AFP
PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia : Cambodian and Thai armies pulled back almost all troops from disputed territory around an ancient temple Saturday afternoon, according to a Cambodian official.
More than 1,000 soldiers from both countries have been stationed around a small pagoda near the Preah Vihear temple on the Cambodia-Thai border for a month in a fraught stand-off.
They began to withdraw "step-by-step" late Friday after a military agreement was reached two days earlier, but most troops remained until a large-scale drawdown at 4:00pm (0900 GMT) on Saturday.
"Now nearly all our military has been redeployed... only 50 troops from each side remain," Cambodian defence official Neang Phat told AFP.
"It is a 100 per cent positive act with a lot of improvement," he added.
Neang Phat earlier said only 20 troops from both sides would remain stationed in the pagoda while 40 troops from both sides would be allowed close by.
Security around the temple was tightened mid-afternoon with visitors prohibited and journalists banned from taking pictures of the site.
Relations between the neighbours flared up last month after Preah Vihear, which belongs to Cambodia, was awarded heritage status by the United Nations, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the 11th century Khmer temple.
On July 15, Cambodia arrested three Thai protesters for illegally crossing the border to try to reach the temple, sparking the deployment of troops from both sides on a tiny patch of disputed land near Preah Vihear.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, but surrounding land remains in dispute.
The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because the border is littered with landmines left from decades of war in Cambodia.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Thursday he had approved a 1.4-billion-baht (41.7-million-dollar) mine-clearing operation on the border.
More than 1,000 soldiers from both countries have been stationed around a small pagoda near the Preah Vihear temple on the Cambodia-Thai border for a month in a fraught stand-off.
They began to withdraw "step-by-step" late Friday after a military agreement was reached two days earlier, but most troops remained until a large-scale drawdown at 4:00pm (0900 GMT) on Saturday.
"Now nearly all our military has been redeployed... only 50 troops from each side remain," Cambodian defence official Neang Phat told AFP.
"It is a 100 per cent positive act with a lot of improvement," he added.
Neang Phat earlier said only 20 troops from both sides would remain stationed in the pagoda while 40 troops from both sides would be allowed close by.
Security around the temple was tightened mid-afternoon with visitors prohibited and journalists banned from taking pictures of the site.
Relations between the neighbours flared up last month after Preah Vihear, which belongs to Cambodia, was awarded heritage status by the United Nations, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the 11th century Khmer temple.
On July 15, Cambodia arrested three Thai protesters for illegally crossing the border to try to reach the temple, sparking the deployment of troops from both sides on a tiny patch of disputed land near Preah Vihear.
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, but surrounding land remains in dispute.
The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because the border is littered with landmines left from decades of war in Cambodia.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Thursday he had approved a 1.4-billion-baht (41.7-million-dollar) mine-clearing operation on the border.
8 comments:
The diplomatic ping-pong game is methodically and meticulously choreographed and orchestrated by ONE man, Hun Sen that is, and must be ceased immediately.
Moreover, it's critically paramount that the Hun Sen's administration MUST unravel the surreptitious plan with the Thai to end the guessing game by both nations.
The former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin has left Thailand; also, the territorial disputes have been ameliorated.
The Hun Sen's administration thinks that the Khmer overseas are allowing themselves to become susceptible and succumb to gullibility and credulity of the political game that is being played by Hun Sen.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! THE PEOPLE OF BOTH COUNTRIES MUST ALLOW SEEING THE SURREPTITIOUS PLANE.
Khmer farmer
So on Khmer land, the government of khmer agrees to do everything equally. it means the temple and areas now are no-man land or subject to joint admin as the thai had proposed ?
please tell us khmer who voted for the landsliude cpp victory
The withdrawal of troops while agreeing to maintain 10-20 soldiers each side in the Vat Prasat Preah Vihear and not allowing Khmer people to visit Preah Vihear Temple would imply that Cambodia recognised the Thai's establishment of de facto in Cambodia's territory.
It's also not clear that when Khmer people will be allowed to visit the Preah Vihear temple. If Thai uses this to argue at negotiation, I think we Cambodian negotiators are loosing bagaining power on ground. And Khmer people may not allow to visit the site until the negotiation on border demarcation ended.
The best solution is to pull back all troops to their original positions before 15 July, that could ensure equal and calm environment for negotiation without presure.
From Akiko (Khmer empire)
Get Out Of My Homeland Ah Chor Chong Rai Youn & Siem.
Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978, and in January 1979 installed in Phnom Penh a new communist regime friendly to Hanoi.
This invasion not only provoked a Chinese attack on Vietnam in February 1979 but also posed a threat to Thailand's security. Bangkok could no longer rely on Cambodia as a buffer against Vietnamese power. Bangkok was forced to assume the role of a frontline state against a resurgent communist Vietnam, which had 300,000 troops in Cambodia and Laos. The Thai government began increasing its defense capabilities. While visiting Washington in February 1979, Prime Minister Kriangsak asked for and received reassurances of military support from the United States. His government also launched a major diplomatic offensive to press for the withdrawal of all Vietnamese forces from Cambodia and for continued international recognition of Democratic Kampuchea under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime. As part of that offensive, Kriangsak also journeyed to Moscow in March 1979--the first visit ever by a Thai prime minister--to explain the Thai position on the Cambodian question and to reassure the Soviets that Thailand's anti-Vietnamese position was neither anti-Soviet nor pro-Chinese. Such reassurances were believed to be necessary in view of Vietnamese accusations that Thailand collaborated with China and the United States in aiding and abetting the Khmer Rouge forces against the Heng Samrin regime.
The Thai offensive, backed by Bangkok's ASEAN partners, was rewarded in a United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution adopted in November 1979. The resolution called for immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces from Cambodia, asked all nations to refrain from interfering in, or staging acts of aggression against, Cambodia, and called on the UN secretary general to explore the possibility of an international conference on Cambodia.
Very good history lesson, my camarade!!!
This threety is not put an end to stand off, Cambodian GVT's must seeking a better solution to avoid the blood shade diplomatically Or?..to remove all Ah Siamese troops from Khmer territory, not only The Preah Vihear but along the Khmer-Thia frontier. As most Khmer knew, the western border(Bonteay Meanchay Province's border), ah Siamese occopied the most, some places up-to 10km interior of Cambodian land. Therefore, Cambodian GVT's must seriously forcus for the next agenda. PL.K
As I predicted before,
every thing will be soon quiet as of the past Cam-VN Border issue.
Cambodians have no rights to protect their own territory...
In thailand and other countries the situation is different
Khan Tey Nhom
win-win policy= 50% siam, 50% khmer(100%=Prah Vohear, Tamoan Thom-Toch, Disputed Sea territory etc..)
Excellency General Bandit Oknha Achar Knoy(Phd. Bandit from Prahok Chamroeurn Avichea PPenh)
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