No end seen to Thai unrest

THAILAND'S new premier has vowed to tackle a separatist insurgency raging in the south, but the Muslim region yesterday marks five years of bloodshed with little end in sight to the daily violence.

Thai political turmoil has left the army with free rein in the south, prompting widespread human rights violations, activists say, while militants are turning to increasingly sophisticated technology to terrorise communities.

The number of deaths has dropped as the military conducts its massive campaign, but rebels have scaled up their onslaughts using car and roadside bombs, while beheadings and the mutilation of corpses continues.

"Although the number of incidents decreased in 2008, the attacks are greater in terms of destruction," said Mohammad Yub Pathan, a researcher with independent monitoring group Intellectual Deep South Watch.

"Also, the militants have acted much more systematically and with clear control and organisation."

These are issues awaiting Thailand's fourth prime minister in the space of a year, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who vowed soon after he was elected by parliament on December 15 to ease the southern tensions.

His Democrat Party counts the south as one of its strongholds, and this will be the party's first chance in government since the rebellion broke out.

But Sunai Phasuk, Thai consultant for Human Rights Watch, said that successive governments have failed to make good on their promises to quell the southern bloodshed because their words were not followed up by action.

"One of the first issues for him is to show that there can be justice for Muslims in the south," Sunai said.

The insurgency dates back to 1902, when Buddhist Thailand - then known as Siam - annexed the mainly Muslim and ethnic Malay far south.

Tensions bubbled under the surface, occasionally flaring up over the decades, and erupted into the current rebellion on January 4, 2004, when militants raided a southern army base, killing four soldiers.

The pace of deadly violence has picked up steadily, with 2007 seeing a record 1,015 deaths in the provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani and parts of Songkhla province, police figures show.

About 3,500 people have lost their lives during the four years including 600 in 2008.AFP