Cambodian commander seeks departure of Thai soldiers from prohibited zone

General Srey Doek (L)

18 May 2009
By Savyuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Cambodian army officials directing the disputed border zone near Preah Vihear temple is trying to set up talks with their Thai counterpart to push for them to order about 20 Thai paratroopers to pull out from the Chak Chreng hill area which is a zone where troops from both sides are prohibited from entering. Thai troops recently moved into this area and set up a camp there.

General Srey Doek, the commander of Cambodian army brigade No. 3 who is directing Khmer troops in the border zone, said in the morning of Monday 18 may that he is sending his request to his Thai counterpart involved in the occupation of the opposite site to set up a meeting to call for Thai troops pullout, in order to avoid armed confrontation.

General Srey Doek said: “I am working hard to resolve the problem in this geographical area… so that there is a good understanding with each other in order to avoid armed confrontation. In that region, if there is no troop there, we will not enter it either. We are only preventing each other from entering it. Whatever we are doing, we must have our orders, but we have rules set by Samdach [Hun Sen], i.e. we will trespass not it by one millimeter, nor do we allow them to move in by one millimeter either.”

Nevertheless, Srey Doek said that there is no response yet from the Thai commander about the actual timing for the meeting to resolve this issue.

A Thai border liaison based in Sisaket province, who is currently working in the disputed zone and who declined to give his name, said that he did not know about this issue yet. However, he rejected the claim that Thai troops violated Cambodian national integrity in the Chak Chreng hill area: “I do not know about this problem, but Thai troops claimed that there is no violation of Cambodian national integrity in this region. They [Thai troops] live in honor, each one of them remain in the same old area as before.”

Cambodian soldiers in Preah Vihear temple claimed that Thai paratroopers from Unit No. 6 set up their camp near the Chak Chreng area, located about 7 km to the northwest of Preah Vihear temple, and they also violated Cambodian territories as well: “They are mainly paratroopers from Unit No. 6, about 20 of them came in. We said that if they don’t pull out, we will move our troop in also. We will send in as many soldiers as they have there to face them.”

A Cambodian army official from Unit No. 8, which is occupying the disputed zone extending from Veal Entry (Eagle Field) to Phnom Troap hill and the Chak Chreng area, claimed that the 20 Thai paratroopers came in to patrol and set up camp in the Chak Chreng are after the latest armed clash between Thai and Cambodian soldiers near Preah Vihear temple at the beginning of April.