BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra apologized on Thursday for a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen that has provoked widespread anger and put her government on the brink of collapse.
Her main coalition partner has quit and she faces calls to resign or hold an election, throwing the kingdom into a fresh round of political instability as it seeks to boost its spluttering economy and avoid US President Donald Trump’s swingeing trade tariffs.
The conservative Bhumjaithai party pulled out on Wednesday, saying Paetongtarn’s conduct in the leaked call had wounded the country and the army’s dignity.
As pressure grew on Thursday, Paetongtarn apologized at a news conference alongside military chiefs and senior figures from her Pheu Thai party.
“I would like to apologize for the leaked audio of my conversation with a Cambodian leader which has caused public resentment,” Paetongtarn told reporters.
The 38-year-old is the daughter of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s most influential but controversial modern politician.
Paetongtarn is heard in the call discussing an ongoing border dispute with Hun Sen, who still holds wide powers in Cambodia despite leaving office in 2023.
She addresses the veteran leader as “uncle” and refers to the Thai army commander in the country’s northeast as her opponent, a remark that sparked fierce criticism on social media.
The Thai foreign ministry summoned the Cambodian ambassador on Thursday to deliver a letter complaining about the leaking of the call.
The loss of Bhumjaithai’s 69 MPs left Paetongtarn with barely enough votes to scrape a majority in parliament and a snap election looks a clear possibility — barely two years after the last one in May 2023.
Two other coalition parties, the United Thai Nation and the Democrat Party, will hold meetings to discuss the situation later Thursday.
Paetongtarn will be hoping her apology and public show of unity with the military are enough to persuade them to stay on board.
Losing either would likely mean the end of her government and either an election or a bid by other parties to stitch together a new coalition.
Thailand’s military said in a statement that army chief General Pana Claewplodtook “affirms commitment to democratic principles and national sovereignty protection.”
“The Chief of Army emphasized that the paramount imperative is for ‘Thai people to stand united’ in collectively defending national sovereignty,” it said.
Thailand’s armed forces have long played a powerful role in the kingdom’s politics and politicians are usually careful not to antagonize them.
Thailand has suffered a dozen coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, and the current crisis has inevitably triggered rumors that another may be in the offing.
Such an outcome would make Paetongtarn the third member of her family, after her aunt Yingluck and father Thaksin, to be kicked out of office by the military.
The main opposition People’s Party, which won the most seats in 2023 but was blocked by conservative senators from forming a government, urged Paetongtarn to call an election.
“What happened yesterday was a leadership crisis that destroyed people’s trust,” People’s Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut said in a statement.
The Palang Pracharath party, which led the government up to 2023, said the leaked recording showed Paetongtarn was weak and inexperienced, incapable of managing the country’s security.
Hundreds of anti-government protesters, some of them veterans of the royalist, anti-Thaksin “Yellow Shirt” movement of the late 2000s, demonstrated outside Government House on Thursday demanding that Paetongtarn quit.
Thai PM apologizes as crisis threatens to topple government
https://arab.news/w4kqp
Thai PM apologizes as crisis threatens to topple government
- The loss of Bhumjaithai’s 69 MPs left Paetongtarn with barely enough votes to scrape a majority in parliament and a snap election looks a clear possibility — barely two years after the last one in May 2023.
- The conservative Bhumjaithai party, Pheu Thai’s biggest partner, pulled out on Wednesday
US will respond to Rwanda’s violation of peace pact, says Rubio
- Waltz told the Security Council meeting that the US “is deeply concerned and increasingly disappointed” by this resurgence of violence
WASHINGTON: Top US diplomat Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Rwanda had clearly violated the peace agreement it signed with the Democratic Republic of Congo in Washington last week and vowed unspecified “action” in response.
The Rwandan-backed M23 armed group advanced in eastern DRC and seized the key border city of Uvira, just days after the leaders signed the “Washington Accords” on Dec. 4.
“Rwanda’s actions in eastern DRC are a clear violation of the Washington Accords, and the US will take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept,” Secretary of State Rubio wrote on X.
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UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned the new offensive ‘has revived the specter of a regional conflagration with incalculable consequences.’
The capture of Uvira, along the border with Burundi, has raised fears that the conflict could escalate into a regional war.
As part of an offensive launched at the beginning of December in South Kivu province, the armed group’s takeover follows its earlier this year capture of Goma and Bukavu, other major cities in the DRC’s mineral-rich east.
On Friday, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz accused Rwanda of “leading the region toward more instability and toward war.”
“The Rwandan defense forces have provided materiel, logistics, and training support to M23 as well as fighting alongside M23 in DRC with roughly 5,000 to 7,000 troops,” not including possible reinforcements during the latest offensive, Waltz told the UN Security Council.
The Rwandan firepower has included surface-to-air missiles, drones, and artillery, he added.
Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has seized swaths of territory, displacing tens of thousands and leading to a spiraling humanitarian crisis.
Earlier this month, UN experts said Rwanda’s army and the M23 had carried out summary executions and forced mass displacements of people in the region.
Waltz told the Security Council meeting that the US “is deeply concerned and increasingly disappointed” by this resurgence of violence.
The envoy denounced “the scale and sophistication” of Rwanda’s involvement in eastern DRC.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned the new offensive “has revived the specter of a regional conflagration with incalculable consequences.”
“Recent developments pose a serious risk of the progressive fragmentation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly its eastern part,” he said.
Burundi on Friday accused Rwanda of bombing its territory, and its ambassador, Zephyrin Maniratanga, told the council it “reserves the right to use self-defense.”
He warned that if the attacks continue, it would be extremely difficult to avoid an escalation between the two African countries.
“Rwanda is not waging war against the Republic of Burundi and has no intention of doing that,” Ambassador Martin Ngoga said.
Meanwhile, Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner criticized the Security Council for its “lack of action” and called for sanctions against Rwanda.
Despite a resolution adopted in February demanding the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and a ceasefire, “the situation is undeniable: another city has fallen, a parallel administration has consolidated itself, thousands more families have fled, and others have been killed, raped, and terrorized,” she said.
