The Economic Times
22 Jul, 2008
BANGKOK: Thailand does not want foreign mediators involved in its border dispute with Cambodia, a Thai military official said Tuesday, but conceded that the two sides were at a stalemate.
General Boonsrang Niumpradit, Thailand's chief negotiator in the dispute, on Monday ended negotiations with Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh without any resolution to their military standoff.
Neither country was willing to relinquish their claim to a disputed patch of land near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.
"The problem was that we and Cambodia are using two different maps. Cambodian is using the French version while we used a US-drawn map, thus it's hard for us to reach agreement," he said on Thai television.
More than 500 Thai and 1,000 Cambodian troops are stationed around a small Buddhist pagoda in about five square kilometres (two square miles) of disputed land on a mountain slope leading to Preah Vihear, which the World Court said in 1962 belongs to Cambodia.
Cambodia on Tuesday suggested again taking their dispute to the World Court in The Hague and proposed a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis, but Boonsrang said the Thai side was not keen on international involvement.
"The dispute should be discussed between the two countries," he said. "Better that than elevating it to ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) or the UN."
Boonsrang said, however, that tensions between the two countries may ease after elections in Cambodia on July 27. "It will be easier to talk after the elections," he said.
Recent tensions between the neighbours began with Cambodia's moves to have Preah Vihear listed as a UN World Heritage Site, and boiled over last Tuesday when three Thais tried to illegally enter the temple.
The United Nations earlier this month granted the temple World Heritage status, which Cambodian Premier Hun Sen has portrayed as a national triumph, organising huge public celebrations ahead of Sunday's polls.
22 Jul, 2008
BANGKOK: Thailand does not want foreign mediators involved in its border dispute with Cambodia, a Thai military official said Tuesday, but conceded that the two sides were at a stalemate.
General Boonsrang Niumpradit, Thailand's chief negotiator in the dispute, on Monday ended negotiations with Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh without any resolution to their military standoff.
Neither country was willing to relinquish their claim to a disputed patch of land near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.
"The problem was that we and Cambodia are using two different maps. Cambodian is using the French version while we used a US-drawn map, thus it's hard for us to reach agreement," he said on Thai television.
More than 500 Thai and 1,000 Cambodian troops are stationed around a small Buddhist pagoda in about five square kilometres (two square miles) of disputed land on a mountain slope leading to Preah Vihear, which the World Court said in 1962 belongs to Cambodia.
Cambodia on Tuesday suggested again taking their dispute to the World Court in The Hague and proposed a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis, but Boonsrang said the Thai side was not keen on international involvement.
"The dispute should be discussed between the two countries," he said. "Better that than elevating it to ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) or the UN."
Boonsrang said, however, that tensions between the two countries may ease after elections in Cambodia on July 27. "It will be easier to talk after the elections," he said.
Recent tensions between the neighbours began with Cambodia's moves to have Preah Vihear listed as a UN World Heritage Site, and boiled over last Tuesday when three Thais tried to illegally enter the temple.
The United Nations earlier this month granted the temple World Heritage status, which Cambodian Premier Hun Sen has portrayed as a national triumph, organising huge public celebrations ahead of Sunday's polls.
No comments:
Post a Comment