ABC Radio Australia
The border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is getting worse.
Fourteen people have died in six days of fighting and there's no end in sight to the conflict. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has called for a truce but has no plans to meet with his Thai counterpart until May. Both sides accuse the other of aggression in the long running dispute.
Reporter: Karon Snowdon
Speaker: Panitan Wattanayagorn, Thai government spokesman; Phay Siphan, Cambodian government spokesman
SNOWDON: In the latest violence, one civilian and a total of 13 troops from both sides have been killed with 60 soldiers wounded. Thirty thousand villages have been evacuated, according to reports. Defence ministers were to meet on Wednesday but even that is disputed.
Cambodia says the Thai Defence Minister asked for the meeting, Thailand's government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn says the meeting is desirable but not possible on the day.
PANITAN: We accepted the invitation in principle but our Defence Minister is scheduled to go to the People's Republic of China many weeks ago and he can't change his schedule and he's on his way now. We hope that in the near future we can reschedule this meeting with the Defence Minister of Cambodia.
SNOWDON: How urgent is that meeting do you think?
PANITAN: The meeting is urgent of course. We would like to meet our Cambodian counterpart as soon as possible.
SNOWDON: The two South East Asian neighbours have been in conflict over the precise position of their border for years. It usually implicates the ancient Prear Vihear temple complex which sits on the border and which the International Court of Justice recognised as within Cambodia in 1962. The latest artillery battles centred around two other temples to the west.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has called for an immediate truce and says he hopes to meet with his Thai counterpart at an ASEAN summit in Jakarta on May the 7th and 8th.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan says Cambodia has been invaded.
PHAY SIPHAN: We don't have any mechanism to talk because this is an invasion by Thai people I mean by Thai soldiers. If Thai soldiers want a ceasefire they shouldn't invade Cambodia. Because we are inside Cambodia, we have a right to self defence and to protect of our territory.
SNOWDON: This has been going on for about six days now. What started this latest outbreak of hostilities?
PHAY SIPHAN: Well I mean the frontline is still tense, we are just protecting ourselves.
SNOWDON: Prime Minister Hun Sen is hoping to meet with the Thai Prime Minister at the ASEAN meeting in Jakarta in May, is that confirmed? Has the Thai side agreed to a meeting, then?
PHAY SIPHAN: I have no idea. But we wish to have peace and a ceasefire permanently down there. And we believe the issue of boundary should be left to a joint border committee to solve that problem, not use military language to solve that problem.
PANITAN: We wouldn't have any trouble if Cambodia stops firing at us first . We only defend ourselves, we didn't initiate the firing in the first place. We have more than 50 civilians injured and we have more than four or five officers killed in the process. This is why it is important for Cambodia to come back to the bilateral process as we suggest.
SNOWDON: A plan to have Indonesian monitors on the border fell through when the Thai military objected. Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn says several high level committees are already in place for talks.
PANITAN: We call upon Cambodia to come back to the negotiating table bilaterally using our mechanisms. We also want the Indonesian ASEAN Chair to facilitate this meeting as agreed upon previously. And of course our policy is very clear we do not have any aggression policy toward Cambodia at all. We are only defending ourselves and only protecting our sovereignty and our territory, and of course protecting our civilian lives.
SNOWDON: Thailand says the proposed leaders meeting requested by Hun Sen at the ASEAN summit in May, will take place if conditions allow.
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