By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council will hold a special meeting on a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand that has sparked fears of a military clash, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Several council diplomats said the meeting would most likely be held next week. Its format has yet to be determined and it was unclear what exactly the council could do.
"Perhaps we could urge the two sides to work out their differences amicably," one Western diplomat told Reuters.
The U.N. Security Council is the world's top body for issues related to international peace and security.
On Tuesday foreign ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Singapore failed to reach a consensus on whether ASEAN should get involved.
At the heart of the dispute is a 4.6 sq km (1.8 sq mile) area around the Preah Vihear temple on a jungle-clad escarpment on the Thai-Cambodian border, which forms a natural boundary and is claimed by both nations.
A build-up of troops and heavy artillery on both sides of the border has worried neighboring countries and the United Nations, which Cambodia has appealed to for help.
While there have been no major incidents at the temple so far, Thai border villages that are home to some 4,000 people are braced for a possible conflict.
Analysts say Thai politics bear much of the blame for the dispute over the temple, which an international court awarded to Cambodia in 1962. The ruling still rankles with many Thais.
Preah Vihear's listing as a World Heritage site this month inspired pride and joy in Cambodia, but triggered political uproar in Thailand.
Bangkok's initial support for the heritage listing has been used by anti-government groups to stoke nationalist passions in Thailand and fuel street protests against Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
(Additional reporting by Sukree Sukplang in Thailand; Editing by David Storey)
Several council diplomats said the meeting would most likely be held next week. Its format has yet to be determined and it was unclear what exactly the council could do.
"Perhaps we could urge the two sides to work out their differences amicably," one Western diplomat told Reuters.
The U.N. Security Council is the world's top body for issues related to international peace and security.
On Tuesday foreign ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Singapore failed to reach a consensus on whether ASEAN should get involved.
At the heart of the dispute is a 4.6 sq km (1.8 sq mile) area around the Preah Vihear temple on a jungle-clad escarpment on the Thai-Cambodian border, which forms a natural boundary and is claimed by both nations.
A build-up of troops and heavy artillery on both sides of the border has worried neighboring countries and the United Nations, which Cambodia has appealed to for help.
While there have been no major incidents at the temple so far, Thai border villages that are home to some 4,000 people are braced for a possible conflict.
Analysts say Thai politics bear much of the blame for the dispute over the temple, which an international court awarded to Cambodia in 1962. The ruling still rankles with many Thais.
Preah Vihear's listing as a World Heritage site this month inspired pride and joy in Cambodia, but triggered political uproar in Thailand.
Bangkok's initial support for the heritage listing has been used by anti-government groups to stoke nationalist passions in Thailand and fuel street protests against Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
(Additional reporting by Sukree Sukplang in Thailand; Editing by David Storey)
8 comments:
It is unheard of for any country on this planet Earth to have bilateral talk with the aggressor in hoping to find peaceful settlement! So tell all you UN stupid motherfucker, did Kuwaiti people give bilateral talk a chance in finding peaceful settlement with the Iraqi army? Of course not!
If the international community forces Cambodian leaders to have bilateral talk with the Thaicong aggressor then the International community is condoning and rewarding Thaicong aggression and make the door open wider for the Thaicong to commit future aggression on Cambodia!
The international community must not and can not accept any aggression whether it is big or small and international community must send a clear message to the Thaicong government to withdraw their troop from Cambodia before any peaceful bilateral talk can take place! The present of Thaicong military force on Cambodian soil is an act of defiant and the Thaicong government is violating international map, international law, and disrespect international community! For these reasons there is no point for Cambodian leaders to talk, to negotiate, and to discussion the naked Thaicong aggression on Cambodia any longer and it is a waste of time and time is what Cambodia doesn’t have!
Right now the Thaicong-Cambodian conflict is very small and manageable and the UN has a greater chance of success in solving it by acting now without delay! But once the bullets and the bombs start to fly and there is no point of return and the war can't be stop and that why Cambodian leaders still insist on third party (super powers, UN, and International community) intervention! Otherwise there is no reason for Cambodia to have bilateral talk because the Thaicong government doesn't even respect international map, international law and international community!
Cambodian leaders must draw a line on the sand and say no to Thaicong aggression!
NO TALK, NO DISCUSSION, AND NO NEGOTIATION AND NO TO NAKED AGGRESSION!
UN AND ASEAN WANT TO GIVE THAI GOVERNMENT SOME BRETHE AMIDST HTE PRESSURE FROM THE OPPOSITION PARTY.
The Cambodian government does not too much have to be made illusion of the meeting’s issue of the Security Council of nations united in front of the thai’s intransigence .
Everything shows that thais already gets ready for the war with Cambodia.
Because the thailande uses here the war as the continuation of the politics by the other means in front of internal political unrest with the opposition, in front of the economic crisis which strikes the country, and in the excitement of the Moslem separatists of the South for their autonomy.
don't worry, cambodia, UN council will get involved when all bilateral talks failed. so far, the first one fail and that will set a similar pattern with any other "bilateral talks". keep in mind the UN has rules they have to follow too. god bless cambodia.
the word "dispute" itself is enough for the UN council to get involved as thailand violated the international treaty with cambodia and they have contempt of court with the icj verdict. what else is new? nothing at all, if you ask me. god bless cambodia.
Khmero Thai bilateral négociation mean nothing because thais are here for our land and no reason they agree to go back home without what they want. Only pressure from international community would stop their dream or we start the war with thai now. This is maybe what international body want to see, death and blood!!!! we cambodian no reason to lost anymore and if we lost today, we will be loser forever... So UN please tell us is there another way other then the war? We suffered too much already from those thai shit. And if so no need we listen even to Asean cause we have our mape clear for international concept but it's useless for them to respect. SO no rule, no international laws, Then Let's go to the war babe till the end of the world.!!!
You're all missing the point here. Thai government is learning from the three monkeys in cambodia. The three monkeys in cambodia are taking cambodian land and sale to foriegners. They threat the cambodian people who disagree with them. Hun Sen mafia government killed and murdered cambodians peple with the help of the world community, Asian, European and the west. It's now worst than pol pot regime because then only him and his murderer government tortured, starved and killed cambodian people. When Hun Hen killed and murdered cambodians, the whole world called him a strong man. Now the thai government want to take cambodian land so the whole world can call thai strong Thailand.
On the side of the problem, thai government don't want their two neighbors, cambodia and laos under vietnames colony because it's a dangerious securety risk for them.
Let get real if the world to have real peace. The way it's right now there will be war unavoidable in Asia because the big and strong country always want to swallow the small and weak country instead of helping in a real friendly neighbor.
Thailand will prevail. The Nazi French treaties will not survived for long. The temple will go back to the Khmer people in Thailand, and they will have a happy ending, and they will have a big celebration to mark the defeat of the evil monkeys from Hell.
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