[Thai] Army accuses Cambodia of plot to seize temples [-Another LAME Thai excuse?]

Suffer the little children: A woman feeds her children with corn seeds as they hide in a water drainage pipe in Ban Nong Waeng of Buri Ram’s Ban Kruat district. Food is scarce in the village which has been affected by the fighting. TAWATCHAI KEMGUMNERD

Heavily armed troops, tanks 'leave Preah Vihear base'

25/04/2011
Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post

The Thai army has accused Cambodia of trying to seize Ta Kwai and Ta Muen Thom temples in a plot similar to its present occupation of the 4.6 square-kilometre overlapping border near Preah Vihear temple.

Phnom Penh has reportedly removed soldiers and tanks from its Preah Vihear military base, next to the disputed main border area near Si Sa Ket province, to fortify its troops near the two temples at the Thai-Cambodian border in Surin's Phanom Dong Rak district, said army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd citing a late military report.

This showed Phnom Penh is focusing more on the overlapping border near Surin by first trying to seize Ta Kwai temple. Fortunately, Col Sansern said, Thai troops managed to control the situation, preventing its occupation.

A cause of the Ta Kwai clash, that erupted last Friday, is apparently Phnom Penh's failure to follow an agreement made with Thailand to make the area one where armed soldiers and land adaptation are prohibited, he said.

Thai military officers claimed Cambodian troops were building a bunker in the area and needed to warn them against the act. But when the officers approached them, the Cambodian soldiers opened fire at the officers, Col Sansern said.

"If we had not warned them before the confrontation, Cambodia would have seized the area as they did in the areas near Preah Vihear temple," he said.

"So letting problems occur today is better than seeing it turn chronic in the future."

The Cambodian approach to solve the border conflict at Preah Vihear is to take villagers, especially women and children, to settle in its military area so that "when something happens, it will use them to back its claims", Col Sansern said.

During the three days of clashes, Thai soldiers have been told to stick to necessary responses to the Cambodian attacks by gradually adopting soft to harsher strikes.

The army used rifles, machine guns and then cannons and kept trying to contact Cambodian military commanders for a ceasefire, Col Sansern said.

Defence spokesman Col Thanathip Sawangsaeng denied the allegation that Thai troops resorted to air strikes and chemical weapons.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also told the army to adopt a defensive approach when second army chief Lt Gen Thawatchai Samutsakhon sought permission to send five more battalions to the clash scene out of concerns over Cambodia's alleged attempt to occupy Ta Kwai and Ta Muen Thom temples, an army source said.

Col Sansern yesterday insisted Thailand wanted a permanent ceasefire and a solution to the border dispute through bilateral peace talks.

"We always honour Cambodia, but we also need to protect our land," he said.

"We hope Cambodia sees our sincerity and that we get together to solve the problem through bilateral talks. No one knows the problem better than the two countries."

Asked whether a third country can step in to help broker the talks, he said it depends on an agreement to be made between Bangkok and Phnom Penh on what should be an appropriate role of the third party.