Bangkok protests not reason Thai, Cambodia border talks postponed

Fri, 29 Aug 2008
DPA

Bangkok - Thailand's Foreign Ministry issued a statement Friday that talks between Bangkok and Phnom Penh over disputed border areas were postponed by mutual agreement for internal procedures and not because of political tension in Thailand, as some media reported. The "meeting has been postponed, not because of Thailand's domestic political situation, but because both sides still need to complete their relevant internal procedures," the press release states.

Anti-government protests in Bangkok by the Thai opposition People's Alliance for Democracy movement, which escalated Tuesday and continued to be tense Friday.

But the Thai Foreign Ministry statement says both sides agreed to postpone the meeting and "reschedule it as soon as possible ... Thailand is committed to resolving outstanding issues through negotiations," the press statement reads.

On Thursday a Cambodian official said the formal talks scheduled for Friday were abruptly cancelled.

"We had prepared all the documents," said Cambodian Defence Ministry Secretary of State Neang Phat. "Then a call came and they asked for the meeting to be delayed. They didn't say why but we can assume. This is Thailand's business, not ours."

No date has been set to resume joint talks over border areas around the newly listed UNESCO World Heritage site of Preah Vihear temple, as well as the Ta Moan temple complex 150 kilometres to its west.

Thailand maintains the sovereignty of the areas is disputed but Phnom Penh claims the territory belongs to Cambodia. Several rounds of bilateral talks so far have failed to break the impasse.

Cambodia closed the border to Thailand at Preah Vihear, north of Siem Reap, in June after Thai protesters gathered in the area, saying it feared trouble with Cambodian settlers.

On July 7 UNESCO granted the 11th-century hilltop Hindu temple World Heritage status over protests by Thailand. Thai troops moved into nearby areas a week later, severely straining relations between the neighbours.

Border troop talks postponed

PAD rally may have disrupted negotiations

Friday August 29, 2008
WASSANA NANUAM
Bangkok Post

Political problems in Bangkok have forced Thailand to postpone talks with Cambodia on further reducing troops in the disputed border area near the Preah Vihear temple, a military source said yesterday. A formal meeting had been scheduled for today and tomorrow in Siem Reap, where informal talks were already under way. They have now been called off.

The source said the anti-government rally by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which laid siege to Government House, influenced the postponement of the Regional Border Committee meeting.

Thailand was concerned that the PAD could take advantage of the dispute, the source added.

But the Foreign Ministry denied in a statement that the decision to postpone the talks was in relation to the political situation in Thailand.

It said the postponement was because the two countries had not completed their own internal processes necessary for negotiations.

Nipat Thonglek, director-general of the Border Affairs Department, pointed to the failure of the two countries to reach an agreement on the number of troops to be withdrawn from the disputed border area between Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district and the Cambodian province of Preah Vihear as the main cause.

The troop reduction was a sensitive issue that required further negotiations, he added. The meeting is expected to be postponed until next month, according to Lt-Gen Nipat.

Thailand and Cambodian agreed in talks between Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag and Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Aug 18 for the second phase of military reduction from the disputed area.

Now Thai paramilitary rangers and Cambodian troops number only 30 soldiers each, including 10 each at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda near the Preah Vihear temple and 20 in the area around it.

Cambodia also withdrew its soldiers from the Preah Vihear temple. It sent only 50 police and military police to guard the ruins.

But 300 Thai rangers remain in other parts of the disputed overlapping zone, along with 500 Cambodian soldiers.

Another source said Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh had discussed the reduction of the military presence at the Preah Vihear temple, as well as the dispute over the Ta Moan Thom ruins in Surin during his meeting with Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Monday.

Thais Cancel Meeting on Border Standoff

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
28 August 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

Thailand has canceled a meeting to solve the lingering crisis on the Preah Vihear border, a Cambodian government spokesman said Wednesday.

Because of "business" by the Thai government's cabinet, "they asked to postpone the meeting," which had been slated for Friday, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said.

No new date for a meeting has been set, as troops from both sides remain on the border. Earlier this month, a large number of soldiers withdraw from a pagoda near Preah Vihear temple, in a continued standoff that began July 15.

Thailand is in the midst of political strife, with thousands of protesters in Bangkok demanding Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej step down.

The opposition of Thailand's prime minister was also at the heart of the Preah Vihear dispute; demonstrators angered by Thailand's acceptance of Cambodia's World Heritage application for the Preah Vihear temple, which was accepted July 7, entered the temple and were detained by Cambodian border authorities July 15.

Thai troops subsequently occupied the pagoda near the temple, which led to the current standoff.

Both sides have been embroiled in longstanding disputes over the border, and neither side has been able to agree on which map should be used in negotiations.

Previous bilateral talks have failed to solve the troop build-up or border disputes.

