Thai government willing to talk with Thaksin

Thailand's government is ready talk with Thaksin Shinawatra, the fugitive former premier, in a bid to end a blockade of the prime minister's office.

Thailand's government said today it was ready to hold talks with Thaksin Shinawatra, the fugitive former premier, in a bid to end a week-long blockade of the current prime minister's office. The offer came as about 2,000 red-clad Thaksin loyalists who have camped outside Government House in Bangkok for the past seven days vowed to hold a further mass rally in Bangkok next week. The protesters want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve his three-month-old government, which unseated Thaksin's allies in December last year, and to call snap elections.

"The government is ready to hold talks with Thaksin wherever to make our country peaceful," Suthep Thaugsuban, the deputy prime minister in charge of security, said. "But some of his demands are impossible, such as the dissolution of the house." The billionaire Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and is living in exile abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption. He recently said that he was living in Dubai.

But he has been firing up his supporters outside Government House with almost nightly video or telephone speeches, urging protesters to "rise up" against the government. He also accused two of the revered king's main advisers of instigating the coup against him. "I am ready to open talks with Thaksin as he's the real protest leader and decision-maker," Mr Suthep said. "I will wait for his reaction this evening."

*AFP