Progress made in Thai stalling tactics during border negotiations?

Progress in Preah Vihear talks

April 9, 2009
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation

Significant progress has been made on the Thai-Cambodian boundary settlement after a serious border dispute last week killed eight soldiers and injured nearly two dozens others, said The Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC).

During a meeting, jointly chaired by Vasin Teeravechyan, advisor to the Foreign Ministry and his Cambodian counterpart Var Kim Hong, on April 6 and 7 in Phnom Penh, both sides agreed to call the security unit in the disputed area near to Preah Vihear temple "Temporary Military Monitoring Groups",

It is still undecided whether the name of the Hindu temple on the cliff at the border of the two countries will be Preah Vihear or Phra Viharn.

However, the JBC managed to sign agreed minutes from three meetings, pending from the first special meeting in November in Siem Reap.

The agreed minutes of the JBC meeting in November, February and the latest one this week are important diplomatic documents required by internal legal procedure before the boundary demarcation can begin.

The Thai parliament needed to approve the documents before allowing further work and agreeing a budget for the demarcation of the area.

The commission also agreed that a joint survey team to explore the fifth section of the boundary from Si Sa Ket's Kathalalak district to Phusing district could begin in May this year.

Both sides discussed a draft for the Joint Survey on Sector 6 (Boundary Pillar 1 - Khao Sattasom). The JBC requested technical officers to finalise their discussion of the draft before the end of May 2009.

Border disputes at the area near Preah Vihear temple have sparked two clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops in last October 2008 and last week, in which eight soldiers killed and nearly two dozen others injured.

The border conflict has barred tourists from visiting the site, which was listed as a world heritage in July last year.

Local commanders on both sides agreed during Sunday's meeting that they would strictly control their troops to prevent recurrence of the incident, enabling negotiations to demarcate the boundary.