Thailand's embattled prime minister said on Sunday there was no chance of a coup against his government and that he would go to the UN General Assembly session in New York later this month as scheduled. Thailand's last elected prime minister was removed from office in a military putsch just hours before he addressed the General Assembly on a similar visit in 2006.
"I will go to speak at the United Nations, even though Thaksin (Shinawatra) went to speak there and did not return," Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said in his regular weekly television broadcast.
"I can still handle the situation." Samak is facing a three-month campaign for his ouster and thousands of anti-government activists have barricaded themselves in his official compound, refusing to move until he quits. The prime minister has offered to hold a referendum on his seven-month rule, but the activists of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have rejected the offer. "The army chief has already said there is no reason to launch one," Samak said, referring to widespread speculation that the highly politicised military could stage a coup, as it has about two dozen times since Thailand ended absolute monarchy in 1932.
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