Sectarian violence is ‘difficult to stop’

Published on November 24, 2005 - 14th decapitation in two years; two boys shot in separate attacks, one aged 4 killed

The decapitated body of a local government official reported missing on Tuesday evening was found yesterday, police said.

The head and torso of Anek Ngernmoon, 31, was found on the roadside in large bags about five kilometres apart, police at the Nong Chik district station said. The victim was the brother of a local police officer.

The motive for the killing - the second decapitation this month and 14th in nearly two years - was not clear, but police believed it was part of ongoing unrest in the South.

In a separate incident, Police Sgt-Major Da-oh The, and his 10-year-old son Damrongsit were shot and wounded in neighbouring Yala province.

Police said the officer was driving his car at 7am when two gunmen dressed as students opened fire. One bullet hit him in the stomach while his son was hit in the right leg.

In Narathiwat, a four-year-old boy was shot dead while riding in a pickup with his father, Asim Rathananiyom, a local banker in Rangae district, who appeared to be the target.

An investigator said the gunman rode on a motorbike when he fired at the pickup at about 4pm yesterday.

The attacks were the latest in a string of violent incidents in the South that have claimed more than 1,100 lives since January last year.

Troops, police and civil servants have been targets of Muslim militants, who fought a low-key separatist war from the jungle in the 1970s and 80s.

Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya, who is responsible for national security, insisted yesterday that the government was making gains against the insurgents.

“We have continuously weakened them and come up with preventative measures. The people are on our side,” he said.

Analysts think differently.

“Trust between Malay Muslim villagers and the security forces has broken down completely in some areas,” said Francesca Lawe-Davies, of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

“Though this has not been caused solely by the decree, there is no doubt it has significantly exacerbated the problem,” she said referring to the Executive Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations.

The decree, which took effect in July, is meant to be a softer version of martial law. But the ICG has said it is worse in many ways - because it leaves loopholes that heighten the risk of arbitrary detention and mistreatment of detainees.

The Nation
Pattani

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Govt to UN: Keep out

Justice Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya yesterday urged the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to stay out of what he deemed a purely Thai-Malaysian affair, referring to the case of the 131 Thai Muslims who fled their homes in the restive South last August for the northern Malaysian state of Kelantan.

Speaking after a meeting with the UNHCR representative to Thailand, Chidchai said the displaced Muslims were a problem for the two countries to solve, not the UN agency.

He did not elaborate as to how the government would handle the problem that has brought bilateral ties with Kuala Lumpur to one of its lowest points in decades but said that the government would continue dialogue

with its Malaysian counterparts.

Bangkok was upset that Kuala Lumpur permitted the UNHCR to interview the 131 Thais but vented its anger on the agency for agreeing to conduct the interviews.

Kuala Lumpur has said it will not repatriate the Muslims unless the Thai government guarantees that their rights and safety will be protected.

The Nation