A Matter of Time Thailand & Cambodi Go to WAR?

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published November 20, 2009

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Cambodia seizes control of Thai firm as row deepens

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(BANGKOK) Deepening a diplomatic row, Cambodia has taken control of a Thai-operated air traffic control company at the centre of spying allegations, a step Thailand's foreign minister said 'would not seem right'.

The Cambodian government has appointed a senior civil aviation official as temporary caretaker for Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS), a wholly owned unit of Thailand's Samart Corporation Pcl, Samart said yesterday.
All Thai expatriates at the company have been banned from performing their duties, it added.
The neighbouring countries are embroiled in a diplomatic row sparked in October when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen offered fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra a job as an economic adviser and a home just across the border.
Dr Thaksin, twice elected but deposed in a 2006 military coup and sentenced last year to two years in jail for graft, has been living in self-imposed exile, largely in Dubai. He spent five days in Cambodia last week, infuriating the Thai government.
A Thai engineer working for CATS has been accused of sending Dr Thaksin's flight schedule to a Thai diplomat, who was expelled by Phnom Penh, and violating Cambodian national security laws.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Samart, 19 per cent owned by Malaysian telecommunications firm Axiata Group, said yesterday it was seeking support from the Thai government on negotiating with Cambodia for the release of the 31-year-old engineer, Siwarak Chutipongse. -- Reuters

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