Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post
The road towards a permanent ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia - which the UN Security Council has appealed for - has developed new twists after Cambodian troops resumed their attacks on Thai troops before dawn yesterday.
Over the past three years, most of the clashes between Thailand and Cambodia have occurred in the Phu Makhua mountain area west of the Preah Vihear Temple.
Fresh clashes erupted on Feb 4 and after a temporary lull, broke out again yesterday in that area.
Could it be a harbinger of more to come? Will it make even a temporary ceasefire difficult to achieve? How can the two countries achieve a permanent ceasefire when Cambodia seems not to want it?
To some observers, Cambodia's real intent is to push the UNSC into a corner and leave it with no choice but to send peacekeeping troops to the disputed areas.
At Phu Makhua, located in the dispute 4.6 square kilometre area, Thai and Cambodian troops are only about 30 metres apart.
Phu Makhua, or Phanom Trop in Khmer, is considered highly strategic by both sides.
From this spot, Thai troops can observe all activities at Preah Vihear temple. Naturally, Cambodia's military wants to control it.
Strategically, control over the mountain is important for many reasons. Earlier, most areas of Phu Makhua were under the control of the Thai military.
But since Thai troops adjusted their forces in the area, resulting in some troops withdrawing from Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Temple, next to Phu Makhua, Cambodian troops have quietly infiltrated the area.
"So far, Cambodian troops occupy about 5% of Phu Makhua," army sources said.
Apart from Phu Makhua, other important strategic spots in the disputed areas are Lan Insee (Eagle Ground) and the old Thai border patrol police outpost in front of Pha More I Dang. They are all high-ground areas from which Thai troops can observe the activities on Cambodian soil.
By attempting to seize a greater area of Phu Makhua from the Thai troops. the Cambodian military can gain a strategic advantage in the battle to control the 4.6 square kilometre disputed area, a source said.
"We don't want to move to seize other areas," Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said. Yet the Thai military has deployed more than 23,000 troops along with powerful war weapons at the border area. Cambodia might have mobilised about the same number of troops on its side of the border.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen wants the UN to intervene in the border dispute as he believes it will give his country greater political leverage over Thailand in the realm of international politics. The Cambodian leader, who is keen on international politics, also wants to take control over the largest portion of the 4.6 square kilometre disputed areas as possible.
For this reason, even with an agreement to institute a ceasefire, the Cambodian military could resume their attacks against Thai troops at any time.
9 comments:
Are you crazy? if Cambodia do not want it, why asked bring the case to UN, or ASEAN? We know bilateral talk produce nothing. OK if siem really brave please to UN or international court. I am sure the solution definitely find.
Dare to fail Mr. Siem
Please Bangkok Post, your playing of the victim being bullied by a little dwarf on the playground is a bit over dramatic and overly comical.
Just take your dam army back to where you were before your PAD Thais started making trouble and negotiations and ceasefire is not impossible. But as long as You have PAD and the money keeps coming in and the media [bang cock post] keep playing this game, a true cease fire will never happen because Thailand won't stop until it gets what it doesn't belong to them in the first place!
Shame on BCock post for playing the game and shame on PAD Thais for fueling this ignorant mass of Thai haters and jealousy of Cambodia.
Thai wanted this war with Cambodia. It will give Thai the opportunity to eliminate the Khmer in Cambodia. but also The Khmer descents in Thailand.
Political way, Cambodia has not much choice. The Cambodian government has to be careful, because on the areas live almost Khmer people.
Umm..LIAR!
Lady Wassana get your butt to the Cambodia and Siem border to live in the trench for two nights to see whose side fire first before writing an article.
The derange Siems are bullshit liars without shame!
Send in peace keepers and observers and find out who is telling the truth.
The Siem so-called disputed area is in fact Khmer land and under total control by Cambodia, not 5% as the crazy Bang-cock post stated.
Your Bang-Cock post reporter need to go back to school to become a fair and accurated reporter.As what I read most of the article form Bang-Cock post just make me wonder had they(b-cock post)ever do any reseach before the stories come out.
Love khmer
Nomenclature:
In Khmer, 'Trop' is Asian egg plant. So 'Trop' is equivalent to the Thai term 'Makheua' or 'มะเขือ'
In Khmer, 'Troapy' is wealth. So 'Troapy' is equivalent to the Thai term 'Sap' or 'ทรัพย์'
So 'Phu Makheua' is a wrong term for this adjacent hill near Preah Vihear area. It should be called 'Wealth Montain', not 'Phu Makheua' in Thai...or correctly 'Phanom Sap', พนมทรัพย์, or 'Phu Sap', ภูทรัพย์'
All our dear thai people living near the border ,you should stand up and tell to ABHISIT to stop the war ,because the war make you hurt ,make you cry and destroy all your properties that you work hard from empty hand until now.When you hurt and cry ,Abhisit and his group , ,they sleep well in their beautiful house with air conditioner ,they drink the good wisky with their family,they laugh and they earn the money from the war ,that money it's your money that you paid tax every year .So stand up and tell to Abhisit and his group to stop the war right now if they don't want to stop ,you all ,you have to throw the war to their head ,so they will know how the hurt them.
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