The United Front for the Independence of Pattani is also known as Bersatu ("unity" in Malay). The group originally was called the Payong Organization.

The terrorist/separatist group is located in the southern Muslim-dominated (ethnically Malay) provinces of Thailand, including Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, as well as southern parts of the Songkhla province.

Bersatu's alleged goal is to improve Thai governmental policies toward Muslims in Thailand's south. More significantly, Bersatu would like to bring about the secession of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces from Thailand, recreating the Pattani sultanate that was invaded by Siam in 1786 and later annexed.

Bersatu is an umbrella organization of various terrorist groups operating in southern Thailand, including the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO), New PULO, Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Pattani (BRN), Barisan National Pember-Basan (BNPP) and the Gerakan Mujahadeen Islam Pattani (GMIP). See separate records for more information on particular groups. Bersatu may only have about 80 active fighters. However, the overall strength of the Bersatu-related insurgency is much greater. Estimates vary from several hundred to thousands of fighters, though the real number probably lies nearer the lower end.

Criminal activities including smuggling and narcotics-trafficking provide Bersatu separatists with funding. Fundraising efforts in Europe, focused in Sweden, also provide the Bersatu movement with resources.
 
An important base of support for Bersatu separatists in Thailand is Malaysia. Insurgents can flee to the neighboring country and regroup there. Bersatu members share a common culture and religion (Islam) with Malaysians -- though their dialect of Malay (Yawi) is different -- and sometimes family connections extend across the border. The Malaysian government does not strenuously pursue suspected Bersatu militants on its territory, though it does provide some cooperation on security issues with Thailand.
 
Some Muslims returning from radical overseas study in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan may also be supporting the Bersatu movement. Foreign terrorist organizations are believed to have infiltrated or begun working with Bersatu groups. Bersatu leader Wan Kadir Che Man has claimed a growing influence by Al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiya among young members in the Bersatu organization, according to news accounts published in November 2006.

Bersatu member groups have conducted an ongoing low-intensity insurgency against the Thai government since 2004. However, fighting between Thai security forces and Muslims in the southern part of the country goes back some 50 years or more. For example, a 1948 clash with Thai security forces left some 100 Muslims dead.
 
Member groups such as PULO and BRN run some small training camps in remote jungle regions, teaching insurgents and terrorists small-arms and ambush tactics, as well as bomb-making techniques. The Bersatu-related groups commonly attack symbols of government authority, such as security forces, administrative buildings and transportation links. However, many attacks have also focused on civilian populations. Buddhists in southern Thailand, schools and teachers have been frequent targets of Bersatu-related terrorism. Schools are seen as symbols of Thai authority -- and thus viewed as legitimate terrorist targets -- because they teach the Thai language rather than the Yawi Malay dialect.
 
Bersatu-related groups have access to standard weaponry, including AK-47s, M-16s and other assault rifles, pistols, body armor and bomb-making materials.

Bersatu was founded on Aug. 31, 1989, though it did not adopt its current designation until 1991. Bersatu gets most of its support from the Muslim Malay population in southern Thailand -- specifically the provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and southern Songkhla. The organization is run by Lukman B. Lima, Bersatu's deputy president, who lives in exile in Sweden.
 
The Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand was strong in the 1960s and 1970s. This period saw the creation of several terrorist groups (the BRN and PULO) and a low-intensity guerrilla campagin against government centers of power. However, these groups suffered from factionalism and a lack of local support. The movement had perhaps 1,000 fighters at its height.
 
The Muslim insurgency lost steam in the late 1990s. However, Muslim separatist and terrorist groups were never completely eliminated in the region. BRN and PULO continued arson attacks, drive-by shootings and bombings of government targets. More recent (post-2004) Bersatu-connected terrorism has been harder for Thai authorities to combat because of the anonymity of the attacks. The government's 2001 decision to ease up some counterinsurgency practices in the south may have contributed to increased terrorism, allowing groups to organize, train and operate.
 
