One Thai soldier arrested for illegally entering Cambodian territories

Thai de-miners clearing land-mines inside Cambodian territories near Preah Vihear temple after Thai soldiers had occupied the areas on 15th July, 2008.

Deum Ampil News
1st March, 2009
Reported in English by Khmerization

A Cambodian military source said that one Thai soldier was arrested on 27th February near the Khmer-Thai border in Anlong Veng for illegally entering Cambodian territories, reported Deum Ampil News.

Deum Ampil News reported that the lone soldier has explosives wrapped around his body and he also carried a map.

The source said that the lone soldier was arrested at a Cambodian military camp near the O'Kra-Nhoung frontline about 1 kilometre from Choam Sra-Ngam Checkpoint on the top of Dangrek Mountain.

The Deum Ampil News reported that, while the Cambodian soldiers were quietly guarding the border frontline, they suddenly saw a lone Thai soldier carrying a backpack walking through the bush towards the Cambodian frontline which make them very suspicious. Immediately, the Cambodian guards went to question him on the spot. But upon seeing the Cambodian guards, the lone Thai soldiers tried to run into the bush but was chased and arrested by the Cambodian soldiers at 5:30 in the afternoon.

After he was arrested, the Cambodian soldiers body-searched him and found many explosives in his backpack. Among the explosives found were eleven 69-type land mines, one bomb trigger and a pistol.

After questioning him, the Cambodia soldiers assumed that this lone Thai soldier brought the mines into Cambodian territories with the intention of laying them on Cambodian soil to cause injuries to the Cambodian soldiers. By 28th February, this Thai soldier has not been released yet as they were waiting to question him further and waiting for an intervention from the Thai side.

The arrest of this lone Thai soldier happened two days after 4 Thai soldiers were arrersted by the Cambodian soldiers for illegally entering Cambodian territories. The four Thai soldiers were subsequently released after the Thai side made a request.

A few months ago, Thailand had lodged a formal complaint to the Ottawa Anti-Mine Convention against Cambodia, accusing it of continuing to lay land-mines which have injured a few Thai soldiers when they crossed into Khmer territories. But the Cambodian side had always maintained that "the land-mines that the Thai soldiers stepped on were old land-mines left behind by the civil war between the Khmer Rouge faction and the Phnom Penh government during the 1980s." They added that those land-mines were not newly-planted.

Another cheap Khmer life; Thai embassy denying the Thai soldiers' savage killing of a Khmer citizen?

Family of a Cambodian victim of Thai soldiers shooting demands compensation

15 December 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media

Relatives of a victim who were shot and killed by Thai black-clad soldiers recently, along the Dangrek Mountain chain, Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, called on Cambodian government officials to help them demand monetary compensations amounting to several tens of thousands of baths for the lost of the life of their loved one and demand that Thailand guarantees the livelihood of 7 orphans who lost their father.

On Saturday 15 December, 38-year-old Ya Hoeun said that her husband was shot and killed by Thai black-clad soldiers, and that she is currently asking Cambodian officials at the border relation working group to prepare documents to negotiate and demand monetary compensations. The amount of compensation demanded has not been determined as of yet, however, Mrs. Ya Hoeun indicated that this amount could be 100,000 Thai baths, or about 10 million riels (~$2,500). “I want them (Thailand) to pay compensation regarding my husband, this could be 100,000 baths because this is so unfair,” Ya Hoeun said.

Nevertheless, the demand for compensation from the Thai soldiers remains hopeless as the Cambodian authority did not even take any measure at all in this affair.

Pech Sokhin, the Oddar Meanchye provincial governor, said on Saturday morning that provincial officials received the report of the shooting and killing already, but the provincial administration did not take any measure yet: “Not yet, we don’t know, we are researching for the cause.”

Khoeung Phea, the commander of the 403 unit protecting the border at the location of the incident, said that, up to now, he did not call the Thai side to come and negotiate about this issue yet, he only reported the incident to the regional commander and he is still awaiting a decision from this commander on what to do: “My chief went to Phnom Penh, when he will return back, he will have a plan to meet with the Thai side to resolve this incident.”

Surasak Supharat, an advisor of the Thai embassy in Cambodia, said that regarding this demand for compensation, according to the law, there must be an investigation first to see whether the Thai soldier really shot and killed a Cambodian citizen or not.

Cambodian border police officials and Khet Khen, an injured witness, claimed in the afternoon of 12 December 2007 that Thai black-clad soldiers based in Husing district, Sisaket province, Thailand, opened fire on 6 Cambodian citizens who went into a forest near the border to collect liana vines and rattan near O’Da river, about 15 kilometers to the north of the Choam Sro-ngam international border gate. The shooting led to the death of Yim Phat who was killed on the spot and Khet Khen was injured. A tractor was also burnt down by the Thai soldiers.

