Thailand and Malaysia will speed up plans to economically develop the violence-prone region along their shared border to stop it from becoming a breeding ground for insurrection and terrorism, their leaders said yesterday.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra flew to Malaysia yesterday for urgent talks with his counterpart, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, about a recent upsurge in violence in his country's Muslim-dominated south which Thai officials blame on Muslim separatists.
The leaders read statements to reporters after their talks, which lasted less than an hour, but they refused to take questions.
There was no mention of the recent claim by Thaksin that terrorists responsible for the attacks have taken shelter in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur strongly denied the accusation, which raised tensions between the two neighbors ahead of the talks.
Abdullah said Malaysia and Thailand had reaffirmed their agreement to share intelligence about cross-border security issues.
"Terrorism is something that we totally oppose, we stand together against combating terrorists, criminals, drug peddlers and other groups that are causing instability and trouble to both countries," Abdullah said.
He said senior officials from the two countries would meet soon to discuss how to fight poverty in the border region under a plan announced earlier this year.
"This is one of the most positive things that we can do, so that people along the border will have no cause to ... resort to certain acts that will be against the law," he said.
No timetable or goals have been set for the plan.
"Things cannot be done overnight, but efforts must be made to show some concrete results," Abdullah said.
Thaksin said yesterday's talks were candid and conducted "in all cordiality," and that Abdullah "fully understood the recent difficulties in southern Thailand."
"We were of the same mind in our analysis of the complex nature of the causes and remedies needed to address it," Thaksin said. "We are confident that with the spirit and the closeness of cooperation at all levels, we can confront and overcome common challenges that remain."
Thailand's southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala are the overwhelmingly Buddhist country's only Muslim-majority areas. Mus-lims complain of discrimination in jobs and education.
At least 64 people have been killed this year in shootings by unidentified gunmen who have largely targeted policemen, government officials, teachers and monks. The attacks have been blamed on Islamic separatists, although some officials say the violence may be related to personal conflict.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
RSS