Indian negotiators and an influential tribal separatist group in the north-eastern state of Nagaland will hold fresh talks in Bangkok next week aimed at ending India's longest-running insurgency, a rebel leader said Thursday.
"Talks are expected to begin on October 11 or 12 on our main demand of integrating all Naga inhabited areas in the north-east," said Kraibo Chawang, a senior leader of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM).
Chawang told AFP by telephone from Nagaland's commercial hub of Dimapur that the government's chief peace interlocutor K. Padmanabhaiah was expected to lead the talks with NSCN-IM leaders Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah heading the rebel delegation.
The NSCN-IM is currently holding peace talks with New Delhi after the two sides entered into a cease-fire in 1997.
New Delhi has also been observing a cease-fire with the rival NSCN faction headed by guerrilla leader S.S. Khaplang since 2001 although formal talks are yet to begin.
Insurgency in Nagaland, bordering Myanmar, dates back to India's independence from Britain in 1947.
The NSCN-IM, the oldest and the most powerful of around 30 rebel armies in the region, wants the creation of a "Greater Nagaland" by slicing off parts of the neighbouring states of Assam, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh that have sizeable Naga populations.
The three regional governments are opposed to compromising on their territorial integrity.
At least 40-rounds of talks have been held since the cease-fire with the NSCN-IM in 1997 with most of the negotiations taking place abroad as both Swu and Muivah have lived in self-imposed exile in South Asian cities for the past 38 years.
Ahead of the Bangkok talks, the NSCN-IM warned that the eight-year-old cease-fire could be under threat if New Delhi fails to bring about an early settlement.
"What is the point of holding peace talks and operating a cease-fire if there are no positive developments in the dialogues," Chawang said.
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