Khmer-Thai Border Disputes in Anlong Veng

Radio Free Asia, 8th November 2007
By Sav Yuth
Translated from Khmer by Khmerization

Khmer border guards in the Dangrek Ranges who are guarding the Chorm Sa-Ngarm border pass in Anlong Veng, Banteay Meanchey province which borders Phu-Sing district in Thailand's Sisaket province have reported that the black-clad Thai soldiers had sent a letter to them asking them to stop the construction of a concrete fence on the Khmer side of the border. Those border guards have also claimed that recently those black-clad soldiers had crossed into Cambodian side of the border to prevent Khmer soldiers from constructing a border outpost.

Vice-chairman of the Khmer Border Committee in charge of relations with the Thai Border Committee, Major Touch Var, has said on Thursday morning of the 8th of November that the Thai Border Committee had sent a letter on the 6th of November asking the Khmer land owner to stop building a 60 metres concrete fence on his land which is located on the Cambodian side of the border.

And ten days before heavily armed Thai black-clad soldiers had crossed into the Cambodian side of the border to stop the Khmer soldiers from constructing a border outpost by claiming that the area is sitting on the border line which has not been clearly demarcated yet.

Major Touch Var has said that:" They have sent a letter to us two days ago requesting us to suspend the construction of a concrete fence on the eastern side of the casino which is located parallel to the demining site which was also prohibited by the Thai side. Earlier we have converted our border outpost from a tent building to a building with a corrugated iron roof but the Thai side have prevented us from doing so".

A Cambodian border officer who spoke on condition of anonimity has reacted with accusations that those Thai soldiers had intended to cause a border crisis by violating the maps agreed by both the Cambodian and Thai border committees.

This same anonimous officer said that:" The Cambodian and Thai border committees have agreed to use the 1907 maps with the 1,200 scales. Everyday the Thai has been using the 150 scales American maps which are produced/drawn once every 5 years which we did not agree with, even if they say that their land is deep inside Anlong Veng we couldn't careless".

However, this Thursday Radio Free Asia is unable to seek any comment from the Thai Border Committee or from any officials of the Thai embassy in Cambodia.

Mr. Var Kim Hong, chairman of the Cambodian Border Committee has commented that he has not yet received any information about this issue and therefore he is unable to comment about it. Mr. Var said that:" I cannot confirm about this issue because I have not yet received any information regarding this issue".

The Khmer border guards have said that in the last 3 months the border disputations had occured 4 times, with the Thai black-clad soldiers crossing into the Cambodian side to stop the deminer Halo Trust from clearing land mines in that area.

On 10th of October the Thai soldiers have crossed the border to prevent the building of a petrol station and 10 days ago the Thai black-clad soldiers have crossed the border to prevent the Khmer side from constructing a border outpost in the areas which the Khmer border guards claimed that the areas are located on the Khmer side of the border.

Thai soldiers came in to prevent a construction inside Cambodia

10 October 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Cambodian border defense officials in Oddar Meanchey province reported that black-clad Thai soldiers from Thailand’s Sisaket province came into Cambodia to prevent the construction of a gas station located next to the borderline, but inside Cambodia. The Thai soldiers ordered the stop of the construction claiming that it affects the borderline which has not been resolved yet.

Lieutenant-Colonel Toch Ra, the deputy director of the Cambodia-Thailand border liaison group in Choam Sra-ngam entry point, Anlong Veng district, said on Wednesday 10 October that a group of black-clad Thai soldiers prevented the construction of a private gas station located close to the borderline, but inside Cambodian territories, a few days earlier. The Cambodian authority agreed to this request, but it refused to comply with the Thai demand to demolish the station because it is located on Khmer lands.

Toch Ra said: “The concrete gasoline stockpile station was being built, the concrete was poured in a few days ago, they (Thai) told us to put a stop (to the construction) because it is located in unclear border zone. Therefore, we keep it as it is, if there is any problem with its demolition, the (border) committee at the national level must resolve this issue.”

Cambodian border defense troops consider this obstacle (imposed by Thailand) on the construction of a gas station inside the Cambodian border, as a violation on the border treaty (between the two countries).

Chim Phanna, the Anglong Veng district governor, said that, during the Khmer Rouge era, the borderline next to which the gas station was built was under the control of Ta Mok, it was Cambodian territories, and no Thai soldiers ever dare come to make any claim about it being a “white zone” or an unclear border zone. “During the Khmer Rouge era, we occupied that territory, we consider it as our lands, but later on, they called it a forbidden zone,” Chim Phanna said.

