Thailand to provide Cambodian premier special security during visit

via CAAI News Media

Thu, 25 Mar 2010

By : dpa

Bangkok - Thailand plans to provide Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen with special security when he visits next month, Thai Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said Thursday amid tense relations between the two neighbours.

Hen Sen plans to attend the first Mekong River Commission summit April 4-5 in the resort town of Hua Hun south of Bangkok. It would be his first visit to Thailand since a diplomatic spat erupted after Cambodia appointed fugitive Thai ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra to be a government adviser late last year and refused to extradite him back to Thailand.

Cambodia appointed Thaksin, who has a two-year jail sentence still to serve in Thailand for abuse of power, as an economic adviser to the government and to Hun Sen.

Bangkok considers the appointment of Thaksin, the de-facto opposition leader in Thailand, as interference in its internal politics.

Thaksin was prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006, when he was toppled in a bloodless coup. He fled the country and has live in self-imposed exile, mostly in Dubai, since August 2008.

The relationship between Cambodia and Thailand has also been tense for more than a year because of their disputing claims to land near the 11th-century Preah Vihear border temple.

Their troops have sporadically clashed near the disputed area, and Thai nationalists have used the Preah Vihear issue to stoke tensions.

General Prawit called on Thais not to protest during the summit and said he would personally oversee security in Hua Hin.

The Mekong River Commission summit brings together Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. China and Myanmar, which are dialogue partners, are also to attend.

The Mekong River is currently facing its worst drought in decades in parts of Thailand and Laos.