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"The council found it necessary to seize power as of now," said Sonthi, Thailand's first ever Muslim chief of staff. |
BANGKOK — In the country's first coup in 15 years, the Thai army took control of the capital Bangkok on Tuesday, September 19, and declared martial law and revoked an emergency decree declared by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from New York.
"The council found it necessary to seize power as of now," military commander Lieutenant General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said in his first statement since heavily-armed troops and tanks took control of Thaksin's office in central Bangkok, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A statement read out on Thailand's public television channels earlier Tuesday evening said the "Council for Political Reform" had taken control of the government.
It said the armed forces and police had set up a commission to decide on political reforms, ousting Thaksin in the midst of protracted political crisis in which he was accused of undermining democracy.
Inside Government House, around 50 soldiers ordered police in the complex to lay down their weapons, a witness said.
Weerasak Kohsurat, a deputy minister in a prior government, told Reuters he believed royal adviser Sumate Tantivejakul would head the reform commission and an interim government would be formed while political reforms were agreed.
Elections would be called soon and Thaksin would be allowed to take part, he expected.
A general election scheduled for October was postponed last week, probably until November.
Calm Thaksin
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| Tanks surround the Government House in Bangkok. (Reuters) |
Thaksin remained in a New York hotel with his aides as events unfolded in Thailand, a senior Thai official told AFP.
"The Thai prime minister is quite calm," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"He watched President George W. Bush speaking at the UN General Assembly from his hotel room.
"He feels that he is the elected prime minister and he would like to safeguard the constitution of the country," said the official.
Earlier Thaksin called a television station to make a statement from New York, where he is attending a United Nations summit.
"I declare Bangkok under a severe state of emergency," he said.
Thaksin ordered troops not to "move illegally" and told Sonthi to report to acting Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya.
The transmission stopped after 10 minutes while the billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-politician, whose critics accuse him of corruption and abuse of power, was still talking.
In September 2005, General Sonthi, a Muslim, was named the new army chief, the first-ever such move in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country.
He vowed to employ a softer approach in dealing with unrest in the predominantly Muslim south, believing military operations had to change from combat to a focus on psychological and intelligence work.
"I'd rather use the mouth and negotiations than weapons to fight the insurgency."
The International Crisis Group had blamed the south's unrest on the government's failure to address injustices done to Muslims and open a genuine dialogue with Muslim leaders.
Muslims make up five percent of the population and mostly live in the five southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are the only Muslim-majority provinces in Thailand and were an independent Muslim sultanate until annexed a century ago.
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