Border Advocates Grow Impatient With Dispute

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 October 2009

Cambodians living in France are planning a demonstration for Oct. 25, to press Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand to follow the Paris Peace Accords on border issues. A petition will be submitted to the French president.

The border dispute between Cambodian and Thailand has gone on for more than a year, with the Cambodian government failing to adopt a “winning” method based on international law, border experts said Thursday.

“That with which we can win is through the International Court and international law, but until now [the government] has not filed, and that’s why it is continuing,” said Sean Pengse, head of an advocacy group called the Border Committee, in France.

Cambodia has insisted on solving its long-running border dispute bilaterally, but negotiations over contested areas near Preah Vihear temple have failed to bring a result, with troops on both sides amassed on each side of the frontier.

Hean Yuth, a Cambodian-American who closely follows Cambodia’s border issues, said Wednesday he did not understand why the government has not invoked the Paris Peace Accords, which its stipulations of sovereignty, and the International Court at the Hague to file a complaint.

Chanly Kuch, a Cambodian-American who also follows border issues, said Preah Vihear should not pose a problem, as the International Court awarded it to Cambodia in 1962.

However, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the government was seeking to resolve the border issues peacefully. Both countries are obliged to base talks on laws, and if there are points that can’t be agreed on, Cambodia could bring the issue to the Hague.

“Not to make a new judgment, but just to review,” he said, adding that Cambodia was being patient as Thailand struggles with internal political problems.

Cambodian and Thailand have had border problems for decades, with sections of the boundary going unmarked. Tensions rose sharply in July 2008, after Preah Vihear temple was listed as a Unesco World Heritage site under Cambodia. Skirmishes between troops from both sides have left at least seven people dead.

Cambodians living in France are planning a demonstration for Oct. 25, to press Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand to follow the Paris Peace Accords on border issues. A petition will be submitted to the French president.

Political will needed on border

05-04-2009
Editorial Desk
The Nation (Thailand)

For much of this past year or so, Thailand and Cambodia have been at each other's throats over the overlapping claims along the common border near an ancient Hindu temple. It came about as Phnom Penh was seeking World Heritage Site status from Unesco for the 11th-century Preah Vihear Temple.

Bangkok's position has always been that both countries be the host of the Unesco bid as a way of depoliticising the overlapping territory. The idea of jointly registering changed when the Samak Sundaravej government endorsed Phnom Penh's unilateral bid and Unesco went with it even after a Thai court ruled the endorsement unconstitutional because Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama did not have Parliament's approval.

It was election time in Cambodia, and Thailand's feelings had to take a back seat to Hun Sen's political agenda. He had to look strong, and hence the uncompromising position.

But neither his election victory nor the Unesco-conferred prestigious status brought him peace of mind. The desired outcome was nowhere to be found as officials from both sides dragged their feet over the overlapping claims, effectively diminishing Cambodia's efforts to cash in on the World Heritage Site status of the temple.

Today there are other things on Hun Sen's mind than the affairs of his People Party, and this time around it appears to have got the better of him.

Cambodia watchers say Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge commander, is frustrated with the idea of putting more Khmer Rouge cadres on trial for crimes against humanity during the Pol Pot regime from 1975-9 and has been lashing out at everybody around him.

Last week Hun Sen told a gathering in Sihanoukville that the joint UN-Cambodian court could plunge the country back into civil war if more Khmer Rouge cadres were put on trial.

"I would prefer to see this tribunal fail than see war return to my country," Hun Sen said a day after the joint UN-Cambodian court resumed its trial of Duch, Pol Pot's chief torturer of the S-21 prison, where more than 14,000 people were put to death. He is the first of five ageing senior cadres to face trial.

The Phnom Penh government has denied meddling in the court, but rights activists said that some of that digging might unearth the horrific past of some of the people in Hun Sen's administration.

Hun Sen may be frustrated at the idea of digging up dirt from the past, or, as he claims, turning the clock back to a civil war. However, it doesn't help to lash out at everybody around him, including Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.

Last week, Hun Sen lashed out at Kasit over a statement he made several months ago during a street protest prior to taking up his current position. One cannot help but ask why he waited so long. Besides, all of us were led to believe that the two men had turned over a new leaf after Kasit's official visit.

Over this past weekend, troops on both sides of the border remained on high alert for fear of more clashes. The last one was much bigger than the October 2008 clashes that came after Hun Sen issued an ultimatum to Thai troops to back away from the overlapping areas.

Over the weekend, Hun Sen softened his tone quite a bit, telling veterans in his country that the clashes had resulted from a misunderstanding.

"We consider this an incident. I don't call it a war ... We are very sorry. We don't want Cambodian or Thai soldiers to die," Hun Sen said.

