PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - The foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia held fresh talks Wednesday to try to resolve a border dispute near an ancient temple that sparked a deadly clash last month and raised concerns of a war between the neighbors.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met with his Thai counterpart, Sompong Amornvivat, at a luxury hotel in Siem Reap province, home to the famed Angkor temple complex.
In a statement issued ahead of the meeting, Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said it hoped both countries will be committed to achieving «a peaceful and just solution to the border problem as soon as possible without any further delay.
The ministers were scheduled to discuss issues including clearing land mines along the border, troop redeployment and demarcation of the border, said Sin Bunthoeun, a Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman.
The fighting that erupted last month was the latest flare-up in a decades-old dispute over a stretch of jungle near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over the surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.
Troops on both sides of the border exchanged fire Oct. 15, leaving two Cambodian soldiers dead and 10 from both sides wounded. A Thai soldier died later from a wound sustained during the clash.
The two countries share a 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border, much of which has never been clearly demarcated because the countries refer to different maps.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met with his Thai counterpart, Sompong Amornvivat, at a luxury hotel in Siem Reap province, home to the famed Angkor temple complex.
In a statement issued ahead of the meeting, Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said it hoped both countries will be committed to achieving «a peaceful and just solution to the border problem as soon as possible without any further delay.
The ministers were scheduled to discuss issues including clearing land mines along the border, troop redeployment and demarcation of the border, said Sin Bunthoeun, a Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman.
The fighting that erupted last month was the latest flare-up in a decades-old dispute over a stretch of jungle near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over the surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.
Troops on both sides of the border exchanged fire Oct. 15, leaving two Cambodian soldiers dead and 10 from both sides wounded. A Thai soldier died later from a wound sustained during the clash.
The two countries share a 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border, much of which has never been clearly demarcated because the countries refer to different maps.
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