Bangkok - Embattled Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat has tentative plans to visit Laos, Vietnam, India and Peru next month, Foreign Affairs Ministry sources said Friday as he faces demonstrations at home that are seeking his ouster.

Somchai, who has been premier since September 25, is to visit Vientiane, Laos, for a day-trip that is to begin Monday, said deputy ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi.

A previous plan to pay a visit to Laos and other members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) earlier this month was scuttled by political instability in Thailand.

Besides Laos, Somchai also plans to visit Hanoi on Thursday and Friday next week to attend the third Summit of the Arrawaddy-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy, a rivers-related regional development forum initiated by former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shianwatra, who is Somchai's brother-in-law.

After attended the summit, Somchai was tentatively booked to attend the annual meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation in New Delhi on November 12-13 and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru on November 21-23, Thani said.

"We have confirmed our participation," said Thani, who refused to speculate on the political likelihood of the prime minister attending all the upcoming overseas events. 

Somchai has been the target of protests led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) since he took office.

The PAD, a loose coalition of groups opposed to a return to power by Thaksin and his allies, has seized Government House since August 26, depriving Somchai of an office, and have pestered all his public appearances by sending followers to taunt him with "clapping hands," a plastic clapping device made popular by the PAD.

Fears of PAD protests have forced Somchai to shift the venue of the upcoming ASEAN Summit in mid-December from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Thaksin's hometown.

There have been persistent rumours in Bangkok that Thailand's politically powerful military is planning a coup against Somchai should there be any more violent clashes between anti-government and pro-government forces, such as the police.

Earlier this month, the army's commander-in-chief, General Anupong Paochinda, appeared on a television programme and called on Somchai to resign for using excessive force in ordering the police to crack down on the PAD on October 7, when the anti-government demonstrators had surrounded Parliament House to prevent Somchai from making his policy statement.

Two PAD followers were killed in the resulting melee and about 400 injured. (dpa)