[b] Cambodia to mend ties

Cambodia to mend ties

with Thailand after riots

Lawrence Bartlett Agence France-Presse Phnom Penh

A shaken Cambodian government faces the tricky task this week of repairing damage to its reputation and regional relations after being widely accused of responsibility for devastating anti-Thai riots.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong flies to Bangkok on Tuesday to confront a furious Thai government, which says it came close to sending in commandos to protect its embassy here when it was under attack by Cambodian mobs last Wednesday.

He is likely to be grilled over how the riots started and why the authorities failed to contain them before the embassy and Thai-owned businesses worth millions of dollars were burnt to the ground.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has made clear he is in no mood to be fobbed off with claims of spontaneous popular anger over false rumors that a Thai actress said Cambodia stole the world-famous Angkor Wat temples from Thailand.

Instead he has suggested the mobs were deliberately whipped up for political reasons ahead of July elections.

"The incident was caused by competition between political parties in Cambodia, who took advantage of a nonsensical story to fan out nationalist sentiment for political gain," he said.

Although Thaksin did not point directly at his counterpart, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, others have.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said the violence had been orchestrated by the government.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen stirred up anti-Thai feelings in order to divert attention from increasingly serious internal problems he cannot solve," Rainsy said in a statement.

He accused the prime minister of making an inflammatory speech on national radio on Jan. 27, "which was an incitement to racism, hatred and violence".

Hun Sen remarked that Thai soap-opera star Suvanant Kongying was not worth "a few blades of grass near Angkor Wat", lending credence to the allegations in local media that she had insulted Cambodia.

Exploiting Cambodian nationalism is a typical political ploy, and Thailand was an easy target given resentment of its growing cultural and economic influence here.

Its cultural clout was epitomized by the local popularity of the television performances of the stylish and beautiful Suvanant Kongying, while major Thai firms have huge stakes in Cambodia.

In sectors such as agribusiness, banking, insurance and telecommunications, they control nearly half the market.

In contrast, Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Asia, best known for the horrors of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s, living largely off handouts from the international donor community.

It cannot survive being cut off from its more powerful neighbor, while economics dictate that Thailand agrees to mend fences.

The Cambodian government has apologized and promised compensation, partly mollifying Thailand.

"In the long term, if the government of Cambodia moves fast and sincere in this manner, I think it will be fine," Thaksin said.