Cambodia, Thai troops border clash: Cambodian army

Tuesday, June 08, 2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH — Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged fire briefly on their border Tuesday, the latest in a series of clashes between the neighbours, a Cambodian official said.

The shoot-out on Cambodia's northwestern border lasted for about six minutes, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, Cambodian defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat told AFP.

The incident occurred as soldiers from both sides were patrolling the border area, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) away from Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple, which is at the centre of a land dispute between the two nations.

"It was a misunderstanding because the area is a place where illegal smuggling of timber usually takes place," the spokesman said, adding that the exchange of fire ended after the two sides contacted each other.

Cambodia and Thailand have been locked in nationalist tensions and a troop standoff at their disputed border since July 2008, when the Preah Vihear temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

Relations deteriorated further in November after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser and refused to extradite him to Thailand.

Thai-Cambodia dispute: Asean offers help

Yasmin Lee Arpon
ANN

BEIJING, Oct. 24: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is ready to step in on the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, even as the leaders of the two warring countries said today that they have put the recent clashes behind them.

"Asean is ready to help but the concerned parties said they will exhaust all resources first," Asean secretary general Mr Surin Pitsuwan said in an exclusive briefing today in Beijing. Thai PM Mr Somchai Wongsawat and Cambodian PM Mr Hun Sen met at the sidelines of the two-day Asia-Europe meeting attended by 45 leaders from the two continents and said they were confident that both sides will resolve the dispute soon. The two leaders said the border clashes this month that killed three Cambodian soldiers and wounded a Thai soldier are behind them. "We are not just neighbours, we are very good friends indeed," Thai foreign minister Mr Sompong Amornvivat said after the meeting. "His Excellency Hun Sen said the incident that already happened is not the kind that both countries want. It happened instantly. That was uncontrollable at the time. But when things come to this point, the two sides have to advise our troops not to have confrontation any longer," Mr Sompong said.

The two sides vowed to resort to "all existing mechanisms to solve the problem on the border". At the root of the dispute is the Preah Vihear temple, which the International Court of Justice awarded to Cambodia in 1962, which Thailand has resented.