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[Garcia]

"Army chief Gen Anupong Paochinda disagrees with the six-month ban on 384 insurgent suspects re-entering the four insurgency-plagued southern provinces, and is considering ending it. He has told Fourth Army chief Lt-Gen Wiroj Buacharoon, who has enforced the entry ban since July 22, to reconsider it, a source close to Gen Anupong said. . .

The ban, which continues until Jan 21, is aimed at preventing the insurgent suspects from being drawn back into the separatist movement. But Gen Anupong feels it also casts Thailand in a negative light in the world community, the source said. . .

The ban affects 384 people from the far South. They were originally detained by for suspected involvement in the separatist movement, either actively or as sympathisers. The army put them in three military camps _ in Chumphon, Ranong and Surat Thani _ under a four-month voctional training programme. They were forced to stay there until the courts ruled on petitions filed by their relatives. . .

Those unwilling to continue training have left the camp and now stay at the central mosque in Surat Thani.
The mosque, which is also the office of the Islamic committee of Surat Thani, shelters about 60 southerners who left the training programme. They are crowded into the mosque and many have begun to worry about food supplies, which are running out. They would like to go home, but the ban prevents them."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/12Nov2007_news05.php