ConflictBarometer_2015

ASIA AND OCEANIA
killed around 20 gunmen and detained another 100 until
September 11, among them two Defense Ministry officers.
Five days later, the Interior Ministry confirmed the killing of
Nazarzoda and ten of his supporters in a shootout. During the
clashes, militants killed two members of the elite Alfa special
forces unit and wounded another two.
The government set up a new military base at the Tajik-
Afghan border to meet a security threat posed by allegedly
8,000 Islamist militants operating outside the border. On
May 17, the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization
conducted a 2,500-strong troop maneuver simulating an
incursion of 700 militants into allied territory. Additionally,
Russian officials announced plans to increase the number
of troops stationed in Tajikistan from 7,000 to 9,000 and
to deploy attack and military transport helicopters to the
Tajik-Afghan border. fsc
TAJIKISTAN (OPPOSITION)
Intensity: 2 | Change: | Start: 1997
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
The conflict over the orientation of the political system and
national power between the opposition and the government
continued at the level of a non-violent crisis.
Throughout the year, the government took several measures
in order to oppress opposition groups and independent media
outlets, and restricted practice of religion, particularly
through widespread judicial actions.
For instance, Shuhrat Qudratov, leader of the Social Democratic
Party of Tajikistan (SDPT), was accused of bribery and
fraud and sentenced to a nine-year prison term on January
13. In the March 1 parliamentary elections, the Islamic Renaissance
Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) and SDPT failed to win
parliamentary seats for the first time since 1991. President
Emomali Rahmon's People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan
won an absolute majority of the seats. According to the
OSCE, the elections took place in a restricted political space
with limited competition. Serious procedural violations were
frequently reported. On March 5, Umarali Quvatov, the selfexiled
leader of banned oppositional Group 24, was killed in
Istanbul. Another member of the group accused the government
of masterminding the assassination.
On August 28, the government banned the IRPT claiming it
had not enough members to qualify as a party. A total of
23 IRPT top officials were detained following violent clashes
near the capital Dushanbe on September 4 [→ Tajikistan
(Islamist militant groups)]. On September 29, the Supreme
Court classified IRPT as an extremist and terrorist organization.
Reportedly, around 200 IRPT members were detained
between early September and the end of the year. fsc
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
opposition vs. government
system/ideology, national power
THAILAND (ISLAMIST SEPARATISTS / SOUTHERN
BORDER PROVINCES)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1902
various Islamist separatists vs. government
secession, system/ideology
The conflict over secession and ideology between various Islamist
separatists including Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN),
Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO), and Runda
Kumpulan Kecil (RKK), on the one hand, and the government,
on the other, continued at a violent level. The Islamist
separatists sought the separation of the predominantly Muslim
southern border provinces Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala, and
Sonkhla.
Throughout the year, militants carried out numerous attacks,
such as bombings and drive-by shootings, primarily on civil
servants and Buddhist monks. The Southern Border Provinces
Police Operation Centre and the Police Education Bureau
trained more recruits of Islamic schools in the southern
provinces to reduce attacks motivated by religion or ethnicity.
In the course of the year, the conflict resulted in a total
of approx. 200 people killed, including ten militants and at
least 35 Thai Royal police and security forces.
On January 9, the Police Special Task Forces killed one RKK
commander and two other militants in a shootout in an Islamic
school in Mayo district, Pattani. On February 20, separatists
planted a car bomb which exploded in front of a karaoke
bar in Muang district, Narathiwat, injuring two soldiers and
eleven civilians. On March 25, the Thai 41st Paramilitary
Task Forces killed four suspected RKK militants and arrested
22 in a raid in Baan Toh Sud village, Pattani province. The
fatalities later proved to be civilians. On April 12 and 13,
militants shot dead eight civilians in different locations in
Pattani, Narathiwat, and Yala, while two militants were killed
by an armed civilian. On July 25, separatists planted a bomb
killing a Buddhist monk and a soldier and injuring six others
behind the Sai Buri police station in Pattani. The same
day, the Royal Thai Army issued tighter security guidelines
advising Buddhist monks to stay in their temples in order to
prevent further attacks. On August 3, the military announced
the ban of the use of metal cooking gas tanks in the southern
provinces as they had been consistently used for IEDs. On
November 12, a separatiststs planted a bomb, killing four
defense volunteers in Khoh Pho district, Pattani. An arrested
militant died in prison on December 4. Reportedly, this was
the third militant to die under arrest since October. On December
13, a bomb planted by a local separatist group killed
a ranger of the 43rd Regiment and injured one civilian in
Yala. On December 28, Masuki, an important RKK member,
was arrested in Bannang Sata district, Yala.
The conflict parties met to explore the possibility of peace
talks. In mid-May, three factions of PULO, BRN, the Barisan
Islam Perberbasan Pattani, and the Gerakan Mujahideen Islami
Pattani formed the umbrella organisation Mara Patani
in preparation for formal peace talks with the government.
During exploratory peace talks on November 11 and 12
in Malaysia, the government discussed the proposal for a
safety zone in north Narathiwat with Mara Patani. BRN, the
largest separatist group constituting Mara Patani, called for
international observation of the peace talks, which the Thai
government rejected.
ceb
UZBEKISTAN (OPPOSITION)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1991
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
opposition vs. government
system/ideology, national power
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