Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
guardian.co.uk
Tensions over a disputed border temple escalated today after a Cambodian official claimed 40 troops from neighbouring Thailand had crossed the frontier.
A Thai army chief immediately denied any incursion but said its soldiers had taken up positions near the 11th-century Hindu temple on Thailand's soil to protect its territory.
The Preah Vihear complex - long a source of bitter wrangling between the neighbours - was awarded world heritage site status by the UN's cultural organisation last week.
A Cambodian official claimed the troops entered the temple complex following the arrest of three Thai protesters who managed to sneak across the border.
Hang Soth, director general of the Cambodian authority responsible for the Preah Vihear complex, said the Thai troops had crossed the border near the temple site.
"Confrontation is occurring between Thai troops and our Cambodian troops," he said. "Our troops have been ordered to be on alert but not to shoot first."
He added that Cambodian guards had stopped the protesters - a Buddhist monk, another man and a woman - and were willing to hand them back immediately. Cambodia closed the temple to visitors from Thailand late last month.
The festering row over the site was reignited after the then Thai foreign minister Noppodol Pattama backed the Cambodian application for world heritage listing.
He was forced to step down after a Thai constitutional court ruled he had overstepped his authority by offering the government's backing without consulting parliament.
Anti-government protesters, who have been staging demonstrations in Bangkok for weeks, seized upon the dispute as yet another means to attack the ruling People Power party coalition.
The protesters claimed the prime minister Samak Sundarvej's government had lent support to Phnom Penh's listing application in return for business concessions in Cambodia for the ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
The dispute between Thailand and Cambodia centres on land around the temple complex, which is situated on a cliff-top. Because of the difficult terrain, access for visitors is vastly easier from the Thai side.
Thai troops occupied the temple complex in 1954 after the withdrawal of French troops from Cambodia. Phnom Penh protested to the international court of justice in The Hague in 1959, prompting a severing of diplomatic relations and threats of force by both sides.
But in 1962 the international court ruled that the temple, whose Hindu roots echo the more famous Angkor complex, lay on Cambodian soil, to the anger of many Thais.
The fragile nature of relations between the neighbours was reflected in 2003 when anti-Thai riots erupted in Phnom Penh. Bangkok's embassy there was set on fire after a Thai actor was falsely reported to have said that Angkor Wat still belonged to Thailand.
A Thai army chief immediately denied any incursion but said its soldiers had taken up positions near the 11th-century Hindu temple on Thailand's soil to protect its territory.
The Preah Vihear complex - long a source of bitter wrangling between the neighbours - was awarded world heritage site status by the UN's cultural organisation last week.
A Cambodian official claimed the troops entered the temple complex following the arrest of three Thai protesters who managed to sneak across the border.
Hang Soth, director general of the Cambodian authority responsible for the Preah Vihear complex, said the Thai troops had crossed the border near the temple site.
"Confrontation is occurring between Thai troops and our Cambodian troops," he said. "Our troops have been ordered to be on alert but not to shoot first."
He added that Cambodian guards had stopped the protesters - a Buddhist monk, another man and a woman - and were willing to hand them back immediately. Cambodia closed the temple to visitors from Thailand late last month.
The festering row over the site was reignited after the then Thai foreign minister Noppodol Pattama backed the Cambodian application for world heritage listing.
He was forced to step down after a Thai constitutional court ruled he had overstepped his authority by offering the government's backing without consulting parliament.
Anti-government protesters, who have been staging demonstrations in Bangkok for weeks, seized upon the dispute as yet another means to attack the ruling People Power party coalition.
The protesters claimed the prime minister Samak Sundarvej's government had lent support to Phnom Penh's listing application in return for business concessions in Cambodia for the ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
The dispute between Thailand and Cambodia centres on land around the temple complex, which is situated on a cliff-top. Because of the difficult terrain, access for visitors is vastly easier from the Thai side.
Thai troops occupied the temple complex in 1954 after the withdrawal of French troops from Cambodia. Phnom Penh protested to the international court of justice in The Hague in 1959, prompting a severing of diplomatic relations and threats of force by both sides.
But in 1962 the international court ruled that the temple, whose Hindu roots echo the more famous Angkor complex, lay on Cambodian soil, to the anger of many Thais.
The fragile nature of relations between the neighbours was reflected in 2003 when anti-Thai riots erupted in Phnom Penh. Bangkok's embassy there was set on fire after a Thai actor was falsely reported to have said that Angkor Wat still belonged to Thailand.
10 comments:
I will never fly Thai airways ,enter Thailand , buy Thai goods again. They have shown their true colors. A country of pimps and prostitutes.
The Thais are deliberately and intentionally provoking Cambodia. This is not an act of a friendly neighbor but a belligerent agressor.
Hun Sen, now is the time to earn your dirty money. Protect your people instead of assassinating them.
DO YOUR FUCKING JOB YOU SOB!!!!
HUN SEN , now it you time to act there are SIAMES with GUNs cross KHMER border , I thuoght you are Khmer ( AHTITEP ), PLEASE use your power destroy all invader , OH don't foget to use your 3 to 500million KHMER blood money buy gun to protect KHMERS people and land.
you only can kill Khmer unarm peoples , I bet that you will piss on your pant when siam attack your coward 4000youn GUARDS.
SIAMES , you only can BULLYING the country that WEAK , CORRUPTED, and UNEDUCATED leaders like CAMBODIA , I bet that your coward army will get shot like a dog if they go near BURMES or YOPUN border.
wait until KHMER have a good leader , you will see how brave our khmers poples are.
Oh now you accepted that Khmers are weak, corrupted and uneducated.
Before you find a good leader, I'm afraid all Khmers will be wiped out by Vietnam or Thais. HAHAHH
12:54 we see you're trying very hard to make that come true too. pathetic shame to the international community. I can't believe you're even a member of the UN.
Well, the international community will protect Cambodia by the law that holds all country responsible. So we don't live in dark age anymore. Except Thaipeopleand believes they still live in their Rama Ayutha blabab heaven where pirates are allow to roam the earth
According to Thai historian Charnvit Kasetsiri of Thammasat University of Bangkok, Chulalongkuoy signed the 1904 treaty with France to prevent Siam from being colonized by Western Powers. It is the legal border between Thailand and Cambodia to this day. The world court awarded the temple and the surrounding land to Cambodia in 1962.
this is a clear violation of the icj verdict and the international laws in place, not to mention the franco-siamese treaty of 1904 - 1907 as well. the siem claim this territory unilaterally even after the icj verdict that order them to respect the franco-siamese treaty of 1904 - 1907. this is a clear violation and contempt of court, to say the least.
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
By Jonathan Head
BBC News, Bangkok
A week after the controversial listing of the ancient Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site, the dispute that has flared up between Thailand and Cambodia is still causing tension.
The 11th-Century Hindu temple lies along the border between the two countries, but in 1962 the International Court of Justice judged that it belonged to Cambodia.
However the land surrounding the temple is still disputed, and the only practical access is from Thailand.
The best move for Khmer People in Issan is to wait until the monkey's resources run dry, then they are dead afterward.
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