Not So Quiet on the [Thai] Eastern Front

Thai residents who fled homes following clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers sleep at an evacuation center in Surin province. (Photo: AP)

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

By ALEX ELLGEE

The Irrawaddy

SURIN, Thailand—While relations between Thailand and its western neighbor, Burma, have seemingly been improving with regard to issues at the Thai-Burmese border, things have taking a turn for the worse on Thailand’s eastern front.

Sitting in a crowded hall at Koke Klang temporary refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border, La Aui Mutumachanan, an 80-year-old woman, recalled the moment that fighting broke out near her village.

“I was sleeping in my bed when it started. It was deafening,” she told The Irrawaddy while folding up the straw mat she has been sleeping on with the rest of her family for the past week. “My family helped me to take cover and the next day we came to this refugee camp.”

Entering its ninth day, the fighting is the worst that the previously sleepy Surin province has ever seen. The recent clashes stem from a demarcation carried out in the 1950s, which awarded the land around 12th-century Ta Moan and Ta Krabey temples to Cambodia. Thailand continues to dispute this.

Tens of thousands of Thai and Cambodian villagers returned on Monday to homes they fled after fierce military clashes flared on the border more than a week ago.

According to Associated Press (AP), Serm Chainarong, the governor of Thailand's northeastern province of Surin, where most of the recent clashes took place, told reporters he has allowed 44,000 villagers evacuated from the combat zone to return home from 35 makeshift shelters.

Pech Sokhen, the governor of Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province opposite Surin, said 90 percent of the 43,000 refugees on his side of the border had returned to their homes from 33 temporary camps, leaving behind just 250-300 families whose houses were in the immediate area of the fighting, AP reported.

In the meantime, surviving on donations handed out by volunteers, La Aui and her family said they are okay for the moment but worried about their home. “Some people’s homes have been destroyed by the fighting, We are worried about ours.”

Lying in a ward bed at Prasat local hospital, a 15-year-old girl, Jeeranan, grimaced in pain. Accompanied by a teddy bear, and hair tied up in ponytails, she looks younger than her age. “The doctor says her arm bone is completely smashed,” her mother said, looking over her, clearly distressed by the news. “We don’t want to go back to our village while bombs are flying overhead like this.”

When fighting started, she said, a stray BM-21 missile landed in their house, completely destroying the building and injuring their youngest daughter. A worker who was sitting down for dinner outside was not so lucky. He was seriously injured and later died in hospital.

Hope for an end to the conflict faded early on Friday morning when more fighting broke out killing a Thai soldier and bringing the official death toll to 16. The latest clash occurred after a supposed ceasefire had been agreed between the two nations on Thursday morning.

High-level commanders from both nations were reported to have agreed to stop all military activity and open borders to allow displaced people to travel home. Both side’s commanders have blamed their counterpart's local units for not following orders.

Fighting is reported to have started again early on Saturday morning.

“Even though there is a recent ceasefire agreement … Thailand still breached it,” Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters in Phnom Penh on Saturday.

“There was an exchange of fire last night and this morning,” he said. “It shows that we cannot trust our counterpart.”

Adding to concerns that the conflict will escalate even further, Prawit Wongsuwon, Thailand's defense minister, canceled a meeting with his Cambodian counterpart, Tea Banh, on Wednesday.

With no international observers on the front line, the conflict is slowly turning into a war of words, with a raging blame game being tossed from one side to the other.

“They want to take over our land. There are no Cambodian soldiers in Thailand, but they keep coming onto our land. Plain and simple,” Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan told The Irrawaddy on Friday. “Our soldiers are inside Cambodian land. If they [Thai soldiers] fire into our land, only then will we fire back.”

While overseeing his unit detonate an unexploded stray mortar, Thai military spokesman Col. Prawit Hookaew blamed Cambodia for the recent fighting.

“It is surprising that Cambodian troops say they never start fighting and never want to have clashes, but their action has shown that they want to escalate the fighting,” he said.

“The Cambodian troops slowly mobilize to Thai territory and try to attack us all the time, but so far they cannot dissolve any of our military bases yet.”

At a surprise visit to Koke Klang temporary refugee camp—home to more than 3,000 of the 50,000 villagers who have fled their homes to escape the fighting—Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told refugees and reporters that it was Cambodia’s fault that the fighting continues. He said Thailand was ready to talk with Cambodia but if they continue to attack Thailand it will be impossible to make any progress.

“Thailand will not invade Cambodia, but if they attack us then we are prepared to fight back in order to save the country,” he told refugees as they sat around on straw mats in a school building.

Making some of his first comments on the conflict, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech to a women's group on Wednesday that Abhisit was to blame.

"The current Thai leader likes war, provokes war," he said. "Cambodia is a small, poor country and has fewer forces, but don't you forget that an ant can make an elephant not get any sleep," he said. "Cambodia's weaponry is not just slingshots."

Relations first frosted over the border demarcation in 2008 when a temple—150 kilometers [90 miles] east of the current conflict—was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thailand said that although the land was awarded to Cambodia by the international court, the temples never were properly discussed.

Conflict erupted at Preah Vihear temple on February 4-7 this year, killing 11 people.

While it could appear to be a simple conflict over sovereignty, experts and civilians on both sides of the border are increasingly blaming domestic politics for the ongoing conflict.

In Cambodia, some believe Hun Sen is attempting to wield nationalist sentiment to gain support for his son, whom he is grooming to eventually takeover control of the country. It is also believed that he could be attempting to discredit Abhisit and therefore boost support for Thai opposition parties in the forthcoming elections. Hun Sen has often publicly voiced his support for the Puea Thai party and the “Redshirts.”

According to Michael Montesano of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, the temple dispute all came about as a result of “cheap politics” in 2008 by the People’s Alliance for Democracy—otherwise known as the “Yellowshirts”—to reduce support for then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

“This whole episode, in a sense, is the tail that the dog of Thailand is wagging, and the dog of Thai domestic politics is not going to calm down any time soon, so that is the problem here,” said Montesano.

In a move, which is likely to irk Bangkok even more, Cambodia announced on Friday it would be seeking clarification from the International Court of Justice over the demarcation of Preah Vihear temple.

Cambodia said a clarification by the court was of “the utmost necessity ... in order to peacefully and definitely settle the boundary problem between the two countries in the area.”

Previously the Cambodians had turned to the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and asked for international mediation to deal with issue. It is rumored that Abhisit has been leaning toward accepting Cambodia’s proposal, but Thai military leaders had been reluctant to accept it, adding to speculation they are prolonging the war in order to establish their legitimacy.

“Its very clear that the army and its backers are nervous about the overall political situation in Thailand—nervous about mounting criticism of the monarchy, nervous about Thaksin’s return to political activity, nervous about the outcome of the upcoming election,” said Montesano.

“This is one more way that the army and its backers are asserting themselves,” he said.

Taking no chances both sides' armies are digging in on the border. Cambodia has reportedly sent new rocket launchers and Thailand continues to deploy fresh tanks and soldiers. Village defense units are being trained up and both sides look ready for the fight.

In the meantime, families like La Aui’s and nearly 100,000 refugees continue to suffer. Civilian houses are being destroyed every day and villagers are quickly growing tired of the temporary camps.

“We don’t want to stay here forever,” La Aui’s son told The Irrawaddy while minding his young child. “We really hope the two counties can work it out so we can return to our homes and normal lives.”