Mentally scarred and afraid to set foot outside his home inThailand's deep south, Ahmad is one of thousands of children orphaned by a warlargely forgotten by the rest of the world. After years living with the menaceof bombs, shootings and curfews, many youngsters in Thailand'sinsurgency-wracked deep south are exhibiting high levels of stress and trauma."When I do go out I stay near my home... I never go far away," Ahmad,12, said as he chewed timidly on the collar of his football shirt.
His 15-year-old sister Sunnah said their father's murder byunknown gunmen six years ago marked the end of her childhood and left thesiblings without parents following the death of their mother in an accident.They now live with an aunt. "I don't feel safe, especially withstrangers," she said. "I suspect people when they look at me. Thesoldiers are the worst."
Anger, introversion and fear are common symptoms ofdepression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), said government mentalhealth expert Pechdau Tohmeena, explaining children are bearing the brunt ofthe eight-year conflict. "Fear is the number one issue. Some kids haveseen their parents shot in front of them, their family shops burned, relativesbeaten or tortured," she explained at a clinic in Pattani, a city at theheart of the insurgency. "They hear rumours about the violence. They seehelicopters flying overhead with their guns pointing down on them. It's hard tolive as a target every day."
More than 5,300 people have died in the region since 2004 inbombings, killings -- including beheadings -- and shootings by insurgents, aswell as military raids targeting suspected militants. Nearly 60 of the deadhave been aged 15 or younger, while hundreds more youngsters have been injured,according to conflict monitor Deep South Watch, the majority caught incrossfire.
"Conflict situations are detrimental to childdevelopment," said Andrew Morris of the United Nations Children's Fund,"and the longer that conflict carries on the bigger the impact willbe."
The stress of childhood in a war zone plays out in lateryears, with teenagers experiencing high rates of drug and alcohol use,according to experts. There are somepositive signs that mental health is creeping up the agenda. Eight years ago,when the insurgency started, there was just one government psychiatrist for theentire three southern provinces -- now there are 40.
But as violence rages, there are mounting fears that anangry and emotionally damaged new generation will enter the insurgency, apossibility that has not escaped the attention of the government or themilitants. "Both sides want them... and if these kids continue to grow upin conflict, the threat is that in 10 or 20 years there still won't be peacehere," said Pechdau.
