BANGKOK, 2 March 2005 — The Thai government said yesterday it would send envoys to brief the world’s largest Muslim organization about an insurgency in southern provinces, apparently adopting a more conciliatory stance after criticism of its hard-line approach.

Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said three envoys will travel to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia at the weekend to brief Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) head Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on its policies in the deep south.

“The envoys will explain that all the violence and killings have not been done by the government but by troublemakers,” Surakiart told reporters. The minister had last week offered only to send written explanations to the 57-member OIC after it issued a tough February 21 statement following a meeting between Ihsanoglu and its chairman, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

More than 600 people have been killed during the insurgency which flared anew in January 2004 and has persistently grown bloodier. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has vowed to crush the militants, this year toughened his approach to the separatist unrest. The premier’s attitude has in particular angered neighboring Malaysia, with Thaksin charging that militants seek refuge across the border and even train in the jungles in the north of the country.

The violence took a disturbing new twist this year with insurgents detonating a car bomb for the first time on Feb. 17, which killed six. At least 16 people have been killed since then.