Cambodian general Srey Dek (left) and Thai colonel Chayan Huay Soongnern hold hands
Thai prime Minister Somchai Wonqsawat (L) visits an injured Thai soldier
A Cambodian soldier (L) shakes hands with a Thai soldier (R)Saturday, October 18, 2008
PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AFP) — Thai and Cambodian commanders brought troops together on their disputed border Saturday for informal talks aimed at preventing further skirmishes after deadly gunfights earlier this week.
Cambodian Major General Srey Deok and Thai Colonel Chayan Huaysoongnern ordered troops not to fire their weapons again and had their captains shake hands on the frontline of their standoff near the ancient Preah Vihear temple.
"Let's tell our soldiers to sit down and talk together. We (commanders) have good feeling, but our soldiers have not yet felt good," Srey Deok said as the commanders sat surrounded by their troops.
"Everyone is still on alert, so I am afraid another problem could occur," he added.
The two sides agreed that low-level officers should now meet regularly to reduce tensions between the forces after two Cambodian soldiers were killed and several men from both sides injured after shooting broke out on Wednesday.
The two commanders also agreed to fill in bunkers dug in the area, building on an earlier agreement to begin joint border patrols. No timetable has yet been set for either action.
Laughing and joking together after the meeting, Chayan and Srey Deok ate lunch at a pagoda in the disputed territory.
Thailand's prime minister, under pressure from military chiefs to resign, on Saturday flew to the Cambodian border to visit soldiers injured in deadly clashes between the two nations.
Somchai Wongsawat was due to visit a military hospital in eastern Ubon Ratchathani province, where one soldier remains critically ill following a gunfight with Cambodian troops on their disputed border on Wednesday.
The current standoff first flared in July after Preah Vihear was awarded UNESCO world heritage status, angering 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.
Cambodian Major General Srey Deok and Thai Colonel Chayan Huaysoongnern ordered troops not to fire their weapons again and had their captains shake hands on the frontline of their standoff near the ancient Preah Vihear temple.
"Let's tell our soldiers to sit down and talk together. We (commanders) have good feeling, but our soldiers have not yet felt good," Srey Deok said as the commanders sat surrounded by their troops.
"Everyone is still on alert, so I am afraid another problem could occur," he added.
The two sides agreed that low-level officers should now meet regularly to reduce tensions between the forces after two Cambodian soldiers were killed and several men from both sides injured after shooting broke out on Wednesday.
The two commanders also agreed to fill in bunkers dug in the area, building on an earlier agreement to begin joint border patrols. No timetable has yet been set for either action.
Laughing and joking together after the meeting, Chayan and Srey Deok ate lunch at a pagoda in the disputed territory.
Thailand's prime minister, under pressure from military chiefs to resign, on Saturday flew to the Cambodian border to visit soldiers injured in deadly clashes between the two nations.
Somchai Wongsawat was due to visit a military hospital in eastern Ubon Ratchathani province, where one soldier remains critically ill following a gunfight with Cambodian troops on their disputed border on Wednesday.
The current standoff first flared in July after Preah Vihear was awarded UNESCO world heritage status, angering 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.
8 comments:
Look! the Thai PM he just tooke a photo shot maybe by Bangkok post or the Nation only to an injured Thai army but not the dead Thai army.
And these army look like Khmer Surin.
Now Thai commanders put the army to the front line whoes are knowing each other with Khmer army, these must be Khmer Surin again so we the Khmer can not kill our brother if the war start again.
Why not Khmer Surin army turn around and say good bye to Siam army commanders or start your M-16 toward the bastard Siam.
Thai are realy bad people any one can see this.
Where are the photos of the dead Thai army, BANGKOK POST or THE NATION?
You can't use the paper to wrap over the fire. If you Thai government hide the truth of the dead Thai army like now in the future when the news break out you will pay big time from the Thai family whos lost their love one from this invasion policy.
To all good Siam get up and protest to bring back your sons out from Khmer land or you will lose more of your love sons by stupid Thai invasion policy with your neighbour.
Khmer never want to take your land, never, only you stupid Siam leader that always dream about swallow Khmer land, but Khmer are too thick and too strong to bite, so wake up do not let your son die from your Siam invasion tacticts.
Longe life Khmer
My personal feeling is that in order to avoid another coup by top military officiers, the current Thai government needs to make the border clash happen at any cost. So, the Thai public would focus more on border clash than the coup itself. It will bring a bad image to the coup planners if they wish to go while border stand off still continues. It would make thing complicated for coup planners to mobilize the troops for the coup. The public would punish them. That's why Thai PM needs to get closer to the local Thai commanders. PM won't prefer clash, but just a stand off and sometimes fighting because soldiers are human and their patiece is limited. It's a political game in Thai politics. The question is do Khmers want to play the game with them or do we really need to think about the territory? The latter is to have international mediation, but Thai government won't choose it at least until the threat from coup planners is over.
Whether Khmer government wants to play the game with them or not, lives of Khmer soldiers need to be protected and treated fairly.
If a large scale conflict happens, Thais would be united, and the military will take the government completely. Somchai never wants this to happen either. It's a tough situation there. If coup fails, there is a high risk for the coup planners and those behind them.
In my opinion, Khmers should not involve with their game for the best interest of the nation. Thais ALWAYS get advantages while we were in troubles. Why not we? We should focus more on economic development and leave the works to the international communities because we have law and peace accord. Just like Singapore, the more we have strong economics and humand resources, no one would touch us. Hun Sen should really think about this.
It doesn't matter whether you are Khmer Surin or Thai Khmer or Khmer Thai and if you entering Cambodian territories with weapons aiming to violate Cambodian sovereignty and you will be treated as enemy combatant and deserve to die!
Even my very own brother and I am not afraid to kill for violating Cambodian sovereignty knowing that he one of the invader! Cambodian people must protect Cambodian sovereignty at all cost!
Analizing the two pictures, 1 & 3, the two guys look more like brothers rather then enemies. Why the Thai just can have enough of the remnant of the Khmer Empire. Does it realize the Khmer has lost so much?
Khmers Have lost so much, and will not be able to regain that much. Look at the England and Scotland, they can united under peaceful agreement and a new nation calls Britain, why can't we?
With the fast spread of information technology today, Siam ans VN will be hard to try to invade Khmer violently. But culture can be influenced and change gradually, and most of the time through economic impact. Look at the Australia and Singapore today, how huge of the impact of the Chinese cultural influence there.
France had attempted to unitify the three Indochina countries during the French colony, it was only failed after the World War 2, because the war-torn French central government could not afford to govern and support its territory and interests outside France. So the three Indochina nations rose to independent again. It proved that there is nothing impossible for the three countries to incorporate into a new nation, despit the distintively different cultures.
Not to talk about incorporate VN due to a distinc cultural differences. But if we look at Thailand, Lao and Cambodia, we all share similar culture. We used to be a Khmer empire. And there is nothing that we can not be again. However, there are two option to that: violent or peaceful mean.
8:14 AM ,
Yeah good IDea to have United Kingdoms..But the name must be UNITED KINGDOMS OF KHMER...
8.14 am,
go back to school, man. even you reference to briatian, australia is wrong.
you mustbe a dumb siam to say this.
8:14AM
Khmer always tried to embrace the thai and often considering the Siam to be brother; however, the fuck up Siam always look at Khmer as a thorn in their eyes. The Siam want to swallow the whole khmer but fortunately khmer cocks are too big for the Siams' mouths; this is the main reason why the two nations can't be reunited. In fact, there was never been a union between Khmer and the Siam ever since this low-live, ignorance, denial, twisted Siam race came to existence.
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