His spokesman added that the existing mechanism and channel of dialogue between the two countries would continue unabated and that the Cambodian leader and PM Abhisit Vejjajiva were due to take part at the upcoming summit between Asean and key regional partners.

But while the two sides try to pick up the pieces from last week's bloody clashes, they have made virtually no progress in real terms in solving the issue of overlapping territories.

Pride and ego continue to get in the way as officials of both countries argue over nomenclature - Pra Viharn/Preah Vihear - in spite of knowing that they are talking about the same thing.

Besides, one would think that the pulling back of troops would be the top priority after last year's clashes, but the shelling last week tells us that the two countries do not have the political will to do so, perhaps for fear of being seen as weak by their own peoples. So much for Asean unity. So much for the Asian Century.

Cambodian, Thai officials hold meeting on border issues

PHNOM PENH, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Officials of the secretariat of the General Border Committee (GBC) of Cambodia here on Monday held a meeting with their Thai counterparts to find a solution for the long-running border dispute.

"We pledged to solve our border issues with a bilateral and peaceful deal on basis of the exiting mechanism that both sides have already agreed with, and we also agreed to avoid armed clashes in the future," Neang Phat, secretary of state at the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense, told reporters during the break time of the meeting.

"We will report what we agreed with at the meeting to both defense ministers and they are going to have a meeting in April," he said, adding that the meeting on Monday will help facilitate the troops of both sides to keep restraint and lead to a latest bilateral deal on the border issues.

Meanwhile, Hor Namhong, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told reporters here on Sunday that Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to resolve their border dispute by using a memorandum of understanding signed in 2000.

"I think if Thailand has a clear stance and is willing to use the 2000 MoU, there will be no further difficulties in the future," he said upon his return from the 14 ASEAN Summit in Thailand.

The MoU states that the Joint Border Committee (JBC) of the two countries should use maps drafted in 1904 and 1907, which was ratified by Siam (as Thailand was then known) and France, Cambodia's former colonial power, to delineate the common border.

Tension between Thailand and Cambodia ratcheted higher in 2008,when troops from both countries clashed near the Preah Vihear temple at the border area and soldiers on both sides died in their fighting in October. An uneasy peace was restored days later.

Resolution of border dispute near for Cambodia, Thailand

PHNOM PENH, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to resolve their long-running border dispute by using a memorandum of understanding signed in 2000, said English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post on Monday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva agreed to do so during their meeting on Friday, the paper quoted Hor Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as saying here on Sunday upon his return from the 14 ASEAN Summit in Thailand.

"I think if Thailand has a clear stance and is willing to use the 2000 MoU, there will be no further difficulties in the future," he said, adding that "we decided to resolve the (border) issue peacefully."

The MoU states that the Joint Border Committee (JBC) of the two countries should use maps drafted in 1904 and 1907, which was ratified by Siam (as Thailand was then known) and France, Cambodia's former colonial power, to delineate the common border.

Tension between Thailand and Cambodia ratcheted higher in 2008, when troops from both countries clashed near the Preah Vihear temple at the border area and soldiers on both sides died in their fighting in October. An uneasy peace was restored days later.

Cambodian-Thai dispute to be brought to int'l court, Hun Sen says

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 12 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday that a nearly two-month border dispute with Thailand will likely be to be brought to the International Court of justice in The Hague or once again be returned to the United Nations Security Council.

"We should be well-prepared and get documentation ready because it is unlikely that we can avoid the court, or, if it is worse, then we have to return to the U.N. Security Council," Hun Sen said at the opening of his weekly Cabinet meeting.

The premier said Cambodia has used "utmost restraint" in the face of "daring aggression" by Thai troops into Cambodian territory.

He added that incursions have been at many place along the some 800- kilometer border with Thailand.

Cambodia and Thailand were to discuss full troop withdrawals from a disputed border point last month, but the Thai side requested a postponement due to internal tension in Thailand.

Cambodia made an appeal to the U.N. Security Council on July 22 to meet urgently on Cambodia's military standoff with Thailand, but it withdrew its appeal two days later after Thailand had agreed to hold immediate talks on the issue.

The border dispute and military standoff stems from incidents almost two months ago when Cambodia detained three Thai ultranationalist activists who the authorities allege illegally crossed into Cambodia near the World Heritage-listed Preah Vihear Temple.

Since then, Thailand and Cambodia have been building up their forces near the temple and tensions have escalated.

On Aug. 16, several hundred troops from both sides who had been deployed to the area since July 15 were drawn back from immediate confrontation, but they remain close by.

But the military standoff has spread to at least three more points along the border.

The dispute appears difficult to resolve because the two sides use different maps of the border areas.