Var Kim Hong, the chairman of the Cambodian border resolution committee, said that he cannot comment on this problem because he did not receive any information for the local authorities yet. “How can I give an opinion? If they (Thai soldiers) came in, I did not know, the local authority did not send me a report,” Var Kim Hong said.

On Wednesday, the Thai embassy in Cambodia could not be reached to obtain further clarifications.

According to Cambodian border guards, border problems in the Choam Sra-ngam are frequent: on 04 September, a group of black-clad armed Thai soldiers came in to stop de-mining operations performed by the Halotras group in an area near the gas station. In 2006, Thai soldiers brought in about 30 prefabricated steel buildings and installed them in the area where they claimed that the border zone is unclear. These buildings still remain there now.

Thai soldiers trespass into Cambodian territories in Oddar Meanchey province?

17 July 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Cambodian border guard soldiers in the northern region indicated in the morning of Tuesday 17 July that Thai soldiers based in Sisaket province plan to push further their border post over the disputed border line, into Cambodia’s territories in Choam Sro-ngam gate, Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province.

Major Tauch Ra, the vice-chairman of the Thai-Cambodian border working group based in Choam Sro-ngam gate, said on Tuesday morning that a group of Thai delegation among whom he recognized the Thai 2-star general Khamnik Thonglek, and the commander of the Thai Soranary force based in Surin province, General Sowatchai Samutham, came to meet Cambodian border officials, demanding that the Cambodian population tear down their houses from a point west of Pol Pot’s grave so that the Thai soldiers can build their border post there instead.

Major Tauch Ra said: “They ask us to tear down the houses located west of Pol Pot’s grave, next to the 0-kilometer marker. According to the committee for delineation of borders, in 2004, the borderline division allowed the Thai side to install their post 20 to 30 meters inside our territories already. But now they demand 210 meters more and it reaches that location.”

An anonymous police border official based at the 905 sector, in Choam Sro-ngam gate, said that Thailand brought in a GPS device to check the borderline, and they demanded to the Cambodian authority to build their (Thai) border post there temporarily. However, the Cambodian border guards refused.

In the afternoon of Tuesday, Surasak Supharat, the Thai embassy councilor in Cambodia, said that he did not receive any information about this border issue, and he explained that this is only a problem to be resolved by regional officials only.

As for Var Kim Hong, president of the Cambodian committee for border resolution, reacted to the information about the Thai request to establish the border post by saying that he did not hear about this news yet, and he said that he would not agree with it. “I do not know about this yet. Besides the border committee, no institution can make any decision on the border issue. This is not right. What the Thai establish on right now, they already violated on the borderline already. If they want to change or anything else, Thailand must follow the rules, we have a joint committee.”

According to an official of the Thai-Cambodian border working group, in June of 2007, there were three border disputes between Cambodia and Thailand in this area, and in February, Thai soldiers came inside Cambodia to tear down more than 10 houses belonging to Cambodian villagers. In the following month, they came inside Cambodia to arrest Cambodian citizens who were clearing trees and they also came inside Cambodia to prevent Cambodian people to build their homes in the O’Kranhoung area.

Thailand demands Cambodia to pull back its border by 210 meters

Thailand demands that Cambodia pulls back the border gate by 210 meters inside Cambodia

Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A source indicated that Thailand demanded that Cambodia pulls back the new border gate, which is not even official yet, by 210 meters inside Cambodia. However, the Cambodian side rejected this demand claiming that it will send the Thai request to the Cambodian committee for border resolution to make a decision on this issue.

The demand for Cambodia to pull back its border in Choam Sra-ngam by 210 meters was made during a one-and-half hour meeting between the Thai side led by the 2-star general Niphat Thonglek, the official in charge of border, and the Cambodian side was led by General Kieng Savuth, a task director of the army headquarter and advisor to prime minister Hun Sen.

The meeting was held on 17 July at the Choam Sra-ngam gate, on top of the Dangrek mountain chain, located in Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, neighboring with Thailand’s Phusing district, Sisaket province. Regarding the border gate in Chaom Sra-ngam, in October of 2006, the Thai side pushed a metallic building into the “white zone” without the agreement from the Cambodian and the Thai committees for border resolution.

Yim Phanna, the Anlong Veng district governor, told Koh Santepheap that he does not know about this issue, and that he is too busy in Siem Reap province. Var Kim Hong, president of the Cambodian government border committee said that he does not know yet about the issue of Thailand demanding Cambodia to pull back its border gate back by 210 meters. He explained that the regarding the border issue, no one can make a decision [except his committee]. As for the Thai request, in the past, Thailand already violated Cambodia borderline, so at this time, they are not allowed to come in further (into Cambodia).

