US suspends Thai anti-terror aid

[JimboPSM]

From Bangkok Post Breaking News:

US suspends Thai anti-terror aid

Washington (dpa) - Thailand is to lose millions of dollars in US aid because of the coup that Washington calls "a step backward for democracy."

The State Department announced that the US government has suspended nearly $24 million in military aid to Thailand in response to last week's military coup.

The funding includes money for military equipment, training of peacekeepers and from a new Defence Department programme to strengthen foreign military forces in anti-terrorism operations, department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The bulk of the suspended aid - $16.3 million - comes from the Pentagon effort, launched this year, to train and equip foreign militaries in counterterrorism operations.

The programmes would be reinstated after a democratically elected Thai government takes office, he told reporters. He renewed US appeals for Thailand's military rulers to allow a return to democracy and speedy elections.

Army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin seized power in a bloodless coup September 19, ousting billionaire prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and abolishing Thailand's 1997 constitution.

Sonthi, who has backing from Thailand's revered an individual Adulyadej, has pledged to hand power to a civilian cabinet within two weeks and to hold a general election by October 2007.

xxx

Here is the text of the Thailand sections of the press briefing:

MR. MCCORMACK: Good afternoon. I have a couple of opening announcements for you, and then we can get into your questions. The first one concerns Thailand.

In response to the military coup on September 19th in Thailand, the United States has suspended almost $24 million of assistance to the Thai Government under Section 508 of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act in the following areas: Foreign Military Financing, International Military Education and Training, Peacekeeping Operations and Section 1206 funds. The United States continues to urge a rapid return to democratic rule and early elections in Thailand. We look forward to being able to reinstate these suspended programs after a democratically elected government takes office.

...

QUESTION: And just one quick one on Thailand. Can you tell us what Section 1206 money is?


MR. MCCORMACK: I will have an expert afterwards get you some information on that and run through all of this. Anytime you start getting into money and funding, I'm going to leave it to the people who deal with stuff on a daily basis as you start getting into what you're funding and so forth. But one thing that I can say is that this is not all of U.S. bilateral aid to Thailand. There are -- this is covered by what I just referred to, Section 508, of the law. There are certain aid programs that fall outside the purview of that and that in our view are important to continue on. This very generally deals with things like helping prevent the spread of AIDS, preparing for a possible avian influenza outbreak and how to prevent that. So those sorts of programs.


QUESTION: Humanitarian programs?


MR. MCCORMACK: Humanitarian programs. Those are the sorts of things that are going to continue. These programs -- the law stipulates that until and unless the President -- and this authority is now delegated to the Secretary of State -- is able to determine that there is a democratically elected government in place, these funds and these programs will be suspended.


QUESTION: Thank you.

...

QUESTION: Sean, just one quick note back on Thailand. Do happen to have the total number of U.S. aid this year? I know that last week there were some numbers floating but --

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't have it. We'll have somebody get that stuff for you.

QUESTION: Thanks.

QUESTION: Can we stick with Thailand and have just one more on that?

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.

QUESTION: There are reports now surfacing in the Thai press, and we've talked to people who have actually seen this document, that there's a draft of the constitution that the coup leaders are circulating. And there are some concerns that it would retain an excessively great role for the coup leaders during whatever interim period there may be before elections. There was something about the head of the coup leaders being able to summon the Prime Minister for conversations about any basically decision. The impression read -- by people who have actually read the thing is that that they would retain a lot of influence. Is that acceptable to you? Don't you want them to just let go to a caretaker administration and hold elections?

MR. MCCORMACK: We would -- I would have to comment based on specifics and the people in our Embassy in Bangkok may or may not have seen the draft of this. I don't know. But we would have to look at the specifics of it.

Just as a general comment, what we want to see is Thailand get back as quickly as possible onto the pathway of democracy. They are not currently on that pathway. The coup was a setback. It was a real setback for Thai democracy. So just as a general comment, you want to see them get back on that path and start pushing forward.

I'm going to withhold any comment until we have a chance to see the specifics of it. But very generally, you want to see a return to adherence of democratic principles and that means political parties being able to form and discuss in a free manner what their platforms might be. You want to have freedom of expression and you want to have elections as soon as possible. And you also want to have an interim government that is a government committed to the principles of democracy and acting on those principles of democracy.

QUESTION: Don't you also want an interim government that does not have the military looking over its shoulder with veto power on --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well that gets back to the original question of the constitution. What I would say is you want an interim government that adheres to the principles of democracy and that acts on those principles.

...

[Dakoda]

Guess those Cobra people might need to find a new home. Can't say I will miss anything.

( its really all BS, about the same as my post, key word is suspended)

[FrazeeDK]

suspension required by law.. The same thing occurred when the military last took over in 91.. After things stabilized and a democratic process was put in place it was restored...