PHNOM PENH: Cambodia cannot afford to pay Thailand the US$50mil (RM190mil) it wants in damages for riots that destroyed the Thai embassy and plunged relations to their lowest level in decades, parliament chief Prince Norodom Ranariddh said yesterday.
The comment by the National Assembly president and head of the royalist Funcinpec party, a junior partner in Cambodia's ruling coalition, came as Thailand prepared to submit its final bill for the Jan 29 night of violence to Phnom Penh. About a dozen Thai-owned businesses were also destroyed in the chaos.