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| Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti |
AFP
The UN Security Council Monday voiced concern about four days of cross-border fighting between Cambodia and Thailand and said it would be willing to hold a meeting on the dispute.
"Members of the council expressed great concern at the aggravation of the tension on the border," said Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the Brazilian ambassador who is president of the Security Council for February.
"They called for a ceasefire and urged the parties to resolve the situation peacefully," she said of the fighting which has claimed seven lives and displaced thousands.
"They expressed their willingness to hold a Security Council meeting," she said, adding they will continue to follow the situation closely."
Earlier, Cambodia called on the council to take "urgent" action over the border conflict with Thailand.
"They expressed support to the mediation undertaken by the chair of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the minister of foreign affairs of Indonesia," Viotti said, adding envoys from the 15 nations on the council had held closed door consultations talks.
Cambodian and Thai troops clashed Monday for a fourth straight day, after heavy fighting on Sunday when a ceasefire agreed a day earlier collapsed. The violence is the worst clashes between the two neighbours in years.
Both sides have accused each other of starting the fighting.
Cambodia and Thailand have written to the Security Council on the hostilities, diplomats said.
Cambodia sent two letters to the Security Council on the conflict over the weekend, one of which demanded "urgent" action, said a diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has called for UN troops to be sent to set up a buffer zone on the contested border. It was not clear however if this demand was put in the Cambodian letters.
Thailand has also written twice, with a letter from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva handed over Monday. Thailand has called for a bilateral solution to the dispute and the letter accused Cambodia of using "internationalization" of the conflict, the diplomat said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who on Sunday called for a "cessation of hostilities", offered last year to help the two sides set up talks to resolve the border dispute.
Ban is "consulting with senior advisers" on the trouble, his spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.
It is unclear exactly what triggered the latest violence, but diplomatic frictions have grown since late December when seven Thais, including one lawmaker, were arrested by Cambodia near the border for illegal entry.
3 comments:
ThaiLand is doing the right things.
As long as Cambodia has VIOLATED the 23 October 1991 peace Agreement
Thailand has the rights to do so...
If Vietnam can do Thailand and Laos can do too.
There is nothing wrong with that, due to PARIS PEACE AGREEMENT.
I say Thailand's doing the great job!
Invade as much as Thai can do....
If Viet can do same as Thai and Laos, doing their part.
Thank You Thai...
We want to complaint to UN, now we did it but UN said let regional deal with it.
I think UN might think the war was not serious enough according to UN standard.
Now our complaint is just waste of time, the problem will still exist.
Anybody out there have any suggestion? base on fact please not insult or personal bias and be fair to the government.
Hun Sen is a PM with numerous college degrees and many stars on his shoulders; he should know a long time ago that the bilateral talks would not work. His choice of not seeking the UN help was beyond the majority of ordinary Cambodian comprehension. That is why you see on left side of this blog he has been branded as “TRAITOR” in many languages, and the truth hurts him very bad. Because of all the miseries that he has given to the nation, this mother fucker should not be born as Khmer, let alone being a PM.
You will see many Cambodian dancing on the streets when he will be toppled.
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