PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AFP) — Cambodia's premier vowed Friday to improve the country's defence capabilities, but insisted there would be no war with Thailand after a deadly firefight erupted on their disputed border.
The two sides have agreed to a joint border patrol aimed at preventing a repeat of Wednesday's clashes which killed two Cambodian soldiers near the ancient Preah Vihear temple, but there was no word on when they would start.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said that talks remained the best solution to the dispute over land around Preah Vihear, a UN World Heritage site on Cambodian territory and the focus of months of tensions.
"There will be no large-scale armed conflict because the two countries can still be patient," Hun Sen told reporters after meeting his cabinet.
At the weekly meeting, ministers held a moment of silence for the Cambodian soldiers who died. Seven Thais were also wounded in the clashes.
"Today our cabinet, with the pride we received from protecting our territory, will discuss draft laws (to put the) national defence sector on top (of the agenda)," Hun Sen said, without elaborating on specific steps.
While Thailand has a 300,000-strong armed forces and a well-equipped air force, Cambodia's much smaller military is badly equipped, badly trained and disorganised, according to a Western military official in Bangkok.
Many of their Cold War-era weapons mis-fired during this week's shooting, soldiers along the border said.
Hun Sen also rejected the help of mediators -- a U-turn from Cambodia's position earlier this year when officials spoke about bringing the land dispute to the United Nations Security Council.
"I think that it is not time yet (for mediated talks) because Cambodia and Thailand agreed to resume negotiations within existing mechanisms," Hun Sen told reporters.
Thai and Cambodian military officials met Thursday to try to calm the situation after the clashes, but there were few results from the meeting apart from an agreement in principle to jointly patrol the disputed areas.
But Keo Kim Yan, head of the Cambodian army, questioned how the patrols would work.
"Where can we do a joint patrol? The border is not yet agreed by the two countries, so there is no area to do joint patrols... We're just making sure the troops stay far away from each other," he told reporters.
Soldiers on both sides appeared more relaxed Friday, with some even stashing away their rifles and rocket launchers.
"The situation is less tense," Thai border task force commander Major General Kanok Netrakavaesana said.
The violence this week came after talks on Monday about the border dispute ended in failure, with Hun Sen warning of armed conflict and the Thai army saying it was prepared for a confrontation.
After the clash, the United Nations, United States and European Union heaped pressure on Thailand and Cambodia to exercise restraint, and leaders in both nations said they were committed to avoiding further conflict.
But the neighbours have blamed each other for starting the violence.
Thailand has also accused Cambodia of planting landmines which injured two Thai troops on the border earlier this month, breaching the international treaty banning the use of landmines, which Thailand and Cambodia have signed.
Officials in Cambodia, however, deny that they were fresh mines, and said they were remnants from their three-decade civil war.
The current standoff first flared in July after Preah Vihear was awarded heritage status, angering some Thai nationalists who claim ownership of the site.
The situation quickly escalated into a military confrontation, with up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops facing off for six weeks, although both sides in August agreed to reduce troop numbers in the main disputed area.
The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.
The two sides have agreed to a joint border patrol aimed at preventing a repeat of Wednesday's clashes which killed two Cambodian soldiers near the ancient Preah Vihear temple, but there was no word on when they would start.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said that talks remained the best solution to the dispute over land around Preah Vihear, a UN World Heritage site on Cambodian territory and the focus of months of tensions.
"There will be no large-scale armed conflict because the two countries can still be patient," Hun Sen told reporters after meeting his cabinet.
At the weekly meeting, ministers held a moment of silence for the Cambodian soldiers who died. Seven Thais were also wounded in the clashes.
"Today our cabinet, with the pride we received from protecting our territory, will discuss draft laws (to put the) national defence sector on top (of the agenda)," Hun Sen said, without elaborating on specific steps.
While Thailand has a 300,000-strong armed forces and a well-equipped air force, Cambodia's much smaller military is badly equipped, badly trained and disorganised, according to a Western military official in Bangkok.
Many of their Cold War-era weapons mis-fired during this week's shooting, soldiers along the border said.
Hun Sen also rejected the help of mediators -- a U-turn from Cambodia's position earlier this year when officials spoke about bringing the land dispute to the United Nations Security Council.
"I think that it is not time yet (for mediated talks) because Cambodia and Thailand agreed to resume negotiations within existing mechanisms," Hun Sen told reporters.
Thai and Cambodian military officials met Thursday to try to calm the situation after the clashes, but there were few results from the meeting apart from an agreement in principle to jointly patrol the disputed areas.
But Keo Kim Yan, head of the Cambodian army, questioned how the patrols would work.
"Where can we do a joint patrol? The border is not yet agreed by the two countries, so there is no area to do joint patrols... We're just making sure the troops stay far away from each other," he told reporters.
Soldiers on both sides appeared more relaxed Friday, with some even stashing away their rifles and rocket launchers.
"The situation is less tense," Thai border task force commander Major General Kanok Netrakavaesana said.
The violence this week came after talks on Monday about the border dispute ended in failure, with Hun Sen warning of armed conflict and the Thai army saying it was prepared for a confrontation.
After the clash, the United Nations, United States and European Union heaped pressure on Thailand and Cambodia to exercise restraint, and leaders in both nations said they were committed to avoiding further conflict.
But the neighbours have blamed each other for starting the violence.
Thailand has also accused Cambodia of planting landmines which injured two Thai troops on the border earlier this month, breaching the international treaty banning the use of landmines, which Thailand and Cambodia have signed.
Officials in Cambodia, however, deny that they were fresh mines, and said they were remnants from their three-decade civil war.
The current standoff first flared in July after Preah Vihear was awarded heritage status, angering some Thai nationalists who claim ownership of the site.
The situation quickly escalated into a military confrontation, with up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops facing off for six weeks, although both sides in August agreed to reduce troop numbers in the main disputed area.
The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.
3 comments:
Thai Army Captain Apichat concurs. Apichat, who is based near the temple with a unit of 10 Thai troops, says that commanders on both sides need to keep talking. Apichat and his men were disarmed and detained by Cambodian soldiers for a day during the fighting but he doesn't want any more problems. "After the attack we must be concerned," he says, sitting alongside a Cambodian officer at a table in the compound of a pagoda that neighbors the temple. "We need to have meetings ... and have no fighting."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1851339,00.html
Is HUN SEN crazy?
Is he ghost out ghost in?
Or Kmoach chenh kmoach chol?
Why he have to act like that?
Khmer Borisoth,
12:37am, everyone in this planet already knew that Ah Khvack is stupid crazy because this animal was born from evil's Shit.
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