The current insurgency conducted by Muslim separatists in southern Thailand began in January 2004. Bersatu-connected insurgents touched off the fighting by raiding a military base in Narathiwat on Jan. 4, killing four soldiers and ransacking an arsenal with some 300 assault rifles. That same evening, 20 schools in the south were set ablaze, in what became known as "the night of the fires." Afterward, the Ministry of Defense authorized the declaration of martial law in several southern districts.
 
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted by a military coup on Sept. 19, 2006. The hope in some quarters that the military could bring about a conclusion to the southern insurgency were quickly dashed, as attacks resumed after a few days' lull.

Bersatu has an elusive status among the insurgent groups in Thailand. While some reports indicate that it is an umbrella group for the insurgency, other accounts minimize the group's effectiveness. As of August 2010, the Thai military still considered Bersatu to be an active organization. Direct ties remain unclear.

The Thai government in 2010 began to change its strategy in the south, using "soft power" against insurgents, according to a high ranking military official. The idea is to use economic and social programs to create more stability.

1963
March: BRN founded by Ustadz Haji Abdul Karim Hassan (also Abdul Karim Hassan or Ustadz Karim). The group developed close ties to the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), tending toward a pan-Arab socialist ideology.
 
1968
PULO was founded in India by Kabir Abdul Rahman, a Pattani noble and Islamic scholar educated in the Middle East. The group's ideology focused on secular secessionism.
 
1984
BRN split into the BRN-Congress, BRN-Coordinate and BRN-Uran. The BRN-Congress was led by Jehku Peng and focused on military struggle. The BRN-Coordinate pursued political avenues in mosques under the leadership of Haji M and became the strongest of the three splinters.
 
1986
The GMIP was founded by Wae-Hama Wae-Yuso.
 
1989
Aug. 31: Payong Organization was founded, placing the PULO, BRN, BNPP and GMIP under central leadership.
 
1991
Payong Organization was renamed Bersatu.
 
1992
The New PULO group split off, forming a separatist group more focused on Islamic values led by Ar-rong Moo-reng and Hayi Abdul Rohman Bazo.
 
1995
Nasori Saesaeng (Awae Kaelae), Jehku Mae Kuteh (Doromae Kuteh), Nasae Saning and a handful of other Afghan fighters reconsolidated GMIP. Its roots were in rural areas.
 
Another splinter of PULO, called PULO 88, was created. The group was short-lived.
 
1997
July: When the Asian economic crisis hit Thailand, Bersatu gained traction among discontented Muslims in the southern part of the country.
 
September-December: PULO-led terrorist activities claimed the lives of 11 policemen and 14 civilians.
 
2001
Jan. 6: Bersatu terrorists in Yala detonated an explosive device at a hotel garage in Betong, near the Malaysian border. Five people were injured in the attack.
 
April 7: A series of three explosions were set off by Bersatu-related terrorists. The targets included a train station in Hat Yai, a gas storage facility in Songkhla and a hotel in Yala. One person was killed in the attacks and 50 were injured.
 
December: PULO and New PULO conducted attacks on five police checkpoints in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, killing five policemen and injuring a civil defense volunteer.
 
2002
July: Thai security forces attributed the deaths of 20 police officers to Bersatu-related murders over the past eight months.
 
2003
August: Thai security forces gunned down GMIP's Afghan-trained operations chief Nasae Saning and Mahma Maeroh.
 
2004
Jan. 4: A stepped-up insurgency was launched by Bersatu-connected separatists.
 
Jan. 5: Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared martial law in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces. Defense Minister Thamarak Isarangura authorized Lt. Gen. Phongsak Aekbansingha to place six districts in Narathiwat, three districts in Yala and four districts in Pattani under martial law.
 
April 28: More than 100 insurgents, most just teenagers wielding machetes, attacked multiple police stations and military positions in Yala, Pattani and Songkhla. Five security personnel died in the pre-dawn raids. Dozens of the attackers holed up in the Krue Sae mosque in Pattani. The military raid on the facility killed 32, an operation later deemed to be an excessive use of force, increased unrest among Muslims.
 
Oct. 25: Protesters and security forces clashed in Tak Baiu, Narathiwat. Some 2,000 demonstrators agitating for the release of suspected terrorist supporters clashed with about 1,000 police. In the ensuing fighting, six people were killed, while others died from drowning while they were attempting to flee police. Another 80 people died after being arrested and suffering from heat stroke or being crushed in government vehicles.
 
