Thailand Protests Aussie Travel Advisory

[george]

Thailand protests travel advisory

BANGKOK: -- Thailand has protested to Australia over publication of its latest travel advisory warning of possible Muslim separatist attacks in tourist areas, including the capital Bangkok, over the Christmas holiday period.

Thailand's Foreign Ministry yesterday summoned the Australian charge d'affaires, John Griffin, over the latest warnings, published on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website a day earlier.

The soft protest was described by a Thai ministry official in a report today as regular consultation between the two countries' embassies.

But, the report added, the Thai Government was angered by Canberra's latest advisory saying Bangkok was a potential target for an attack.

It advised travellers to defer overland travel to and from the Malaysian border through the southern, largely Muslim, provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla.

The advisory also said the escalation of violence in the south may result in attacks elsewhere in Thailand, including Bangkok and other tourist areas.

The updated advisory followed earlier media reports quoting a senior respected Thai army general, now an adviser to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, that terrorists may be planning attacks in 2005 at tourist resorts across the country.

The reports were based on documents uncovered in the house of a fugitive separatist leader in Thailand's southern provinces, calling for a broadening of the violence outside the border region with Malaysia.

More than 570 people have died in the unrest this year, marking one of the worst periods of escalating violence in almost two decades.

Security officials will be on guard against any attacks over the New Year celebrations, as well the first week of January that will mark the anniversary – on January 4 – of a major attack on an army depot in 2003.

--The Advertiser, AU, 2004-12-25