PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Thai and Cambodian military commanders prepared for talks across their disputed border on Thursday after the most serious clash in years left two Cambodian soldiers dead and 10 Thais in Cambodian hands.
Hundreds of Cambodian civilians were fleeing the border area after Wednesday's 40-minute exchange of rocket and gunfire, a Reuters photographer said, as both sides rushed armour and troops to the conflict zone.
However, an escalation did not appear inevitable as the two fractious neighbours went ahead with a scheduled meeting to resolve arguments over the jungle frontier.
The talks were due to begin at 11 a.m. (0400) near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, which has stirred nationalist passions on both sides for generations.
"It is a good sign that we can start to solve this conflict," Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters on Wednesday, adding it was "not an invasion by Thailand".
Both sides accused each other of firing first in the confrontation, which comes amid huge political instability and an economic slowdown in Thailand, as protesters in a long-running Bangkok street campaign urge the army to launch a coup against the elected government.
"The Thai military are very much under pressure to protect the national sovereignty and territory," Panitan Wattanayagorn, a military analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said.
Thai regional army commander Wiboonsak Neeparn said the meeting with his Cambodian counterpart, General Chea Mon, would focus on the cause of the clash and how to ratchet down tensions on the border.
In Anlong Veng, about 100 kms (60 miles) west of the temple, the main road was clogged by hundreds of Cambodians on motorbikes and small tractors laden with chairs, pots and other belongings.
Closer to Preah Vihear, a Reuters photographer saw three armoured vehicles and five trucks loaded with Cambodian troops en route to the temple.
THAI BUSINESSES WORRIED
There has been no word on the exchange of 10 Thai prisoners, whose existence Bangkok continues to deny.
Hor Namhong said the group, who were photographed by a Reuters photographer under Cambodian guard, would be properly treated and returned to Thailand if Bangkok requested.
Bangkok has urged its citizens to leave Cambodia, mindful of the 2003 torching of its embassy and Thai businesses in Phnom Penh by a nationalist mob incensed by a row over Angkor Wat, another ancient temple.
In 2003, Thai commandos flew into Phnom Penh airport in the middle of the night to help evacuate 600 Thais during the riots.
Security was beefed up outside the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, with 20 military police armed with assault rifles standing guard. There were no crowds outside the embassy, which was operating as normal, a Thai official told Reuters.
Several big Thai companies have operations in Cambodia and some began evacuating their staff on Wednesday, but flights between the neighbours continued as usual.
"If it is prolonged and intensifies with a nationalistic tone, then Thai businesses in Cambodia will be seriously affected," Niyom Waiyaratchapanich of the Thai Chamber of Commerce told the Bangkok Post newspaper.
The border clash added to factors weighing on the Thai stock market, which was already depressed by the overnight plunge on Wall Street. The Thai stock market was down more than 3 percent on Thursday.
Thailand's prolonged political crisis has damaged consumer confidence and consumption at a time when exports are sluggish due to the global economic slowdown.
A top adviser to Thailand's finance minister said on Wednesday the country risked sinking into recession in the first half of 2009 if the political stalemate did not end soon.
(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan in Kantaralak, Ek Madra in Phnom Penh) (Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Alan Raybould and Valerie Lee)
Hundreds of Cambodian civilians were fleeing the border area after Wednesday's 40-minute exchange of rocket and gunfire, a Reuters photographer said, as both sides rushed armour and troops to the conflict zone.
However, an escalation did not appear inevitable as the two fractious neighbours went ahead with a scheduled meeting to resolve arguments over the jungle frontier.
The talks were due to begin at 11 a.m. (0400) near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, which has stirred nationalist passions on both sides for generations.
"It is a good sign that we can start to solve this conflict," Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters on Wednesday, adding it was "not an invasion by Thailand".
Both sides accused each other of firing first in the confrontation, which comes amid huge political instability and an economic slowdown in Thailand, as protesters in a long-running Bangkok street campaign urge the army to launch a coup against the elected government.
"The Thai military are very much under pressure to protect the national sovereignty and territory," Panitan Wattanayagorn, a military analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said.
Thai regional army commander Wiboonsak Neeparn said the meeting with his Cambodian counterpart, General Chea Mon, would focus on the cause of the clash and how to ratchet down tensions on the border.
In Anlong Veng, about 100 kms (60 miles) west of the temple, the main road was clogged by hundreds of Cambodians on motorbikes and small tractors laden with chairs, pots and other belongings.
Closer to Preah Vihear, a Reuters photographer saw three armoured vehicles and five trucks loaded with Cambodian troops en route to the temple.
THAI BUSINESSES WORRIED
There has been no word on the exchange of 10 Thai prisoners, whose existence Bangkok continues to deny.
Hor Namhong said the group, who were photographed by a Reuters photographer under Cambodian guard, would be properly treated and returned to Thailand if Bangkok requested.
Bangkok has urged its citizens to leave Cambodia, mindful of the 2003 torching of its embassy and Thai businesses in Phnom Penh by a nationalist mob incensed by a row over Angkor Wat, another ancient temple.
In 2003, Thai commandos flew into Phnom Penh airport in the middle of the night to help evacuate 600 Thais during the riots.
Security was beefed up outside the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, with 20 military police armed with assault rifles standing guard. There were no crowds outside the embassy, which was operating as normal, a Thai official told Reuters.
Several big Thai companies have operations in Cambodia and some began evacuating their staff on Wednesday, but flights between the neighbours continued as usual.
"If it is prolonged and intensifies with a nationalistic tone, then Thai businesses in Cambodia will be seriously affected," Niyom Waiyaratchapanich of the Thai Chamber of Commerce told the Bangkok Post newspaper.
The border clash added to factors weighing on the Thai stock market, which was already depressed by the overnight plunge on Wall Street. The Thai stock market was down more than 3 percent on Thursday.
Thailand's prolonged political crisis has damaged consumer confidence and consumption at a time when exports are sluggish due to the global economic slowdown.
A top adviser to Thailand's finance minister said on Wednesday the country risked sinking into recession in the first half of 2009 if the political stalemate did not end soon.
(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan in Kantaralak, Ek Madra in Phnom Penh) (Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Alan Raybould and Valerie Lee)
2 comments:
These heads must be decapitated, but keep the livers and bladders for our brave brothers.
Thank you for your service to our country.
Kámpùchía Ðûòng Tránh Cáng Trôun Càng Xía Ðúio Mói!!!
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