December: Alleged Bersatu member Mukkata Kureng was killed by Thai security forces in Pattani.
 
2005
April 29-May 1: Insignificant by the mid-1990s, PULO held a reunification congress in Damascus, Syria, in 2005. They brought together leading PULO figures from Thailand, Europe and the Middle East to elect Tengku Bira Kotanila as president of the group.
 
Aug. 31: Southern insurgents set off three remote-controlled bombs in Sungai Kolok, near the border with Malaysia. More than a dozen were injured in the simultaneous blasts.
 
October: Representatives from the five main Muslim insurgent groups in Thailand met secretly with senior Thai military and intelligence officers in Langkawi, Malaysia, to develop a peace plan for southern Thailand. The conference was mediated by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as well as members of his Perdana Global Peace Organization non-governmental organization. As of late 2006, those talks were said to be at a dead end.
 
November: The insurgency-related death toll, since ramped-up violence began in January 2004, reached 1,000.
 
2006
Aug. 31: Muslim militants conducted a series of small bomb attacks against 22 commercial banks across Yala province. The bombs were planted in ATM booths and detonated by remote timers over a 5-minute timespan. At least one person was killed by the series of explosions and dozens were injured. The attacks were timed to coincide with the 27th anniversary of the founding of Bersatu.
 
Sep. 16: Insurgents set off three bombs in the town of Hat Yai, in the province of Songkhla, killing at least two people and injuring more than 30. The devices, two of which were detonated at department stores and another placed near a hotel, were hidden in motorcycles and simultaneously detonated by mobile phones.
 
Sept. 19: Military leaders staged a bloodless coup, ousting Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
 
Nov. 19: Thai separatist groups reportedly received foreign funding during Ramadan (from Muslim donors in Egypt, Libya, Sweden, Indonesia and Malaysia) totaling $164,000 (6 million baht).
 
Dec. 11: Teachers in Narathiwat and Yala decided to suspend classes, shutting down nearly 1,000 schools in those two provinces and Pattani. Security concerns due to shootings and incidents of arson prompted the closures.
 
Dec. 21: Talks between military officials and insurgents (begun in 2005) were said to be stuck over the creation of an independent tribunal to try army officers for alleged human-rights violations and the granting of amnesty to all insurgents. Other accounts suggested new talks would be held in Brunei.
 
Dec. 23: Thai Army Chief of Staff Montri Sangkhasap said the army would deploy an additional 10 companies of paratroopers to Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Satun in January 2007, and 20 more companies in April, to combat the southern insurgency.
 
Dec. 31: Nine bombs exploded in the Thai capital of Bangkok, killing three people and injuring another 38. Thousands of people were driven home by the attaacks, and New Year's Eve celebrations were cancelled. The explosive devices were small time-bombs made with ammonium nitrate fertilizer and triggered by digital watches. Immediately after the attacks, authorities blamed supporters connected to ousted Prime Minister Thaksin rather than southern separatists.
 
2007
October: The Thai army changed its command structure in the south. The four southern states wre divided among the army's four regional commands. Previously, the Fourth Region had been in charge of the entire southern area.
 
Oct. 31: The Thai army announced plans to increase the number of troops deployed in the south. Some 30,000 were already deployed.
 
Dec. 23: Thailand held new parliamentary elections: The military junta disbanded shortly thereafter.

2008
December: New civilian government leadership took over from interim military rulers that came to power following a 2006 coup. The different approaches in combating insurgents did little to affect the instability in southern Thailand.

2009
June: Bersatu appeared to have lost much of its authority over the disparate insurgent networks, according to an assessment, dated June 21, 2009, by the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

Nov. 14: Bersatu joined other separatist groups in responding positively to a proposal to establish a specially administered Pattani City. Under the plan, the city would be granted a greater degree of autonomy.

2010
April: The Thai government, in a presentation to the U.S. military, mentioned the continuing presence of Bersatu. However, the government said other groups were now considered more significant in the insurgency.