Cambodia blasts Thailand over Red Shirt accusations

by Michelle Fitzpatrick Michelle Fitzpatrick

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodia on Wednesday accused Thai authorities of playing "dirty games" and concocting evidence that anti-government "Red Shirts" had received weapons training on its territory.

Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI) said that 11 Red Shirts picked up in the northern province of Chiang Mai this month had confessed to receiving three weeks of training in Siem Reap to assassinate politicians.

"When they came back to Thailand, they were sent to Chiang Mai to prepare for assignment. They told us that they were trained for sabotage and assassination," DSI chief Tharit Pengdit told AFP on Monday.

The 11 men, who are reportedly part of a larger group of 39 militants, will not face charges but will serve as witnesses in efforts to prosecute the people who organised the training, he added.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said that he had been in touch with his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva about the allegations and asked him to clarify Bangkok's position.

In a speech at a university graduation ceremony, Hun Sen said Cambodia had a "responsibility to fight against terrorism" and that it would "not interfere in Thailand's internal affairs".

The government-owned Thai news website MCOT quoted Police Lieutenant Colonel Payao Thongsen as saying that the men were taken by Red Shirt leaders to Cambodia without passing legal immigration processes.

The Cambodian government strongly rejected the allegations, saying it would not allow foreigners to set up training camps on its territory.

In a statement, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers accused the Thai authorities of engaging in "malicious political manoeuvring" to link the country to Thailand's internal problems.
Cambodia "strongly demands that Thailand DSI put an end to the dirty games of concocting evidences to deflect Thailand public opinion from Thailand's own internal political and social problems," he said.

Mass anti-government rallies by the Red Shirts in the heart of Bangkok in April and May left 91 people dead -- mainly civilians -- in clashes between demonstrators and armed soldiers.

The Thai government has blamed the movement for a recent string of bomb blasts, but the Reds deny any involvement and have accused the authorities of a conspiracy to justify tough security powers and tarnish the Reds' image.

Ties between Thailand and Cambodia have been strained since a long-running dispute over a border temple flared up in 2008, and the Red Shirt row threatens to reverse a recent thaw in relations.

In another statement, Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the "unsubstantiated and malignant claim made by the DSI is causing greater harm to the Thai-Cambodian relations".

Thailand was outraged when Cambodia hired ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a hero to many of the Reds, as an economic adviser in November 2009.

The move led to both countries withdrawing their ambassadors and relations were not fully restored until Thaksin resigned in August of this year.