January 4, 2005

Special unit may run far South

The government is considering making the Southern Border Provinces

Peace-building Command (SBPPC) a special unit and placing it in charge

of the deep South, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday.

The idea, which was still being studied, would show that the government

was taking the problems seriously, he said.

The SBPPC, currently headed by Gen Sirichai Tunyasiri, would be a

separate entity independent of the Fourth Army.

The command was set up to coordinate the work of security agencies in

the South.

``The SBPPC will be here to protect the people and make sure the three

southern provinces can develop to their full capacity,'' Mr Thaksin

said. ``We'll stick it out here and let them know that separatism will

never be realised.''

Mr Thaksin was speaking in Narathiwat during a morale boosting visit to

officers posted to the troubled region.

The prime minister, accompanied by Gen Sirichai, spent Sunday night at

an operations base near the Malaysian border and visited an open-air

market in Sungai Kolok district yesterday morning.

He said he had an heart-to-heart talk with local people who understood

the situation better and offered more cooperation.

``The people here know what's what. They admit that the four key

ringleaders we arrested are the real ones,'' he said.

The government insists the arrest of four men in connection with a

series of attacks which began with the raid on an army camp in

Narathiwat on Jan 4 last year, is the final piece of the puzzle.

Mr Thaksin said he was sure the situation would return to normal soon

enough because the government was on the right path.