Word: conflictingly
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...Thais love peace, but aren't afraid to fight," the children sing as the Thai flag is raised between fire-scorched trees. The words can't mean much-some of the children are fresh out of kindergarten. But even the youngest among them must be dimly aware that a conflict is raging in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, and that its battle lines run right through their schoolyard...
...military is stretched thin and taking a pounding. There are about 20,000 troops deployed in a conflict area half the size of Israel, and they-like their beleaguered American counterparts in Iraq-are outmaneuvered by a ruthless and elusive enemy that shelters amid a Muslim population largely hostile to Thai security forces. Two roadside bombings in May alone killed a total of 22 soldiers; their well-drilled killers executed some of the wounded survivors by shooting them in the head or strangling them. Last month, junta leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin publicly admitted that the fighting in the south...
...more autonomy and greater economic aid. But since the junta seized power, the average kill rate has more than doubled to about four deaths a day, and the generals, like Thaksin, have been forced to send in more security forces. While no armed group has claimed responsibility for the conflict, nor stated any aims or demands, the militants' strategy seems clear enough: render the region too violent for Bangkok to govern, then seize control, village by village...
...Terrorizing teachers is central to driving minority Buddhists from the region-a "de facto ethnic cleansing," according to Zachary Abuza, an American academic who specializes in militant Islam in Southeast Asia and who is writing a book on the conflict in the Thai south. "Teachers are very vulnerable, and targeting schools is a very effective tactic," says Abuza. "If you can't send your kids there with any degree of safety, you're going to leave." Terrorizing state schools also forces more parents to send their children to private Islamic schools, where "hundreds of young militants have been recruited...
...need a national truth and reconciliation process," says Norbert Mao, chairman of Gulu district, one of the Ugandan towns hardest hit by the conflict. In Gulu, over 70% of displaced people still have not been able to leave the camps due to fears of safety and lack of land - though many are in settlements within 20 km of their home. "It's a situation where many feel that they are in limbo... and there are mixed feelings about whether the LRA leadership should be tried by traditional justice," says Harry Leefe, head of the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR's office...