Ties with Cambodia strained over reds

By The Nation

P Penh denies Bangkok claim red warriors got weapons training in Siem Reap; NSC backs up DSI findings

Thailand and Cambodia have found their newly restored relations at another highly delicate juncture after a Thai police investigation revealed militant red shirts were allegedly trained in Siem Reap.

The Cambodian government yesterday denied that red militants had been trained on its soil to carry out acts of terror in Thailand, while in Bangkok the government tried to cushion the impact on bilateral ties by saying Phnom Penh leaders had no policy of supporting such alleged training.

The bombshell allegations were made by the Department of Special Investigation on Monday and backed up by the National Security Council (NSC) yesterday

Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said his country would receive no benefit from either sheltering or training red militants, while the spokesman's office for the Cambodian government said the report was a fabrication, and that giving weapons training to foreigners was against its constitution.

A statement released yesterday by the spokesman's office claimed the allegation was a Thai government plan to undermine the red-shirt movement for political gain. "It's a nonsense that Cambodia would want to have problems with anyone for no reason," the statement said.

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) cited interviews with 11 men accused of seeking weapons training, who were arrested recently at a Chiang Mai resort. And it released details of similar weapons training for another 24 men in Cambodia.

DSI director-general Tharit Phengdit said yesterday details about Cambodia's training of some 39 red militants needed further verification.

Media reports cited different numbers of red militants becoming active after completion of weapons courses they attended, either in Thailand or elsewhere. The total number mentioned is 64 overall, with four allegedly assigned as bodyguards for wanted militant Arisman Pongruengrong.

Details from interviews with the 11 men, who have sought protection with the DSI and given much more information, will forwarded to the government's Centre for Resolution for the Emergency Situation (CRES). It will then decide how to deal with the issue, with advice from the Foreign Ministry.

Spokesman Panitan Wattanaya-gorn said Cambodia's denial about weapons training was being verified, but the issue would be discussed between Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his counterpart Hun Sen at the 17th Asean meeting in Vietnam on October 28-30. He said Hun Sen had pledged to look into the matter to determine "how credible it could have been" after he met with Abhisit at the Asia Europe Meeting in Brussels on October 4 and 5.

Panitan said the Brussels meeting had a good atmosphere and both leaders made an unofficial pledge to exchange intelligence tip-offs about criminals from one country fleeing to the other.

He said the weapons training courses included bomb-making, demolition, use of firearms and grenade launchers, and given only to successful candidates.

The CRES was keeping a close watch on hard-core red-shirt groups. "Security officials will keep pressuring them to prevent them from being fully active," he added.

NSC secretary-general Thawit Pliansri had confirmed the DSI's

intelligence report about the red

militants receiving weapons training in Cambodia.

Justice Minister Pirapan Sali-rathavibhaga said more details were being gathered to verify that Arisman had been linked to the weapons training before Thailand decides whether to ask Cambodia to extradite him to face indictments here.