Article 108

Reshuffle of security portfolios expected

POST REPORTERS

Amidst reports that he is about to reshuffle the security portfolios, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday expressed full confidence in Gen Sirichai Tunyasiri, the man he has put in charge of a new security command in the South.

The prime minister said he believed Gen Sirichai, the deputy supreme commander, would be able to rein in the disunity plaguing the security agencies.

Mr Thaksin is reported to be planning a reshuffle of the positions of Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and Defence Minister Chettha Thanajaro _ among others _ possibly as early as next week after he returns from the Asia-Europe meeting (Asem) in Vietnam.

Sources said Gen Mongkol Ampornpisit, a former supreme commander, was being considered as a replacement for Gen Chettha, and Aree Wongarya, a former interior permanent secretary, was being considered for an unconfirmed post.

Gen Chavalit may be retiring. His potential replacement was not known.

Cabinet sources said any reshuffle at this time would not touch the public health portfolios concerned with the handling of bird flu.

Yesterday Mr Thaksin would only say that the new southern security command would strenghten intelligence gathering by the various security agencies and improve security cooperation.

Mr Thaksin was confident the new security command to be headed by Gen Sirichai would create unity among the security agencies and provide ``a clear intelligence picture'' of the situation in the far South.

Gen Sirichai said his new job was quite challenging and he would do his utmost to plug security loopholes and strengthen the working atmosphere.

It was an open secret in the southernmost area that there was a lack of coordination, particularly between the military and police forces which preferred to act independently.

Under the new structure, Fourth Army chief Lt-Gen Pisarn Wattanawongkeeree, Pol Lt-Gen Wongkot Maneerin, commander of the Central Investigation Bureau who was also recently made commander of the Southern Police Operation Centre, and Pol Lt-Gen Manoj Kraiwong, commander of Provincial Police Region 9, will come under the direct command of Gen Sirichai.

The Southern Police Operation Centre was formed recently in Yala to supervise and coordinate police operations. Its formation was seen as a sign of a major rift between the police and the military.

``Lack of coordination between the military and the police has to be swiftly tackled. We are all aware of this working problem and the prime minister wants to tackle it,'' said Deputy Prime Minister Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya.

Mr Thaksin said Gen Sirichai would have full authority and would report directly to him.

Gen Sirichai, formerly a deputy army chief, would select his own team and work out of the Yarang military camp in Pattani. The new structure is similar to a security structure used in the far South in the early 1980s when then prime minister Prem Tinsulanond made Lt-Gen Harn Leenanond, now a Satun senator, commander of the Fourth Army and tasked him with tackling violence in the South.

It was still unclear whether Prime Minister Thaksin was planning to dissolve or restructure the Southern Border Provinces Peace-building Command set up in March by Gen Chavalit, who wanted the command to coordinate security work among the various security agencies in the far South.