BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH: Thailand and Cambodia yesterday recalled their ambassadors from each other's countries, a day after Cambodia appointed former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra an advisor to the government.

Thailand's government, which considers Thaksin a fugitive from justice, first announced that it was withdrawing its ambassador from Phnom Penh. In a tit-for-tat move, the Cambodian government announced in the evening the withdrawal of its ambassador to Thailand.

"The move we took is a response to Thai's recall of its Ambassador to Cambodia," Sok An, a minister in the council of ministers, said at a hastily arranged press conference. "That we appointed Thaksin as our government's advisor is Cambodia's internal affairs and conforms to international practice," he added.