Thai Pm's Origami Initiative Takes Flight

Having failed to quell months of escalating unrest in three southern provinces by force, Thailand's unorthodox prime minister is hoping plane loads of origami peace bombs will defuse the tension.

Thaksin Shinawatra has urged all 63 million Thais to make at least one paper bird in the next fortnight so they can be dropped on the three restive provinces on December 5 as a sign of goodwill to mark King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday.

As electronic road signs in the capital Bangkok tell people to get folding and local television stations show troops and civil servants busily creating huge flocks of doves, cranes and pigeons, reaction to the unusual initiative has been mixed.

Many ordinary Thais appear to be warming to the idea, claiming it is their way of offering moral support to their compatriots. But community leaders in the affected region, which is predominantly Muslim while the rest of Thailand is overwhelmingly Buddhist, believe the stunt will achieve little. They say it is just a gimmick ahead of a general election due by February.

"The key obstacle to solving problems in the south is that the majority of Thais look at Muslims as second-class citizens," an Islamic leader, Sawas Sumalyasak, said.