21 July 2008 – Expressing concern over the recent escalation of tensions between Cambodia and Thailand, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on both sides to peacefully resolve the situation.There is a build-up of military forces near the Preah Vihear Temple in Cambodia, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) earlier this month.

“The Secretary-General calls for restraint on both sides and hopes that this matter can be resolved peacefully and by diplomatic means in the context of the excellent relations that traditional exist between the two countries,” according to a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.

The temple, which dates back to the 11th century, and was recognized by the World Heritage Committee for “its natural situation on a promontory, with sheer cliffs overlooking a vast plain and mountain range; the quality of its architecture adapted to the natural environment and religious function of the temple; and, finally, the exceptional quality of the carved stone ornamentation of the temple.”

ប្រភព៖ http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=27441&Cr=Cambodia&Cr1=Thailand

 

Thailand will not allow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to play a role in resolving the border row with Cambodia, a government source said yesterday.

 

The source said the Thai intention was to settle the problem over the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple through bilateral negotiations rather than getting the regional grouping involved in the issue.

 

The border conflict between the two countries has raised concerns among Asean foreign ministers, who began their annual talks in Singapore yesterday.

 

“ The situation has escalated dangerously, with troops from both sides facing off on disputed territory near the Preah Vihear temple,” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech opening the Asean meeting. “ Asean could not stand idly by without damaging its credibility.”

Singapore, which chairs the meeting, on Sunday night issued a statement urging Thailand and Cambodia to exercise the utmost restraint and resolve the issue amicably.

 

Asean was also ready to help resolve the problem, the statement said.

 

Thailand and Cambodia informed the informal meeting of foreign ministers on Sunday night about the situation in the area immediately adjacent to the temple.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Bunditkul led the Thai delegation to Singapore.

ប្រភព៖ http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=128988

SA KAEO, July 21 (TNA) – Thai and Cambodian officials failed to make headway in resolving the dispute over Preah Vihear temple that straddles the Thai-Cambodian border.

Thailand’s Supreme Commander Gen. Boonsang Niempradit and Cambodia’s Defence Minister Tea Banh announced at a press conference in this eastern Thai border province following eight hours of informal discussion that the only issue two sides agreed upon for now is to refrain from using force.

As a result of failing to strike any agreement during the informal session, the two sides decided against convening the formal Joint Thai Cambodian Border Committee meeting.

Heads of the two delegations indicated that they will meet again after general elections in Cambodia.

Gen. Boonsang said no agreement was reached because of differences over the legal framework. Thailand wanted to use the US version of cartography whereas Cambodia insisted on the French version of border demarcation.
 
Both commanders said they now have to report back to their respective authorities for a political decision on what legal basis to follow in order to move talks forward.

But for now, Gen Boonsang and his counterpart are adamant that both sides will refrain from troop reinforcement, and to avoid escalating border tensions.

“ The talks did not fail. We both gained and the concrete achievement resulting from the meeting today is that we remain at peace,” said Gen. Boonsang.

Gen. Tea Banh, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, said both delegations have tried their best and have reached certain degree of mutual understanding, even though the joint border committee session could not be convened as originally planned.

Asked to comment on why Cambodia brought the case up to the UN, Gen. Tea Banh said the move was part of Cambodia’s efforts to resolve the conflict and that the inconclusive talks today amidst tense border stand-off would not lead to violence.

The Preah Vihear issue is high on the agenda at the 41st Asean foreign ministers meeting which started Monday in Singapore. In the latest
development on the controversial issue, Asean secretary general Surin Pitsuwan told Thai News Agency late Monday evening that Cambodia’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Hor Nam Hong had sent a letter to George Yeo, Singapore’s foreign minister and outgoing Asean chairman, highlighting tensions on the Preah Vihear issue had escalated.

The letter also claimed Thailand had deployed more forces to the disputed area. It’s understood an inter ministerial meeting on the Preah Vihear issue has been organised for Tuesday lunchtime on the sidelines of the Asean ministerial meeting.

Asean members expected to attend the talks include Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos.(TNA)

ប្រភព៖ http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=5349

By Nopporn Wong-Anan

 

ARANYAPRATHET, Thailand, July 21 (Reuters) – Talks between Thailand and Cambodia failed on Monday to end a week-long military stand-off over an ancient temple on their border, which regional neighbors feared could turn violent.

 

Hundreds of troops at the temple will hold their positions, negotiators said after eight hours of talks on an issue that has whipped up nationalist fervour in both southeast Asian nations.

 

“ The best option is to stay where they are, but avoid using weapons,” Thai Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit told reporters.

 

Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh said: “ It is impossible to find a solution at this second,” and his government later appealed to regional neighbors to help mediate.

 

The marathon talks took place in the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet, 380 km (235 miles) from the 11th century Preah Vihear temple awarded to Cambodia by an international court in 1962.

