Thaksin: US a useless friend

BANGKOK: Thailand's prime minister, a key American ally in the war on terror, blasted Washington yesterday as a “useless friend” after a US State Department report criticised his government's human rights record. 

“I am very upset and annoyed by the report,” Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters, reacting to the State Department's annual report on the state of human rights in the world during last year. 

He said US Ambassador Darryl Johnson was to be summoned to the Foreign Ministry later yesterday to hear an official complaint from the government. 

In its section on Thailand, the report said the human rights situation in Thailand was generally positive last year but that the government's record worsened on extra-judicial killings and arbitrary arrests. 

It cited the killings of drug suspects during confrontations with police during a war on drugs ordered by Thaksin between February and April last year.  

News reports and human rights groups said more than 2,000 people were killed in what they described as summary executions. 

“A report that takes its information from the media is unacceptable to me,” Thaksin said. 

“What kind of friends are they? They are friends who damage the reputation of their friends every year.  

“What would they do if Thailand issued the same report annually? These kind of friends are useless friends,” he said. 

Thaksin won personal praise from US President George W. Bush last year after Thai police arrested a top terrorist suspect, Hambali, in a central Thai city. 

Thaksin said his government had already explained to the United States last year its position that the drug deaths were caused by internecine fighting among drug barons. – AP

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