BANGKOK, Sept 27 (TNA) — Interior Ministry and the Royal Thai Army signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the defence volunteer unit for the southern border provinces to pave the way for the withdrawal of Thai soldiers from southern border planned for 2027.
Deputy Prime Minister/Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Army Commander-in-Chief General Charoenchai Hinthao who is the Deputy Director of the Internal Security Operations Command jointly presided over the signing ceremony of MoU to strengthen the effectiveness of the defence volunteer unit between the Interior Ministry and the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) at ISOC headquarters in Bangkok.
Mr Anutin said the MoU signed today was the plan to seek the cooperation between Interior Ministry and ISOC to train and transfer the skills that available at the Royal Thai Army to the defence volunteer unit of the Interior Ministry. According to the plan, the defence volunteer unit will take more role in providing security measures to the public in the southern province in order to reduce the role of the soldiers and reduce the number of soldiers, leaving only soldiers in routine operations stationed at permanent locations.
Gen. Charoenchai said that the security operation in the southern provinces is jointly carried out by civic, police and military under ISOC but when the appropriate time comes and the situation is gradually improving the army will hand over the areas in 2027 to the volunteers and police to take care of the security matters. (TNA)
