Surayud is expected to follow up Thailand's request made some two years ago for Malaysia to arrest and extradite 20 suspected insurgents leaders, government's spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp said Monday.

But the spokesman fell short of saying whether Surayud would reiterate the request for their extradition.

"The request for Malaysia to arrest 20 suspects will be brought up but the context under which context is yet to be determined," the spokesman said.

Thai intelligence sources said former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had handed the names of the 20 suspected insurgents to his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Badawi in October 2004 during their meeting in Phuket. They said Kuala Lumpur has been quiet over the request and instead turn a deaf ears on the issue.

Diplomatic sources said Thailand's negative record of ill treatment of suspected militants may have been the main reason behind Malaysia turning a deaf ear on the request, as well as the fact that many of the suspects have obtained Malaysian citizenship.

Surayud is due to make a one-day visit to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to hold talks with Abdullah.

The visit comes amid gesture from Kuala Lumpur that it would be willing to facilitate a peace talk between the Thai government and leaders of the separatist movements after a year of informal talks between the two sides.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed had facilitated these talks on the island of Langkawi but Kuala Lumpur insisted that these were the former premier's private initiative.

Participants at the talks were leaders and leading members of separatist organisations that emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s but have expressed willingness to lower their demands and settle for something less than a full independent.

Many security officials said they don't think their return would end the violence in the restive region, which has been more or less taken over by a new generation of militants who are organised in independent cells and operate from within their respective villages and districts.

Thai officials said the talks with the traditional separatist groups will go on but the government is likely to look for another venue for future talks with the separatist leaders because they do not see Malaysia as an honest broker because of proximity.

Thai officials said a significant number of separatist leaders and field commanders have been residing in Malaysia for decades and many have obtained Malaysian citizenship .

Bilateral ties between the two countries have reached some of its lowest ebb over the past years amid a growing violence in the Malayspeaking south where.

Authorities said the flight of the 130 Narathiwat villagers were generated by suspected militants who accused of an eminent crackdown and arrest of the villagers.

Diplomatic row followed when Kuala Lumpur permitted the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to interview the displaced villagers.

The Nation