 

At the heart of the dispute is a 4.6 sq km (1.8 sq mile) area around the temple, which sits on a jungle-clad escarpment that forms a natural boundary and is claimed by both nations.

 

Monday’s talks partly bogged down over which maps should be used to settle ownership of the temple and surrounding area, officials said.

 

The military showdown began last Tuesday when Thai troops moved into the disputed area after three Thai protesters were briefly detained there. Since then, both sides have sent hundreds more soldiers and heavy artillery to the border.

 

After complaining to the United Nations on Friday that Thailand had violated its “ sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Phnom Penh took its case to a southeast Asian security forum in Singapore.

 

Late on Monday it asked the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to form an Inter-Ministerial Group of foreign ministers from Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos to “ find a peaceful solution to the current crisis and to avoid a military confrontation between two ASEAN members.”

 

DANGEROUS ESCALATION

 

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement issued by his spokeswoman in New York he was “ concerned about the current escalation of tensions between the two countries, including the buildup of troops.”

 

“ (Ban) calls for restraint on both sides and hopes that this matter can be resolved peacefully,” the statement said.

 

The stand-off has revived memories of a 2003 spat over Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat temple complex, which saw a mob set fire to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, and worried neighbours.

 

In Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told the ASEAN meeting the situation had escalated dangerously on the Thai-Cambodian border and the group “ could not stand idly by without damaging its credibility.”

 

Domestic politics in Thailand, where the temple is known as Khao Pra Viharn, have played a big role in fuelling the border fracas, analysts said.

 

Preah Vihear’s listing as a World Heritage site this month triggered a political uproar in Bangkok, where the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) accused the government of selling out Thailand’s history by initially backing the listing.

 

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej’s government argued its support was only for the temple and would not affect Bangkok’s claims to the disputed land around Preah Vihear.

 

Neverthless, the PAD, a coalition of activists and royalists, has used the listing as a weapon in its campaign against Samak, whom they accuse of acting as a proxy for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a coup in 2006.

 

Cambodian politicians, themselves no strangers to nationalism, have denounced the “ Thai invaders” in the run-up to a general election next Sunday. (Additional reporting by Ek Madra in Phnom Penh, Melanie Lee in Singapore and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations) (Writing by Darren Schuettler; editing by Robert Hart and Todd Eastham)

ប្រភព៖ http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BKK258182.htm

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An eight-hour meeting between Thailand and Cambodia to solve military stand off near Preah Vihear Temple failed to reach any breakthrough on Monday.

Both countries will remain number of their troops and weapons there and will order their troops not to use forces in the area.

 

Supreme Commander Gen Boonsang Niempradit and Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Tea Banh who chaired the special meeting of the General Border Commission emerged at a press conference after nearly eight hours of meeting in Indochina Hotel in Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district.

 

The meeting was called as the military stand off near Preah Vihear Temple reached the six days. Both countries deployed troops and weapons to a plot of 4.6 square kilometre near the temple. The Thai side claimed that the areas are overlapping zones while Cambodia claimed it is in its territory.

 

Both Boonsang and Tea Banh cited legislation and legal technicalities as obstacles in reaching any agreement on the issue.

Gen Tea Banh told reporters that both sides tried to lower down the degree of tension during the meeting but failed due to the legislationa and legal technicalities. 

 

Boonsang declined to answer when asked if the meeting was a failure. They said both troops will avoid using forces in the area. They will forward the outcome of the meeting to their prime ministers for consideration.

ប្រភព៖ http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/21/headlines/headlines_30078619.php

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SA KAEO, July 21 (TNA) – Talks between Thailand’s Supreme Commander Gen. Boonsang Niempradit and Cambodian Defence Minister Gen. Tea Banh in this Thai eastern border province, aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the border conflict over the disputed ancient temple, continued into Monday afternoon with the Thai delegate expressing optimism that a solution could be found.
 
Gen. Boonsang, who led the Thai delegation of the Thai-Cambodian Genera Border Committee (GBC), first met with his subordinates soon after his arrival at a hotel which is the meeting site in Aranyaprathet district on the Cambodian border.

He later told journalists that “ Thailand would offer reasonable proposals to the Cambodian side to consider in order to reduce tensions.”

“ It is expected that the Cambodian side would agree to the proposals,” he said, expressing hope that his negotiations would be conducted within the good relations existing between Thailand and Cambodia.

“ Also, the talks are expected to become a vital mechanism in solving the border problem at Thailand’s Si Sa Ket Province and at  Preah Vihear province of Cambodia,” Gen. Boonsang said.

At 10:15 am, Gen. Boonsang began private talks with Gen. Tea Banh in a closed door session. Talks between the two military leaders went on for more than three hours and were continuing.

Initially, the private talks were expected to be held for only 15 minutes.