Thai soldiers are establishing a base inside the White Zone (No man’s land) in Anlong Veng

10 March 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A group of Cambodian local villagers and border guards from the Choam Sro-ngam pass in Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, reported that Thai black-clad soldiers are digging up trenches and installing a number of canons in the border zone designated as the White Zone (No man’s land) – a border zone were land disputes between the two countries are not resolved yet [and thus designated as “no man’s land”].

A Cambodian villager who lives on the Dangrek mountain chain, at the Choam Sro-ngam pass, told RFA on Thursday evening that a large number of Thai black-clad soldiers were digging trenches and are installing canons in the dispute areas along the border line known as the Chhker Eut, and the Thai soldiers are also patrolling in the O’Kranhoung area as well. The villager said: “The Thai [soldiers] are digging trenches inside our pass, at the Choam Sro-ngam pass, south of Pom, next to their border. They are always paying great attention in the zone where the two sides are disputing each other, this zone covers a swath of land of about 50-meter… Right now, the villagers on our side are extremely scared because they are afraid the Thai authorities may do something against our people by surprise.”

Commander Toch Ra, the president of the Thai-Cambodian border liaison for this area, confirmed that yesterday morning, a group of about 50 to 60 Thai black-clad soldiers established a base and were patrolling in this [disputed] area, but he said that in fact, the Thai soldiers took these actions to prevent Cambodian villagers from cutting down forest trees to build their homes inside Thai territories.

Commander Toch Ra added: “The problem stems from the cutting down of forest trees beyond the off-limit zone, we prevented our people, but when we stop them, they say that we are preventing them from building their houses in this area. But when they cut down the trees like that, when the Thai notice it, they install their troops to protect this area, and they prevent the cutting down of trees. Therefore, up to now, they have not pulled out yet, there are about 50 to 60 of them as before, they are using force.”

Var Kim Hong, president of the Cambodian government committee for the resolution of border dispute, said on 05 March that the government is aware of this problem and it is discussing with Thailand to resolve this problem between the 2 countries, however, he asked Cambodian villagers to stop pursuing their home construction in this area.

Var Kim Hong said: “The Royal Government is aware of the situation, during the meeting in Bangkok held on 27-28 Feb. We discussed with the Thai counterpart already to let them know our Cambodian positions. The Thai counterpart is still insisting that our people, who built homes along the border, tear down their homes. We told them about all the issues [once] already, and we don’t want to repeat them again … I returned from Bangkok on 01 March, and a group of officials from the Ministry of National Defense, the Cambodian border liaison office, and the president of the Thai border liaison office, all visited the area.”

Thai soldiers incursion inside Cambodia’s territory in Oddar Meanchey

05 March 2007
By Sav Yuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

A group of Cambodian local villagers and border soldiers claimed that at the Choam Sro-ngam pass, on the Dangrek mountain chain, in Anlong Veng district, Oddar Meanchey province, a group of black-clad Thai soldiers have penetrated the border into Cambodia’s territory again.

Local villagers living along the Thai-Cambodian border line near O’Kranhoung, close to Pol Pot’s burial ground claimed that since the beginning of February and up to March, Thai soldiers made several incursions inside Cambodia and prevented the villagers from building their homes.

An anonymous Cambodian villager said: “People are very scared. Now the Thai are occupying the land the authorities sold to 300 families, the price of the land is about $100,000 in total. The Thai soldiers’ incursion started since the beginning of February and it still goes on now in March, they are doing their incursion and violating our territories for the second time since the beginning of February.”

The Cambodian-Thai border liaison vice-president based in Choam Sro-ngam pass, Commander Toch Ra, also said the black-clad Thai soldiers are usually patrolling nearby, but they made their incursion [inside Cambodia]. The commander said that he does not know what the Thai soldiers want because according to the map, the incursion area is inside Cambodia. “On the Thai side, they do not allow the building of homes there. I am certain that this is our territory, according to our map, the location is correctly ours, we do not violate into their side.”

Var Kim Hong, the president of the government border disputes resolution, said on Monday that the government is aware of the problem, and the Cambodian side and their Thai counterparts are meeting in Bangkok in February on this issue. He asked that people not to build homes in this area for now, until the border problem is clearly resolved by both sides.

Var Kim Hong said: “The government knew about this already. During the meeting in Bangkok on 27-28 February, we discuss with the Thai side already and gave them Cambodia’s standing to let them know. The Thai side insists that our villagers who built their homes near the border, to have them tear down their homes. We told them about everything already. On the 28 [of February], I went to meeting, on the 1st [of March] I returned from Bangkok, both sides visited the area, including the Ministry of Defense officials, the Cambodian office of border liaison, and also the president of the Cambodian-Thai border liaison.

Var Kim Hong said that the Thai-Cambodian sides are still discussing to resolve several border issues extending from Malai pass in Battambang province, all the way to Oddar Meanchey province.