[Tlc] FW: Southern Thailand: The Problem with Paramilitaries - New Crisis Group report

[Michael Montesano]

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW REPORT

Southern Thailand: The Problem with Paramilitaries 

Jakarta/Brussels, 23 October 2007: 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.

Southern Thailand: The Problem with Paramilitaries
<http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5132&l=1> ,* 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.

"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".

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.

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.

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.

"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".

________________________________

Contacts: Andrew Stroehlein (Brussels) 32 (0) 2 541 1635
Giulia Previti (Washington) 1 202 785 1601
To contact Crisis Group media please click here
<http://www.icg.org/home/index.cfm?action=form&fid=16&l=1> 
*Read the full Crisis Group report on our website:
http://www.crisisgroup.org <http://www.crisisgroup.org/>  
________________________________


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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