DPA
Bangkok - The United Nations Security Council will decide this week whether or not it will hold an emergency session to discuss an escalating border spat between Thailand and Cambodia over an ancient Hindu temple, a senior Thai diplomat confirmed Wednesday.
On Monday Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, claiming he feared an 'imminent state of war,' appealed to the 15-member UN Security Council to intervene in the Thai-Cambodian dispute over conflicting claims to territory adjacent to the Preah Vihear temple, perched on a cliff that partly defines the two neighbouring countries' common border.
Thailand has informed the UN of its preference to resolve the dispute through bilateral talks, Thailand's Ambassador to the UN Don Pramudwinai confirmed in an interview with the state-run Thai News Agency (TNA).
The UN will decide on whether to hold an emergency session over the border row on Thursday, said Don. 'The council will call a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) and we will see to it whether or not the council will hold an emergency session upon Cambodia's request,' he told the TNA.
Cambodian Defence Minister Teah Banh and Thai Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niempradit met at the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet on Monday in an attempt to defuse the temple dispute bilaterally but failed to find a solution to the legal obstacles involved.
The problem dates back to a map drawn up in 1908 by French cartographers to define the Thai-Cambodian border when Cambodia was still a French colony. Although the French insisted the border should be defined according to the watershed - where the rain water falls in opposite directions - along the Dongrak mountain range, in their map the ancient Preah Vihear, perched on the tip of a 525 metre high cliff that is a steep fall on the Cambodian side and a gradual slope on the Thai one, oddly ended up on the Cambodian side of the watershed.
Thailand's failure to officially object to the questionable map-making led to their losing the temple in 1962 when a dispute over the temple's ownership was settled in the Hague at the International Court of Justice.
The court ruling, while in Cambodia's favour, left the dispute over the actual border line open to further discussion.
Thailand still claims that a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjacent to the temple is still subject to this dispute.
The dispute over Preah Vihear flared up again earlier this month when Cambodia proposed listed the temple compound, minus the disputed 4.6 square kilometres around it, as a World Heritage Site at UNESCO.
The proposal was approved on July 7, despite Thai opposition.
To make matters more complex, the Thai government first backed the Cambodian proposal and then withdrew it once it became highly politicized by government opponents.
Former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama was forced to resign over his handling of the issue.
The politically-charged issue turned into a military confrontation last week when three Thai protestors crossed into the disputed zone and were briefly detained, prompting Thailand to send 50 paramilitary troops in to the zone.
There are an estimated 2,000 troops now facing each other across the border around the temple, situated between Si Sa Khet and Phrea Vihear provinces, in Thailand and Cambodia, respectively, about 400 kilometres north-east of Bangkok.
The border spat comes at a sensitive time for both countries. Cambodia is heading for a general election on Sunday, and Thailand's coalition government is heading for a reshuffle if not an early retirement.
On Monday Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, claiming he feared an 'imminent state of war,' appealed to the 15-member UN Security Council to intervene in the Thai-Cambodian dispute over conflicting claims to territory adjacent to the Preah Vihear temple, perched on a cliff that partly defines the two neighbouring countries' common border.
Thailand has informed the UN of its preference to resolve the dispute through bilateral talks, Thailand's Ambassador to the UN Don Pramudwinai confirmed in an interview with the state-run Thai News Agency (TNA).
The UN will decide on whether to hold an emergency session over the border row on Thursday, said Don. 'The council will call a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) and we will see to it whether or not the council will hold an emergency session upon Cambodia's request,' he told the TNA.
Cambodian Defence Minister Teah Banh and Thai Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niempradit met at the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet on Monday in an attempt to defuse the temple dispute bilaterally but failed to find a solution to the legal obstacles involved.
The problem dates back to a map drawn up in 1908 by French cartographers to define the Thai-Cambodian border when Cambodia was still a French colony. Although the French insisted the border should be defined according to the watershed - where the rain water falls in opposite directions - along the Dongrak mountain range, in their map the ancient Preah Vihear, perched on the tip of a 525 metre high cliff that is a steep fall on the Cambodian side and a gradual slope on the Thai one, oddly ended up on the Cambodian side of the watershed.
Thailand's failure to officially object to the questionable map-making led to their losing the temple in 1962 when a dispute over the temple's ownership was settled in the Hague at the International Court of Justice.
The court ruling, while in Cambodia's favour, left the dispute over the actual border line open to further discussion.
Thailand still claims that a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjacent to the temple is still subject to this dispute.
The dispute over Preah Vihear flared up again earlier this month when Cambodia proposed listed the temple compound, minus the disputed 4.6 square kilometres around it, as a World Heritage Site at UNESCO.
The proposal was approved on July 7, despite Thai opposition.
To make matters more complex, the Thai government first backed the Cambodian proposal and then withdrew it once it became highly politicized by government opponents.
Former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama was forced to resign over his handling of the issue.
The politically-charged issue turned into a military confrontation last week when three Thai protestors crossed into the disputed zone and were briefly detained, prompting Thailand to send 50 paramilitary troops in to the zone.
There are an estimated 2,000 troops now facing each other across the border around the temple, situated between Si Sa Khet and Phrea Vihear provinces, in Thailand and Cambodia, respectively, about 400 kilometres north-east of Bangkok.
The border spat comes at a sensitive time for both countries. Cambodia is heading for a general election on Sunday, and Thailand's coalition government is heading for a reshuffle if not an early retirement.
5 comments:
If the thai government declare war with cambodia right now, they are going to expose that cambodia is still uunder vietnames colony. Then make the chinese to think that vietnames is going to be future problem.
There will be NO WAR b/n Cambodians & Thais now & forever.
After 27th July, PM Hun Sen will be reelected. The SRP will be doubled the seats.
The Samak Sundaravej's government will be survived from the political turmoils.
The Thai troops will withdraw after the UNSC meeting.
Thaksin will get the DEALS.
300,000 Khmers will be employed.
Preah Vihear & the 4.6 km.sq will be in Khmer hands forever.
The sore losers will be the PADS.
Cambodia hold the UN organization in very high esteem.
He we have the Thai invading our territory. We try to reason them to pull their troops on they don't give a damn.
The Siam goal is to have our land, and their strategy to play down the crisis. Also this standoff is serve as a scapegoat for the internal political problem.
Come on UN, can you not see the Siam trick.
Cambodia did his homework now it time for the UN to do his.
UN please don't let us down, we will be so disillusion by you this has to happen.
Camboidia very bitter by the Siam invasion.
Just forget about the UN man. We need China and their guns.
Hun Sen should really thing about having more decent guns.
Now it's the time to build Cambodia's military.
If Cambodia want to keep existing and flourish we need to build a strong army.
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!
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