Diplomatic effort to end Thai-Cambodian border dispute stalls

Apr 25, 2011
DPA

Bangkok/Phnom Penh - Indonesia's effort to help resolve a border clash between Thailand and Cambodia appeared to have stalled Monday, when the country's top diplomat postponed a planned visit toPhnom Penh and Bangkok.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa postponed his planned visit, Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said.

Natalegawa had been expected to sign an agreement to deploy Indonesian monitors along the Thai-Cambodian border as a step towards ending a border conflict has flared on and off for three years.

'I think that maybe Thailand does not agree to sign the terms of reference for the monitors,' Koy Kuong said.

But Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi insisted over the weekend that Bangkok has no objection to the monitors.

Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia are members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations which is attempting to play a mediating role in the border row.

The monitors would serve as neutral observers. It has been difficult to clarify in the past which side initiated the fighting.

Both sides have blamed each other for the fighting that broke out Friday near the ancient temples of Ta Kwai and Ta Muen claimed by both sides.

Five Thai soldiers were killed and 24 injured. Some 30,000 civilians have been evacuated from their villages along the border, army spokesman Colonel Sansern Keowkamnerd said.

'The border is quiet today, but both sides are on high alert,' Sansern said.

In Phnom Penh, a senior intelligence officer told the German Press Agency dpa that one soldier had been killed Sunday night by a Thai sniper, and two others injured, bringing the total of Cambodian casualties to six dead and less than 20 injured since Friday.

Over the weekend UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia. Ban said he was troubled by the recent flare-up after two months of calm, adding that the dispute could not be solved militarily.

Thai and Cambodian troops clashed in February near Preah Vihear temple, about 200 kilometres east of the location of the latest skirmish, leaving five dead.

Thailand has blamed UNESCO for escalating the tensions with its decision to list the 11th-century temple as a World Heritage Site in July 2008 despite Thai claims that a 4.6-square-kilometre area near Preah Vihear is still the subject of a border demarcation dispute.

The Hindu temple has been a bone of contention for five decades.

Posted in: DAP News