4,000 TO 5,000 ACTIVE INSURGENTS IN SOUTHERN THAILAND

BY D. ARUL RAJOO

BANGKOK, May 21 (Bernama) -- There are about 4,000 to 5,000 active
insurgents in the restive provinces in southern Thailand, Deputy Prime Minister
Suthep Thaugsuban said Thursday.

Despite that, he said a solution to the conflict was not in using force but
in creating better understanding with the local people, providing them with
better education and quality of life, and justice.

"The militants are still active as they can still carry out violent
activities. They even get financial support from other countries. So we have to
look at various issues to solve the problem," he told the local media.

Suthep, who is in charge of security affairs, said not much was being done
to solve the unrest that had killed more than 3,500 people since separatists
resumed armed conflict in January, 2004 to seek independence for the three
Muslim-majority provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.

He also said that he would visit the southern provinces next week to discuss
development programmes with the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre
(SBPAC) and other agencies.

The Thai Government, he said, wanted to improve the living conditions of the
people in the restive provinces, including raising their annual income target to
120,000 bhat per family.

In the latest incident Wednesday, an elderly woman and her daughter-in-law
were shot and then burned in Pattani.

Bangkok has despatched more than 20,000 soldiers to end the turmoil, but
faces difficulties as separatist groups involved are using guerilla tactics,
especially road side bombings, arson and drive-by shootings.

Militant groups emerged in the 1970s during the armed struggle by ethnic
Malays in the three Muslim-majority provinces seeking independence from
Thailand.

Peace was restored in the last decade but violence escalated when
separatists resumed a campaign of bombings and shootings in January, 2004 after
a raid on an army camp.
-- BERNAMA