Thailand says ready to speak with armed groups in Myanmar conflict

Thailand is working to help reduce tensions in Myanmar by engaging with Myanmar's military regime as well as ethnic

armed

groups

, now that fighting between the two sides shows no signs of easing, a high-level delegation is visiting the Thai border town of Meot in Myanmar to assess the increasingly tense situation. This is Thai Foreign Minister Pan Baha Nara's second visit to the region in less than two weeks, this time accompanied by the country's Interior and Defense Ministers. His visit comes after Thailand's Foreign Ministry signaled its willingness to talk to all

armed

groups

involved in the

conflict

. fighting, but said Myanmar must first make a request.

The latest wave of violence has centered on the city of Mewadi in Myanmar, which shares a border with Thailand. Thai authorities estimate that the

conflict

has forced more than 3,000 people to flee to Thailand. While most have since returned, let's hear the latest from CNA's May Wong who joined us live from the Thailand meeting. She may now be an unusually high-level delegation. What message does she think they are sending by including their foreign and interior ministers in the delegation? It is very rare to see three key ministers here in the same place at the time on the Mymar border, two of whom are also deputy prime ministers.

You mentioned earlier that Prime Minister Satata abruptly canceled his trip and that's rightly so. because he has actually formed a committee specifically to investigate the Myanmar crisis that is affecting Thailand and who heads this committee, the Foreign Minister himself, Panri Pahit Tanon, and he was here with the other two ministers because they want to evaluate the situation on the land they want. getting adequate and direct information from the various agencies that are working on the ground here to see exactly what the needs are, what the impact is on the citizens and also what else they need to do, obviously, we've been seeing it for days and weeks.

Right now the point is that Thailand has increased security, there is no doubt that all these armored vehicles with mounted machine guns are not commonplace for sure, but due to the latest situation in Myanmar it is causing a lot of concern, not only because of the security aspects here in Thailand, but also for the Thais who live along the border and that is the reason why the three ministers have come here to inspect the terrain and also to assure the Thai citizens that they will be protected and that will be attended to. and also send a strong signal to mymar to tell him that Thailand is watching this very closely, so please don't cross the line, don't push Thailand to the limit, yes, give us more details about the delegation's visit, in particular the fact that Thailand is saying it is

ready

to break up the peace talks, in fact the three ministers came here thinking and also wanting to see it for themselves and this is a place they really came to because we are very close to Myanmar, right opposite from here is mwadi and that is where all the fighting is taking place, so you can see how close it is and also direct bullets have hit houses here in Thailand and that is where Thailand has said very seriously and also very firmly that Don't cross the line and don't make sure your bullets don't fly whether you stay or not, and that's also why they have posted many border security guards here to ensure 24/7 security. week.

Thailand wants to negotiate an agreement and also in terms of aid. negotiate peace. Speaking inside Myanmar is going to be a difficult task. Myanmar has to ask Thailand for help, but Thailand is eager to be that middleman and that go-between because they feel like they're a party to this too, but they're not. involved in a conflict, but Thailand is involved because it is a neighbor of Nick Door, it has very, very broad interests, not only people-to-people interests, but also commercial and security interests, as you can imagine, so when the three Ministers came here, spoke to the media before and made every point loud and clear to say that Thailand's sovereignty is number one.

The safety of the people of Thailand is number one. Listen to the three of us, who we take care of from our own sovereignty and have al

ready

shown that We have provided security to our friends in the neighboring country. I think when it comes to protecting our own people and our own soil, we've been confident that we're doing enough. This won't be the last time. that the ministers come here to observe the current situation at that time at the border and also all the ministers can be expected to produce reports putting forward suggestions to the Prime Minister himself, who is overseeing this whole crisis situation, and they will respond accordingly.

But ultimately, the key point really is that Thailand will protect its land. Thailand will protect its people. Okay, let's let that clear message get to all three of us. Now CNA's Wong WS reports live from Mesot.