The South Thailand Insurgency is an ongoing conflict taking place in Thailand's southernmost provinces. It originally flared up in 1948, due to ethnic tensions and an ongoing separatist insurgency the three provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala. There are also occasional breakouts of violence in nearby Songkhla.
Though a longstanding insurgency with low-levels of separatist violence, the situation has worsened greatly since 2001 with outbreaks of terrorism carried out by various groups. As a result, many of the charities and other agencies have scaled back their activities for the safety of their staff. The fact that so few outsiders know what is happening in the region, has compounded problems and the violence and disruption to everyday life means the economy is in a poor state.