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<P align=center><SPAN lang=en-gb><B><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=4>INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW REPORT</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P align=center><SPAN lang=en-gb><B><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=5>Southern
Thailand: The Problem with Paramilitaries </FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P align=justify>
<P align=justify><STRONG>Jakarta/Brussels, 23 October 2007:</STRONG> Thailand’s
increasing reliance on poorly trained and loosely supervised paramilitary and
militia forces is complicating its efforts to tackle the insurgency in the
South.</P>
<P align=justify><A
href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5132&l=1"
target="">Southern Thailand: The Problem with Paramilitaries</A>,* the latest
report from the International Crisis Group, examines the need for the Thai
government to review the use of irregular forces such as the paramilitary
rangers and village volunteer militias and to crack down on private sectarian
vigilante groups. The plethora of forces in the South complicates
command-and-control arrangements, weakens accountability and, in some cases,
exacerbates communal tensions. Instead, attention should be directed towards
professionalising the regular military and police.</P>
<P align=justify>“Sub-contracting security to poorly trained paramilitaries and
militias is no solution”, says Crisis Group Analyst Francesca Lawe-Davies. “They
often fail to provide security, and their involvement in human rights abuses
hands militants a propaganda victory”.</P>
<P align=justify>Thailand’s government is relying heavily on paramilitary forces
to fight separatists in the southern provinces. The various forces have
different strengths and weaknesses and in some cases fill roles which the
regular forces choose not to fill, such as village security and tracking
militants in the jungle. But their growing front line role has on balance been
counterproductive. Some receive as little as three-days training and are unable
to protect themselves and their weapons, let alone the villages they are
supposed to be guarding.</P>
<P align=justify>The inability of police and military to cope with the
insurgency suggests the government cannot be expected to abandon the militias
immediately, but it must consolidate and rationalise them, while also
professionalising and strengthening the regular armed forces and police. The
interior ministry’s Or Sor paramilitaries may continue to play a useful support
role until police become less corrupt and abusive. The rangers may prove to make
a useful contribution to counter-insurgency, but should be given additional
military and humanitarian law training and closer supervision, to improve
discipline and curb abuses. The impact of the various village militias on
security is negligible. They should be disarmed and disbanded, and controls on
guns and gun licenses should be tightened.</P>
<P align=justify>The appearance of sectarian vigilante groups and private
militias, in response to the failure of the state to provide effective security,
is an extremely worrying trend. It is important that such groups not be allowed
to operate and that their sponsors within the government and security forces be
brought into line.</P>
<P align=justify>“The conflict in the South is extremely serious, and communal
tensions are rising”, says John Virgoe, Crisis Group’s South East Asia Project
Director. “Ultimately the situation requires a political solution – and, in the
meantime, a serious response from professional security forces”.</P>
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<DIV align=center><B>Contacts: Andrew Stroehlein (Brussels) 32 (0) 2 541
1635<BR>Giulia Previti (Washington) 1 202 785 1601</B><BR></FONT>To contact
Crisis Group media please <A
href="http://www.icg.org/home/index.cfm?action=form&fid=16&l=1"
target="">click here</A><BR><STRONG>*Read the full Crisis Group report on our
website: </STRONG><A
href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/"><STRONG>http://www.crisisgroup.org</STRONG></A>
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<P align=justify>The International Crisis Group (Crisis Group) is an
independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation covering some 60
crisis-affected countries and territories across four continents, working
through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve
deadly conflict.
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