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| Cambodian soldiers stand on a military truck as they travel past a check point near the Preah Vhear temple in Preah Vihear province, some 500km northwest of Phnom Penh |
AFP
UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke with the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia on Tuesday on ending their border conflict and said he again offered UN help to negotiate a deal.
At least eight people have been killed in four days of cross-border shelling which the two neighbors have blamed on each other.
With a lull in fighting since early Monday, the UN Security Council has held back from formal talks on the clashes to give time to an Indonesian mediation bid, diplomats said.
The UN chief told reporters that he had spoken by telephone with Cambodia's Premier Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva about the renewed clashes around the ancient temple of Preah Vihear.
Ban said he urged both "to end violence, to exercise restraint, and find a lasting solution to the dispute through established mechanisms and arrangements. The United Nations remains at their disposal to assist."
Hun Sen has called for a UN buffer force to be put on the border and for an urgent Security Council meeting on the clashes, which have left five Cambodians and three Thais dead.
In a letter sent to the United Nations on Monday, Hun Sen accused Thailand of launching "a full scale armed aggression against Cambodia, using heavy sophisticated weapons," according to a copy seen by AFP.
The Cambodian leader said that some of the Thai artillery shells "have landed as far as approximately 20 kilometres inside Cambodian territory," added the letter.
Hun Sen called the shelling "extremely grave aggressions by Thailand" to justify his demand for an urgent Security Council meeting.
Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said in his letter to the United Nations that Cambodia had set off the hostilities on Friday afternoon - hours after he had held talks in the region with his Cambodian counterpart.
"On February 4, 2011 at 15:20 hours, Cambodian troops opened fire at a Thai military post at Phu Ma Khua in Thai territory, using heavy weapons such as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, recoilless rifles, long range artillery and multi-launcher rockets," said the minister.
He added that on top of the deaths and about 13 wounded Thai, some 6,000 people had fled their villages on the Thai side of the border.
"While Thailand has always exercised maximum restraint, Thai soldiers had no choice but to exercise the inherent right of self-defence" under the UN charter, the minister added in the letter, which was also released to AFP.
"Thailand protests in the strongest terms against such repeated and unprovoked armed attacks by Cambodian troops, which constitutes an act of aggression," said the letter.
The Thai minister said the two sides were "engaging in close consultations" to end the dispute.
4 comments:
don't deviate from the root of the conflict in the first place! it's not really about who fired first or second or whatever, it's about who broke the law, broke the international treaty, the icj verdict, stealing khmer temple and lands, etc, and using their own unilateral map, etc, really. these are the real root of the conflict. educate the siem thugs about it, really! thailand and their pad thugs deserved the UN security council to educate and warn them an teach them a lesson on how to respect the international law and so forth, that's the real root of the conflict, if they ask cambodia, you know! everything else is secondary to the real root of the dispute; it's about thailand broke the law and not respecting the international treaty, the icj verdict, etc. that the real issue!
and there isn't any dispute if thailand and respect the international treaty and stop rankling about it. the UN should tell them that enough is enough and law is law whether they like it or not, learn to get used to it, live with it, and respect it!
Using UN to finish Thai 100-year ambition right now. This time is one of the rear opportunities Cambodia ever has. Cambodian clearly has the upper hand if UN intervenes. Avoid enemies where they are strong, and hit enemies where they are weak. All Cambodian people inside and outside, opposition parties, and other civil society has supported Government. Don’t listen to noises created by Thai personates and a few people whose have tried to divert Prah Vihear case to other cases. Know when to unite and when to oppose would benefit the country.
Don't let the history repeat itself, its time for Khmer to unite all political parties, NGO, etc.. If Khmer have problem with Siam, please don't forget Youn ?
Cambodia used to have some 233 (SAM) surface to air missiles! But Hun Sen want to play the good guy for Uncle SAM because of war on terrorism and Uncle SAM was afraid that those missile might fall into the hand in the most corrupted Cambodia and those missiles were destroyed!
Now Thailand are threaten Cambodian with advance jet fighters and Cambodia don't even have shit to defend its airspace and the entire country from the Thailand air force!
Now Hun Sen cry for help but his cry for help fall on deaf ear! The war will soon start again regardless of how some foreigner experts or specialists down play about Cambodia-Thailand border conflict!
Cambodia must have surface to air missiles long, medium and short range now!
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