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November 6, 2006

Thailand: Peace Hopes Dampened By Violence In Muslim South

There was unrest in the southern province of Yala, Thailand, from Friday night to Saturday, in which several civilians were killed and four schools were burned down. Sunday saw little respite from the chaos.

One of the Yala schools which had been burned - the Bacho (Ban Banglang) school in Bajoh village, Bannang Sata district - had been used as a base by a unit of the Border Patrol Police. 30 officers are still officially stationed there. A military unit went to examine the damage, but were attacked by insurgents in the district. There was an exchange of gunfire which lasted about fifteen minutes, during which one soldier, Private Thanin Sathianphormlarp, was injured. He was taken to Yala hospital.

In a protest against the presence of a police unit at the school, hundreds of women and children gathered in the early afternoon, preventing the army from returning. The crowd claimed that the Border Patrol Police had killed a Muslim villager last week. The protesters refused to disperse until their demands were heard. Yala's deputy governor, Karan Supkitvilakakarn, went to Bannang Sata police station to discuss the situation. The protesters finally left in the late afternoon, after the deputy governor agreed that there will be no future posting of border police at the school.

The violence continued. In Yala yesterday, two soldiers were killed and three were injured as a result of a roadside bomb. They were part of a unit which had met with the protesters in Bajoh village, and were returning to their base.

Around midnight on Saturday/Sunday night, three bombs were detonated in Narathiwat province, at two karaoke bars in Tak Bai district. Six people, including two police officers, were injured by the first two bombs at the James Bond and the Regency karaoke bars. When investigators arrived, a third bomb was set off at the roadside nearby. No-one was hurt by the third bomb.

Late on Saturday night, a local government official was shot dead by suspected insurgents in Pattani province.

The Interior Minister, Aree Wong-araya, said on Sunday that the newly reformed Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC), which opened on November 1, would improve the situation in the south. He admitted that the unrest would not end. He said: "Prime minister Surayud Chulanont has promised to create unity among the people and he has apologised to the people of the region for the harsh measures imposed by the previous government."

Though the government has given its approval to peace talks with Muslim separatists, and the prime minister has promised to improve conditions for people living in the southern provinces, it admits that it does not know who is carrying out the present wave of attacks. The violence has been blamed on ethnic Malay separatists, Islamic extremists and criminal gangs.

Yesterday, four people were shot dead in drive-by shootings in the southern provinces.

The current insurgency, which began on January 4, 2004, has so far seen more than 1,700 people killed. The population of the southern provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, is predominantly (80%) Muslim. The Muslims mostly speak Yawi, a dialect of Malay. These provinces, along with two districts of Songkhla province, formerly comprised an independent sultanate, called Pattani. This was annexed by Thailand in 1902 to act as a buffer zone against the British, who occupied Malaya.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 6, 2006 1:56 AM

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