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Thailand's Thaksin reshuffles cabinet for the tenth time

The Thai premier replaced his defense and agriculture ministers yesterday in a cabinet reshuffle sparked by growing crises over a separatist insurgency and bird flu.

General Chetta Thanajaro lost his job as defense minister less than seven months after being appointed as he took the blame for continuing violence in the Muslim-majority south that has left more than 315 people dead this year.

Another general, Sumpan Boonyanun, takes the job after reports that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra decided against doubling up and taking the post himself.

Somsak Thepsuthin was shifted from agriculture minister to become one of the country's seven deputy premiers as Thailand struggles to get a grip on bird flu that has killed at least 11 people this year.

Deputy Premier Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, a Muslim widely seen as carrying the can for the failure to stem separatist violence in the south when he lost his job as interior minister in another reshuffle in March, was moved to take the vacant agriculture job.

The deputy health minister was also moved on a week after Thaksin warned that heads could roll within his government because of failures in tackling bird flu.

Suchai Charoenrattanakul, his replacement and a doctor specializing in respiratory ailments, will be given a key role in tackling the human outbreaks of bird flu.

"These cabinet changes were aimed at tackling both bird flu and unrest in the south and I will personally supervise the security issue," Thaksin told reporters shortly after the new list was announced.

He did not rule out the possibility of another reshuffle ahead of next year's election.

"I will not reshuffle if it's not necessary. It's not fun at all, but if I have to do it I must do it," he said.

Yesterday's wide-ranging reshuffle, Thaksin's 10th since coming to power in 2001, comes just a few months ahead of a general election tentatively scheduled for February next year.

It saw a total of three ministers dismissed, six moved and three new faces brought in, and affected 12 portfolios, according to an official announcement after Thailand's king backed the changes late Tuesday.

Thaksin is tipped to secure re-election in the next vote but has been buffetted by bird flu, unrest in the Muslim-majority south and corruption allegations levelled against his administration.

Thaksin announced a war on bird flu earlier this month after the country reported its first probable case of human-to-human transmission.

The incoming agriculture minister said he was confident he could successfully fulfil Thaksin's goal of making Thailand bird-flu free by the end of the month, although the World Health Organization and his predecessor have said it was unlikely to be achieved.

"I am not worried at all. I will work to my utmost capacity to address the bird flu crisis," Wan Muhamad Noor Matha told reporters.
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