Thailand's interim prime minister, Surayud Chulanont, is due to visit the country's troubled south to start negotiating with Muslim separatists.
He will be accompanied by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the man who led Thailand's September 19 coup.
General Sonthi is a Muslim and has extensive experience working in the
area, where more than 1400 people have died in almost three years of unrest.
Both men have adopted a policy of engagement rather than confrontation with those responsible for the violence and have reactivated a regional mediation agency aimed at a negotiated settlement.
Radio Australia's correspondent in Bangkok, Karen Percy, said their task would not be easy.
While some groups in the south are seeking independence, others are believed to be criminal groups who carry out violent attacks as a way to unsettle the population.
The prime minister said he would welcome any proposals on how to end the unrest.
"I am going down there in all sincerity," he said.
"If local residents have any ideas, please propose them to me."
Bombings and shootings in the south have continued almost daily since the new government took power.
The region along the southern border with Malaysia was formerly an independent sultanate that Thailand annexed in 1902. Separatist unrest has erupted periodically ever since.
- RADIO AUSTRALIA
