Phnom Penh denies Thai red shirts trained for unrest in Cambodia

http://www.earthtimes.org/

via CAAI News Media

Wed, 02 Jun 2010

By : dpa

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government on Wednesday rejected claims carried by a Thai television station that Thai opposition supporters crossed into western Cambodia and were trained in fomenting unrest.

A government spokesman said Cambodia followed a policy of peaceful co-existence with all nations, and would not interfere in another country's internal affairs.

ASTV on Monday carried a report in which a Thai military commander claimed that red shirts had crossed into Oddar Meanchey province, where they were trained in techniques to stir up social unrest.

The Thai commander, identified by the Cambodian government as Vivalit Chhonsomrit, then alleged that the training was a step towards declaring that north-eastern Thailand was under opposition control.

The Cambodian government said foreign military bases were not permitted on its territory, and called on the Thai media to refrain from distributing "baseless information, which would mislead national and international opinion."

The two-month showdown between anti-government protestors and the Thai government left at least 88 people dead and hundreds injured in Bangkok. Troops finally dispersed the demonstrators on May 19, sparking off rioting that destroyed numerous buildings in the capital.

Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who has close ties to the protest movement, is an ally of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Thaksin's appointment last year as an adviser to the Cambodian government sparked a diplomatic rift between the two nations that has still not healed.