Military withdrawal depends on new gov't: Thai army

BANGKOK, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Second Army Region commander Lt Gen Tawatchai Samutsakorn said on Tuesday that the decision to pull Thai troops from the frontier now depends on the decision of the incoming government.

Now the troops from the 2nd Region Army which oversees northeastern region still remain at the Thai-Cambodian border, according to the commander.

Lt-Gen Tawatchai insisted that both Thai and Cambodian army will continue to coexist peacefully and avoid confrontation in order that some 100,000 residents along the border would not be affected.

Following the Cambodia's application in late April for reinterpretation of the World Court's 1962 ruling and provisional measure, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on July 18 ordered both countries to remove their troops from the disputed area.

Thai agressors

A Thai soldier walks outside a Cambodian Buddhist pagoda as he heads for his country near the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Friday, Oct. 17, 2008. Cambodia's prime minister called Friday for more talks with Thailand after a deadly armed clash raised fears the two neighbors were headed for a full-scale war over a patch of disputed land along their border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
A Thai soldier walks next to an artillery gun near the Thai-Cambodian border, in the disputed border area with Cambodia, near the Preah Vihear temple, in Si Sa Ket province, northeast of Bangkok, October 17, 2008. (Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)
Thai soldiers survey the ground near the Thai-Cambodian border, in the disputed border area with Cambodia, near the Preah Vihear temple, in Si Sa Ket province, northeast of Bangkok, October 17, 2008. (Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)
Thai soldiers stand guard next to a tank near disputed Thai-Cambodia border near the Preah Vihear temple in Si Sa Ket province, northeast of Bangkok October 17, 2008. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
Thai soldiers chat each other at the jungle along the Cambodia-Thailand border near the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Friday, Oct. 17, 2008. Cambodia's prime minister called Friday for more talks with Thailand after a deadly armed clash raised fears the two neighbors were headed for a full-scale war over a patch of disputed land along their border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian Official: Thai Troops Cross Border in Temple Dispute

By VOA News
15 July 2008

A Cambodian official says 40 troops from Thailand entered Cambodia Tuesday in the latest flare-up of a territorial dispute over an 11th century Hindu temple.

Hang Soth, the Cambodian official who manages the Preah Vihear temple, said the troops crossed the border hours after three Thai activists were arrested for illegally entering Cambodia to reach the ruins. The activists have since been released to Thai authorities.

Thai military officials deny their troops crossed the border into Cambodia. They say their troops have been deployed to the nearby area.

They also say one Thai soldier lost his leg to a landmine while on patrol near the temple.

Cambodians celebrate the decision made for Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site during a rally in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 14 Jul 2008 .

The temple sits along the Thai-Cambodian border, and each side has long claimed the site as its own. The International Court of Justice granted sovereignty of the temple to Cambodia in 1962.

Thailand's foreign minister, Noppadon Pattama, resigned last week, following a controversial decision he made to endorse Cambodia's bid to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to designate the temple as a World Heritage Site.

Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled last week that the endorsement should have first been approved by the legislature. The decision also had opposition lawmakers calling for Noppadon's impeachment.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.