Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva relented yesterday to the Army's reliance on the unproven GT200 bomb detectors, but insisted that they must not be used against people.
The "users who have come to trust" the device still had to be convinced, he said. "Time is needed to get those working [in the deep South] to understand the situation. But one thing must be clear. The device must not be used against human beings, as mistakes can lead to problems, not to mention lawsuits," he added.
"At tomorrow's Cabinet meeting, I will instruct the [Science] ministry to come up with a plan to decommission the GT200s," he said.
The plan should include measures to assist the military in finding new devices, he said.
It was understandable why, in the absence of a replacement, the military wanted to keep the detectors in service, he said. "But everyone must bear in mind that the GT200 was proven ineffective," he said.
He dismissed claims that he lacked the courage to confront the military and phase out the detectors. That might hurt troop morale because soldiers needed to be well equipped to do their job, he said, reaffirming that a substitute would need to be available before the GT200 was withdrawn.
