Troop exit not on the cards, says Hun Sen

Ex-Thai deputy army chief's claim 'not true'

7/06/2011
Bangkok Post

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday dismissed a claim by former Thai deputy army chief Wichit Yathip that he had promised to withdraw Cambodian troops from the disputed area near the Preah Vihear Temple.

Hun Sen admitted he had met briefly with Gen Wichit during the wedding ceremony of a son of Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh in Phnom Penh but the two had never touched on the overlapping area near the temple.

"We did not discuss anything concerning the Thai-claimed overlapping area near the temple because Cambodia has never known where the 4.6-square-kilometre area is," Xinhua News Agency quoted the Cambodian leader as saying at the graduation ceremony at the Royal School of Administration yesterday. "I don't know where these remarks have come from."

If Cambodia agreed to these points, then there would have been no need for its government to file a complaint with international bodies, Hun Sen added.

"[Gen] Wichit should clarify his remarks" he said.

The Cambodian premier was responding to Gen Wichit's remarks over the weekend that Hun Sen had proposed three ways to solve the border problem during talks with him in Phnom Penh before the armed clashes broke out in February.

They included the withdrawal of Thai and Cambodian soldiers from the overlapping area, joint oversight of the area and proceeding with boundary demarcation work.

Last month, Gen Wichit offered to broker the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia by banking on the close ties between himself and his superior, Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, and Phnom Penh to mend fences between the two countries.

Gen Wichit met with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to suggest ways to resolve the conflicts between the two countries but never gave details of their discussion.

The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia has now gone to the International Court of Justice as Phnom Penh has asked the court to reinterpret its 1962 ruling which favoured Cambodia.

It has also asked the court to order Thailand to withdraw its troops and cease all military activity near the Preah Vihear temple, situated inside the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area.

The court in The Hague is expected to rule on provisional measures regarding troop withdrawal within three weeks.

Thailand told the ICJ on May 30-31 that the country had strictly abided by the 1962 ruling though it insisted that this did not include the disputed area, the status of which is being resolved through bilateral talks.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon yesterday reiterated his stance that the Thai army was ready to withdraw troops from the disputed area if the UN's highest court orders Cambodia to do likewise.

Director-general of the Legal and Treaties Affairs Department Ittiporn Boonpracong and Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said yesterday that Thailand would cooperate fully with the ICJ on any decision that the court makes.

"It's up to the court to consider the legal issues," Mr Ittiporn said.