BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hundreds of Thai school children and air force recruits have loaded an estimated 100 million origami birds onto military transport planes in preparation for a "peace bombing" of the violent Muslim south of the country.
The little pieces of folded paper, to be dropped from the air on Sunday to mark the birthday of Thailand's revered king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, are meant to sow peace, harmony and goodwill in the three southernmost provinces, where an 11-month insurgency has claimed nearly 500 lives.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose government has struggled to get to the root of the violence, has defended his paper-bird scheme against opponents who say the government is just dumping 48 plane-loads of rubbish.
"Don't criticise against the wishes of the majority of Thais," Thaksin told Reuters on Friday at a sending off ceremony for the paper birds at Bangkok's military airport.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=856&ncid=856&e=1&u=/nm/20041203/od_uk_nm/oukoe_thailand_birds
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