BBC News
Cambodia has received an extradition request from Thailand for former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Three Thai diplomats have given extradition papers to officials at Cambodia's foreign affairs ministry.
Cambodia has previously said it would reject any such request and a formal rejection is anticipated.
Mr Thaksin, sentenced in a conflict of interest case in Thailand, was offered a home and a job in neighbouring Cambodia, to Thai chagrin.
The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says the extradition request was widely expected, and is likely to further escalate a diplomatic row between the neighbours.
She says Mr Thaksin's presence just across the border is a source of profound irritation and potential concern for the current Thai government.
'Political' charge
Cambodia's expected rejection of the request is based on the view that charges levelled against Mr Thaksin in Thailand were politically motivated.
"Thaksin's conviction is caused by the coup in September 2006, when he was the prime minister of Thailand whom Thai people voted in with an overwhelming majority in accordance with democracy," Cambodia's foreign minister Hor Namhong has said.
In Bangkok, Thailand's foreign ministry said it was waiting for official confirmation from the embassy in Phnom Penh that Cambodia had denied its request.
"If it is true, we will consider the next measures to take," the ministry's deputy spokesman Thani Thongpakdi told AFP.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said the country may terminate its extradition treaty with Cambodia if Phnom Penh refuses to send Mr Thaksin home to face justice.
Brother enemy
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has expressed the region's concern at such an argument breaking out within the bounds of the supposedly fraternal Association of South East Asian Nations.
"Tension between Cambodia and Thailand is something that we're following extremely closely with a great deal of concern, to be honest, because it affects two fellow members of Asean, and we see the deterioration of relations to be in total disconnect with what ought to mark how Asean member countries ought to engage with one another.
"This spat, this division has to end, and we must return to the usual path which is friendship within Asean," Mr Natalegawa said.
Mr Thaksin arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday to take up a job as economic adviser to the government.
The move has deepened a diplomatic rift with Thailand, where Mr Thaksin faces a jail term for corruption if he returns.
Having already withdrawn its ambassador from Cambodia, the Thai cabinet has now agreed to scrap joint plans for trade and oil exploration.
Ties between Cambodia and Thailand have also been tense recently due to a series of disputes around a cross-border temple complex.
Mr Thaksin, a former telecoms billionaire, is in self-imposed exile and has spent much of his time in Dubai.
Thailand's government is outraged at the Cambodian move, and at Cambodia's apparent rejection of Thailand's judicial imperative to send Mr Thaksin to jail.
The Thai government and its supporters also fear that Mr Thaksin could use his new home just across the border as a campaign base.
Mr Abhisit's government was appointed after defections in parliament followed a period of military rule since the coup in 2006 which deposed Mr Thaksin.
Three Thai diplomats have given extradition papers to officials at Cambodia's foreign affairs ministry.
Cambodia has previously said it would reject any such request and a formal rejection is anticipated.
Mr Thaksin, sentenced in a conflict of interest case in Thailand, was offered a home and a job in neighbouring Cambodia, to Thai chagrin.
The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says the extradition request was widely expected, and is likely to further escalate a diplomatic row between the neighbours.
She says Mr Thaksin's presence just across the border is a source of profound irritation and potential concern for the current Thai government.
'Political' charge
Cambodia's expected rejection of the request is based on the view that charges levelled against Mr Thaksin in Thailand were politically motivated.
"Thaksin's conviction is caused by the coup in September 2006, when he was the prime minister of Thailand whom Thai people voted in with an overwhelming majority in accordance with democracy," Cambodia's foreign minister Hor Namhong has said.
In Bangkok, Thailand's foreign ministry said it was waiting for official confirmation from the embassy in Phnom Penh that Cambodia had denied its request.
"If it is true, we will consider the next measures to take," the ministry's deputy spokesman Thani Thongpakdi told AFP.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said the country may terminate its extradition treaty with Cambodia if Phnom Penh refuses to send Mr Thaksin home to face justice.
Brother enemy
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has expressed the region's concern at such an argument breaking out within the bounds of the supposedly fraternal Association of South East Asian Nations.
"Tension between Cambodia and Thailand is something that we're following extremely closely with a great deal of concern, to be honest, because it affects two fellow members of Asean, and we see the deterioration of relations to be in total disconnect with what ought to mark how Asean member countries ought to engage with one another.
"This spat, this division has to end, and we must return to the usual path which is friendship within Asean," Mr Natalegawa said.
Mr Thaksin arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday to take up a job as economic adviser to the government.
The move has deepened a diplomatic rift with Thailand, where Mr Thaksin faces a jail term for corruption if he returns.
Having already withdrawn its ambassador from Cambodia, the Thai cabinet has now agreed to scrap joint plans for trade and oil exploration.
Ties between Cambodia and Thailand have also been tense recently due to a series of disputes around a cross-border temple complex.
Mr Thaksin, a former telecoms billionaire, is in self-imposed exile and has spent much of his time in Dubai.
Thailand's government is outraged at the Cambodian move, and at Cambodia's apparent rejection of Thailand's judicial imperative to send Mr Thaksin to jail.
The Thai government and its supporters also fear that Mr Thaksin could use his new home just across the border as a campaign base.
Mr Abhisit's government was appointed after defections in parliament followed a period of military rule since the coup in 2006 which deposed Mr Thaksin.
7 comments:
Hun Sen death search is coming,he will get what he asked for.
Thank Mr. Ransy you will get that prime minister with out searching for our ballots.
how is thaksin? any one can tell
is that all Abhisit can do?....cancel the extradition treaty....hun sen wouldn't care less....each time Abhisit reacts it puts him even more in a helpless situation....it shows Abhisit/Kasit and the PAD gang have no leverage at all....they have no card to play against hun sen the jungle man....which means the next move will be sending commandos to capture Thaksin, or trigger a war at the border that's how the Oxford kid deals with the situation.
Before the Town man play the game and the jungle man never said anything just let them play.
Now, it's time for the jungle man to do his job and the town man can't solve.
Oxfor Univ. student has to go back to school to study again.
I don't care about Abhisit and Kasit, they 're just a kid and a lunatic,let them show how its go, almost Thais wanted to be peace.
If Abhullshit is not being the GREED or not overreacting there shouldn't be a problem.
There was a former Pervian president name Fuji Alberto Mori which he is Japanese descent was charged with corruption and killing he escaped to Japan and Peru request the Japan to send him back to Peru and Japan declined the request. Peru had extradition with the two countries and Japan ignore that.
Hahaaa....Thailand can you look at this prime example????
Thailand can kneel and beg Khmer people for that maybe there will be a chance.
Post a Comment