Ex-Headmaster Becomes Top BRN Rebel Leader in Deep South: Thai Officials

Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the largest of the armed separatist groups in Thailand’s Deep South, appointed a new leader to replace Sapae-ing Baso who died two months ago, Thai security sources said Monday.

At a meeting in Kelantan, Malaysia, the BRN’s governing council (DPP) named Doonloh Wae-mano (alias Abdullah Wan Mat Noor), a former principal of a school in the Deep South who is wanted in Thailand on insurgency-related charges, as its new chairman.

He takes over from Sapae-ing, the chairman of the council and “spiritual leader” of the rebel group who died at age 86 of complications from diabetes on Jan. 10, sources told BenarNews.

Doonloh was promoted a week after Sapae-ing’s death to the chairmanship from the rank of secretary on the six-member council of the highly secretive BRN, which was established in 1960 and whose number of fighters stands today around 6,000, according to Thai military officials.

The governing council, also known as the Al Shura, appointed Doonloh during a meeting at the Al Dawah Islamiyah Madrassa in Kelantan on Jan. 17, a Thai security official told Benar on condition of anonymity. The information could not be immediately confirmed on the rebel side.

“The meeting had a unanimous decision to appoint Doonloh Wae-mano (alias Abdullah Wan Mat Noor), the former secretary, as the new DPP chairman and Uztas Abdul Munir, the current leader of BRN’s political wing, to be secretary as well,” the official said.

A spokesman for the military’s regional command in the Deep South, however, said he could not independently confirm the report.

“I heard about the possible appointment of Doonloh. It involves the peace talks and we will check it out carefully,” Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for Internal Security Operations 4 (ISOC 4), told BenarNews by phone.

Thailand’s military government is trying to open formal peace talks with MARA Patani, a panel representing southern rebel groups and factions, including the BRN, but none of the people who sit on the BRN’s governing council are represented on the panel, according to a list of BRN council members obtained by BenarNews.

Late last month, Thai and MARA Patani negotiators agreed in Kuala Lumpur to a framework for a limited ceasefire in one of the districts in the Deep South. But since the two sides achieved the breakthrough on Feb. 28, at least 12 people have been killed in attacks by suspected insurgents in provinces across the region.

Nearly 7,000 people have died since 2004 in violence associated with the separatist conflict in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking southern border region.