Thais cut links with Cambodia after riots

Soap opera actor's quote triggers raid on embassy in Phnom Penh
Thailand severed virtually all ties with Cambodia yesterday after bizarre rumours about a soap opera actor's alleged remarks about a ruined temple grew into a diplomatic dispute involving a burning embassy, warships and the deployment of commandos.



He also promised to round up and deport hundreds of thousands of Cambodian illegal immigrants and beggars. Thai airlines suspended all flights to and from its neighbour.

Hundreds of Thais responded to the violence by protesting outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok yesterday. The country's emblem and sign were ripped off the compound wall and burned along with shredded Cambodian flags.

Police thwarted an attempt to storm the building.



"Until the Cambodian government explains what happened, arrests those involved in the violence and pays for the damage, we cannot have a normal relationship with the government," he said on national television.


The repair bill was estimated to be £14m.






The seeds of the crisis were sown on January 18 when a small Cambodian newspaper, Rasmei Angkor (Light of Angkor), reported that a Thai soap opera actor, Suwanan Kongying, had said she would not perform again in Cambodia until the famed Angkor Wat temple complex - the national symbol depicted on Cambodia's flag - was returned to Thailand.


A huge public outcry soon followed.


On Monday Mr Hun Sen publicly criticised the actress and ordered a boycott of foreign, and particularly Thai, goods and television shows. "She isn't even worth as much as the grass that grows around Angkor temples," he said.

Wednesday's demonstration at the Thai embassy initially involved only a few hundred people. But then it suddenly more than doubled in size and became violent.

The 10 Thai diplomats and staff were forced to flee through the back door as the mob came in the front and started destroying, looting and burning the property. They moved on to other Thai-owned businesses.

One plastics factory on the outskirts of Phnom Penh was still burning yesterday and there was no sign of firefighters or police at the scene. The city was otherwise calm.

More than 600 Thais were evacuated by Thai air force transport planes yesterday. On their arrival in Bangkok, they regaled the media with stories about how they survived the night and how the Cambodian police and army who escorted them to the airport stole their valuables.

One woman said her handbag and necklace was snatched from her; a man said he was forced to hand over his wallet and ring.

The Thai defence minister, Thamarak Isarangura, said the 500-mile long border with Cambodia would be closed to Cambodians until further notice. He also said police had started to round up hundreds of thousands of illegal Cambodian labourers and beggars.

"We can no longer be merciful to these people," he told local television. "They are a threat to our national security. This will show them that Cambodians will have a much more difficult time if they mess with us."

Temple of turmoil

While Thais and Cambodians share the same branch of Buddhism many linguistic and cultural traits, the neighbours have had many spats over the centuries, many of which were linked to the Angkor Wat temple.

For 500 years, from the early ninth century, Angkor Wat, was the capital of a Khmer (Cambodian) empire that stretched over much of modern Indo-China. The Thais captured it in 1431 and Cambodia became a battleground sandwiched between Siam, as Thailand was called, and Vietnam.

France officially declared Cambodia a colony in 1867 but granted Thailand control of two provinces, including Siem Reap, the home of Angkor Wat. Forty years later France regained the two provinces for Cambodia in a treaty with Bangkok.

After Cambodia declared its independence in 1953, a bitter dispute erupted between the neighbours over possession of another temple, Preah Vihear, located on a border escarpment. The international court of justice eventually sided with Cambodia in 1962.

During the regime of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in 1975-79, and after its overthrow, there was little formal contact between the countries.

Relations were not normalised until after the UN-sponsored election in 1993 restored democracy to Cambodia. But several borders still remain disputed.

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