In remarks broadcast nationwide recently, the premier said he will dispatch Hor Namhong on Tuesday, who will act as his special envoy to meet Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the King of Thailand.

At least eight of Thai owned business establishments in the capital have been destroyed by the mobs of Cambodian students who angrily reacted to the alleged report by a local newspaper that Thai TV actress Suwanan Khongying had told Thai TV that she would accept an invitation to perform in Cambodia if the Angkor Wat temple is returned to Thailand.

Suwanan Khongying has denied the allegation.

Giving speech to about 1,000 villagers in Kampot province, some 175 kilometers south of the capital, Hun Sen said he thanked Thai Prime Minister Thaksin for his understanding of the situation in Cambodia. He also thanked the King of Thailand who apparently appeared on TV to ask his people from provoking any violence against the Cambodian Embassy and staff.

Hun Sen had accused a group of extremists of plotting the riots, but he also admitted incompetence of the authorities to control in time the inflammatory information saying Cambodian staffs in Bangkok had been killed, which was the cause of incitement of the mobs.

The Cambodian government has detained 57 people charged with inciting the riots.

Hun Sen has pledged that his government will compensate all the damages caused by the Cambodian mobs.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2003)