Thailand postpones border spat talks: Cambodian general

Thursday, August 28, 2008

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Anti-government protests in Bangkok have caused the Thai military to postpone talks to discuss withdrawing troops from a disputed border area near an ancient temple, a Cambodian general said Thursday.

Twenty soldiers from Cambodia and Thailand remain stationed at a small pagoda on a patch of disputed land near Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple, while 40 from both sides remain nearby.

Up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops pulled back from the area in mid-August, suggesting that an end to the sometimes tense six-week military stand-off could be near.

But Cambodian and Thai military officials scheduled to meet Friday to discuss a further pullback of troops postponed their talks at the request of Thai officials, Cambodian General Neang Phat, a secretary of state at the defence ministry, told AFP Thursday.

The request was made Wednesday afternoon, just hours after a 30-member Thai delegation arrived in Siem Reap to prepare for the talks, he said.

"They requested the meeting be postponed and they returned to Thailand," General Neang Phat said.

"They did not give any reasons. But we can know that it is because of their internal problems," he added.

A Thai foreign ministry official later confirmed the postponement but said both sides forced the delay.

"The meeting was postponed because both sides are not yet ready due to their internal processes," he said.

"A new meeting date will be rescheduled as soon as possible and the meeting will still be held in Cambodia as agreed," he said.

Thousands of Thai protesters seized a television station and occupied the the main government compound in Bangkok this week in an attempt to force the resignation of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

Cambodian General Neang Phat said it was not clear when Thai and Cambodian military officials would resume the meeting to discuss troop withdrawals.

After talks last week between Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong, the two sides said a border committee would meet in October to step up efforts to draw the boundary around the temple.

Cambodia had asked the UN Security Council to consider the standoff that erupted in July, but Hor Namhong said that request would likely be withdrawn.

Relations between the neighbours flared up last month after Preah Vihear was awarded world heritage status by the UN cultural body UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the ancient Khmer temple.

On July 15, Cambodia arrested three Thai protesters for illegally crossing the border to try to reach the temple, sparking the deployment of troops from both sides on the tiny patch of disputed land near Preah Vihear.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, but surrounding land remains in dispute.

Cambodia, Thai border talks postponed due to Bangkok protests

Thu, August 28, 2008
By Deutsche Presse Agenture

Phnom Penh - Informal talks between Bangkok and Phnom Penh over disputed border areas were halted abruptly and scheduled formal talks postponed indefinitely amid political tension in Thailand, a Cambodian official said Thursday.

Defence Ministry Secretary of State Neang Phat said the Thai delegation arrived Wednesday in Siem Reap, 300 kilometres north of Phnom Penh, and the two sides had talked amicably before formal talks scheduled for Friday were abruptly cancelled.

"We had prepared all the documents," Phat said. "Then a call came and they asked for the meeting to be delayed. They didn't say why but we can assume. This is Thailand's business, not ours."

Phat was referring to the ongoing anti-government protests in Bangkok by the Thai opposition People's Alliance for Democracy movement, which escalated Tuesday.

Phat said no new date had been set for a resumption of joint talks over border areas around the newly listed UNESCO World Heritage site of Preah Vihear temple, as well as the Ta Moan temple complex 150 kilometres to its west.

Thailand maintains the sovereignty of the areas is disputed but Phnom Penh claims the territory belongs to Cambodia. Several rounds of bilateral talks so far have failed to break the impasse.

Cambodia closed the border to Thailand at Preah Vihear, north of Siem Reap, in June after Thai protesters gathered in the area, saying it feared trouble with Cambodian settlers.

On July 7 UNESCO granted the 11th-century hilltop Hindu temple World Heritage status over protests by Thailand. Thai troops moved into nearby areas a week later, severely straining relations between the neighbours.

Thai military cancels talks with Cambodia on border dispute

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Amid mass protests in Bangkok, the Thai military has canceled bilateral talks with Cambodia over the border dispute near the Preah Vihear temple scheduled for Friday in Siem Reap town, local newspaper reported Thursday, citing Cambodian officials.

Defense Ministry Secretary of State Neang Phat told the Cambodia Daily that he learned Wednesday morning of the last-minute cancellation of the talks.

As Cambodian officials gathered Wednesday in Siem Reap town to prepare for Friday's talks, Neang Phat said they received an emergency call from the 30-member Thai delegation, which had already arrived in Siem Reap.

The two groups held an immediate meeting at the Century Hotel, and, at the Thai military's request, agreed to postpone Friday's meeting because of the protests in Bangkok, Neang Phat said.

Meanwhile, Thai Foreign Ministry press officer Apirat Sugondhabhirom said the military had only informed the Thai government of the canceled negotiations Wednesday, but he downplayed the Bangkok demonstrations as the reason for the delay, the newspaper said.

The Preah Vihear Temple straddles the Cambodian-Thai border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice decided that the 11-century temple and the land around belong to Cambodia, which rankled the Thais and has led to continuous disputes.