DPA & The Mekong Times
Thailand and Cambodia failed yesterday to resolve the dispute over an ancient Hindu temple on the Thai-Cambodian border, but both sides agreed they wanted to ensure the tense standoff does not escalate.
“We want the temperature to cool down,” said Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh after an eight hour meeting on the Preah Vihear temple dispute with Thai Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niempradit at the Indochina Hotel in Aranyaprathet, Sa Kaeo province, 270km east of Bangkok.
Boonsrang said the two sides were unable to resolve the legal issues involved in the controversy over the temple’s compound, parts of which are claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia.
“We will need to consult the government on the law,” Boonsrang told a press conference after the lengthy meeting.
Tea Banh said no solution to the row was likely before Cambodia’s general election scheduled for this coming Sunday.
While both sides claimed the meeting was not a failure, neither agreed to withdraw their troops from the Preah Vihear vicinity, about 650km north-east of Bangkok.
The meeting was held in an attempt to defuse an intensifying dispute over the ownership of a 4.6 sq km plot of land adjoining Preah Vihear, an 11th century Hindu temple with a long history of border tension between the two neighboring countries.
The temple sits on a cliff that defines the Thai-Cambodian border between Sisaket and Preah Vihear provinces in Thailand and Cambodia, respectively.
Last week Thailand and Cambodia sent about 4,000 troops to the vicinity of Preah Vihear temple, called Phra Viharn in Thai.
The temple was the cause of a border spat five decades ago that ended up at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 1962. Cambodia won, but the row was reignited by the World Heritage Committee’s decision to list the temple as a UNESCO site earlier this month, despite Thai objections.
Three Thais were briefly detained July 15 for crossing into a portion of the temple compound still subject to a border demarcation dispute. The three, part of an ultranationalist Buddhist group, were released within hours but prompted Thailand to send paramilitary troops to the contested area, where they remained.
Pen Ngoeung, spokesman for the Cambodian Council of Ministers, said yesterday that the disputed area near Preah Vihear temple was calm as both Cambodia and Thai commanders had ordered their military not to take any action while awaiting results of the meeting in the Thai province of Sa Kaew.
He said that by the seventh day of the incursion, Thai troops had increased their presence around the entrance into Psar Krom market and started to clear forests for camping in the territory adjacent to the Cambodian border.
Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Commander-in-chief Kun Kin traveled to Preah Vihear temple yesterday to examine the situation and visit soldiers and villagers.
The standoff comes at a sensitive time politically for both Cambodia and Thailand.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen faces an election July 27, and Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is under mounting pressure to resign, in part over his government’s alleged mishandling of the Preah Vihear affair.
Cambodia’s efforts to list the temple compound, but excluding the disputed area, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site became politically charged for Thailand last month when Samak’s government first backed the proposal, then withdrew its support after intense public criticism.
Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Patamma has already been forced to resign over the issue.
“We want the temperature to cool down,” said Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh after an eight hour meeting on the Preah Vihear temple dispute with Thai Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niempradit at the Indochina Hotel in Aranyaprathet, Sa Kaeo province, 270km east of Bangkok.
Boonsrang said the two sides were unable to resolve the legal issues involved in the controversy over the temple’s compound, parts of which are claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia.
“We will need to consult the government on the law,” Boonsrang told a press conference after the lengthy meeting.
Tea Banh said no solution to the row was likely before Cambodia’s general election scheduled for this coming Sunday.
While both sides claimed the meeting was not a failure, neither agreed to withdraw their troops from the Preah Vihear vicinity, about 650km north-east of Bangkok.
The meeting was held in an attempt to defuse an intensifying dispute over the ownership of a 4.6 sq km plot of land adjoining Preah Vihear, an 11th century Hindu temple with a long history of border tension between the two neighboring countries.
The temple sits on a cliff that defines the Thai-Cambodian border between Sisaket and Preah Vihear provinces in Thailand and Cambodia, respectively.
Last week Thailand and Cambodia sent about 4,000 troops to the vicinity of Preah Vihear temple, called Phra Viharn in Thai.
The temple was the cause of a border spat five decades ago that ended up at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 1962. Cambodia won, but the row was reignited by the World Heritage Committee’s decision to list the temple as a UNESCO site earlier this month, despite Thai objections.
Three Thais were briefly detained July 15 for crossing into a portion of the temple compound still subject to a border demarcation dispute. The three, part of an ultranationalist Buddhist group, were released within hours but prompted Thailand to send paramilitary troops to the contested area, where they remained.
Pen Ngoeung, spokesman for the Cambodian Council of Ministers, said yesterday that the disputed area near Preah Vihear temple was calm as both Cambodia and Thai commanders had ordered their military not to take any action while awaiting results of the meeting in the Thai province of Sa Kaew.
He said that by the seventh day of the incursion, Thai troops had increased their presence around the entrance into Psar Krom market and started to clear forests for camping in the territory adjacent to the Cambodian border.
Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Commander-in-chief Kun Kin traveled to Preah Vihear temple yesterday to examine the situation and visit soldiers and villagers.
The standoff comes at a sensitive time politically for both Cambodia and Thailand.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen faces an election July 27, and Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is under mounting pressure to resign, in part over his government’s alleged mishandling of the Preah Vihear affair.
Cambodia’s efforts to list the temple compound, but excluding the disputed area, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site became politically charged for Thailand last month when Samak’s government first backed the proposal, then withdrew its support after intense public criticism.
Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Patamma has already been forced to resign over the issue.
2 comments:
Cambodia should pull all of its monkeys out of Issan Province. There is nothing to be resolved.
How can you own a land and no one know anything about that area. I mean where is the school; where is the market; where is the medica clinic;...
Case close.
Hey Siam you should not wish for your death.
It might come true.
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