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| Southeast Asia |
| Thailand to compensate victims of the southern insurgency |
| 2012-04-25 |
| Thailand has approved a $67 million compensation package for victims of a conflict in the deep south that has left thousands dead over the last eight years. The families of people killed in the conflict will each receive 500,000 baht ($16,130), or 1.5 million baht if government officials were responsible, Justice Minister Pracha Promnog said after the cabinet agreed on the measure. He said, "We hope it will make the situation in the south more peaceful and we hope it will be sufficient because some of them have received compensation before." The families of more than 4,000 members of the public who were killed and roughly 6,000 who were injured would be eligible, along with those of 1,056 government officials who lost their lives. Militant suspects who were arrested and jailed but later set free because their cases were dismissed by the courts would also receive money. Pracha said, "We expect to deliver first payment in the next two weeks." A Muslim leader in Yala province doubted that the compensation offer would end the violence. Ma Samae said, "Remedies are part of the solution but the government has to clearly identify the root of the problem. Personally I think it's hard to end the southern unrest because most residents are Muslim but the leaders are not." |
| Posted by:ryuge |