Armed plainclothes Thai soldiers and police officers  provided full security at the meeting venue. An activist group, however, turned up at the hotel and submitted a letter to Gen. Boonsang through Thailand’s Burapha Task Force chief.

The letter urged him to move through politics, military and negotiations means and through also an international law called the Tokyo Peace Convention of May 9, 1941 which would make  a ruling by the International Court of Justice in 1962 which awarded the Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia null and void.

The temple row between the two neighbouring countries, both also members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), erupted again when the UNESCO earlier this month listed the 11th century temple the World Heritage site. Troops of both countries have been built up at the temple in recent days. (TNA)

ប្រភព៖ http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=5344

ensions remain high at Preah Vihear as Cambodian and Thai troops continue to mass along the border ahead of crisis talks Monday that are hoped to defuse the standoff over territory around the 11th century temple.

More than 1,500 soldiers have now been deployed to Preah Vihear, where Cambodia maintains that Thai troops crossed into its territory last week and continue to occupy land near the temple.

“ Thai soldiers have violated Cambodian territory … I am sorry that they will not leave,” Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told reporters over the weekend after making a trip to the area.

“ Preah Vihear is internationally recognized as Cambodia’s. So when Thais protest about this, they are protesting against the international community.”

Cambodia has written a letter to the UN Security Council informing it of the standoff, officials said over the weekend.

Military officials and diplomatic personnel from China, Vietnam, France and the United States have also traveled to Preah Vihear to review the situation.

Bangkok insists that its soldiers are on Thai territory, and has refused to withdraw them despite Thai military commanders saying Friday that they would leave.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Samak Sundaravej, have each written letters to other claiming the territory and urging the removal of troops ahead of talks to be held in Thailand on Monday. Hun Sen said last week that the worsening situation was ” very bad for relations” between the two countries. 

“ These [Thai] soldiers have encroached on our territory … and have since increased in number rather than withdrawing,” Hun Sen wrote, according to government spokesman Khieu Kanharith.

An area of 4.8 square kilometers around the temple remains in dispute after the World Court ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia. The temple was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 7 after years of resistance from Bangkok to the inscription, further inflaming Thai nationalism.

Cambodian military police commander Sao Sokha, however, said it is unlikely the dispute will erupt in violence, despite the concentration of men and weapons. “ Why would we shoot each other? Let our leaders solve this problem … we are all Buddhists here,” he said, urging the Thais to stop sending troops to the area. A senior Cambodian military commander who did not want to be named also said the Thais were massing troops across the border from Anlong Veng in northern Cambodia. “ We have also sent our troops to Anlong Veng. We are matching them at all points along the border,” he told the Post on Saturday. The crisis began last Tuesday when Cambodia says Thai soldiers crossed the border and took up positions in Cambodian territory following the arrest of three Thais who jumped an international checkpoint to try and protest Preah Vihear’s ownership.

The temple has been closed to Thais since last month, when a group of angry demonstrators massed on the Thai side of the border crossing to rally against Cambodia’s claim to the temple.

The dispute has caused political turmoil in Thailand, as opposition parties seized on the issue to put pressure on Samak’s government.
 

 

On July 10, Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama stepped down after the Constitutional Court ruled that he had acted illegally in signing an agreement supporting Cambodia’s bid to have Preah Vihear temple listed as a World Heritage Site without the permission of parliament.

ប្រភព៖ http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2008072020270/Online-Edition/Tensions-rise-ahead-of-crisis-talks.html

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is urging restraint in a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia. Both countries are claiming 4.6 square kilometers of land around a new World Heritage site.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo.

During a meeting in Singapore, ASEAN foreign Ministers urged Thailand and Cambodia to resolve their border dispute peacefully. Tension remains, with Thai and Cambodian troops deployed near the area of the Preah Vihear Temple, a World Heritage site recently approved by UNESCO.

Geoege Yeo, the Singaporean Foreign Minister, said, “ We urged both sides to exercise utmost restraint and resolve this issue amicably, in the spirit of ASEAN solidarity and good neighborliness.”

Both Thailand and Cambodia affirmed that they will abide by their ASEAN and international obligations and try to find a peaceful solution to the issue during a top-level bilateral meeting on Monday.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen wrote another letter to his Thai counterpart, Samak Sundaravej, on Sunday. In the letter, Hun Sen agreed with Samak on mutual efforts to defuse border tension.

Earlier, Cambodia submitted a letter to the UN Security Council, hoping to draw the UN’s attention to the matter.

The tension began on Tuesday, when three Thai protesters trespassed the border to reclaim the Preah Vihear Temple. The three were immediately arrested. Thai troops then came in to fetch them, triggering a face off with Cambodian soldiers.

ប្រភព៖ http://www.cctv.com/english/20080721/101269.shtml