Archive for August 4, 2008
Thais accused over new temple row
Sunday, 3 August 2008
BBC News
About 70 Thais have been at the 13th Century Ta Moan temple complex since Thursday, the Cambodians say.
The Thai foreign ministry has denied any troops have moved into the area.
The two nations have for weeks been locked in a military stand-off over disputed land further east, around the ancient Preah Vihear temples.
High-level diplomacy has been taking place to resolve the Preah Vihear dispute, which revolves around border areas drawn up by French cartographers a century ago.
And an agreement was reached, following a meeting between foreign ministers from both countries, to reduce troop numbers near the temple.
Prevented access
But Maj Sim Sokha, a Cambodian border-protection officer, told reporters on Sunday that Thai soldiers had been making moves hundreds of miles west of Preah Vihear.
He said the Thai troops had been deployed in an 80m (262ft) radius around the Ta Moan Thom temple ground, and had prevented Cambodian troops from entering.
He said about 40 Cambodian soldiers were in close proximity to the Thai troops, but had been ordered to exercise restraint while the government tries to resolve the issue with Thailand.
“[Thai troops] said they will pull back only when the issue near Preah Vihear temple is resolved,” he told the Associated Press by telephone.
The Ta Moan complex is in Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province, which shares much of its border with the Thai province of Surin.
Cambodia welcomes Thai boycott of certain commercial exchange
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) — Cambodian Commerce Minister ChamPrasidh on Sunday welcomed the Thai government’s recent decision to stop its fruit export to Cambodia and cancel its annual product exhibition in the kingdom.
“Cambodia will not be affected” by this decision, he told Xinhua at the airport while receiving a senior Kuwaiti delegation.
It is a good thing that they stop fruit export and cancel product exhibition, because some Cambodians would become angry and destroy those products on show if they didn’t do so, he said.
“It could make turmoil,” he said, adding that the 20-day-long military standoff between the two countries at the border area has made the Cambodian people reluctant to buy Thai products.
Dispute over the ownership of the Preah Vihear Temple in the eponymous Cambodian province and the land around it has propelled both sides to station over a thousand troops at the border area since July 15. All diplomatic efforts have failed so far to retrieve the situation.
Trade volume between Cambodia and Thailand stood at 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, a 10.56 percent increase over 2006, according to the figures released by the Cambodian Commerce Ministry in March this year.
Cambodian, Kuwait to discuss gas, oil exploration cooperation
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) — Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah arrived here Sunday for a three-day official visit to discuss gas and oil exploration cooperation with Cambodia, said a senior official.
Officials from both sides will discuss the possibility of cooperation for oil and gas exploration in the kingdom and sign a trade agreement, a protocol of investment protection and cooperation, said Hor Nam Hong, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
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Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah waves upon his arrival at Phnom Penh international airport August 3, 2008. Sheikh Nasser is in Cambodia on a three-day official visit. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
In addition, the visit of Kuwaiti premier will bring more investors and tourists to Cambodia, especially from the Middle East, he added.
According to the schedule, the prime ministers from both sides will hold talks here on Monday, while other officials and investors convene another meeting at the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile, Mao Hal Vannal, secretary of state of the Civil Aviation Authority of Cambodia, told Xinhua that the two countries still mull opening direct flight in their middle-term cooperation plan.
A dozen foreign drillers are exploring oil and gas in off-sea Cambodia. Oil reserves there are estimated at billion barrels.
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Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah (L) and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen listen to national anthem of their countries during Sheikh Nasser’s welcoming ceremony at Phnom Penh international airport August 3, 2008. Sheikh Nasser is in Cambodia for a three-day official visit. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
Reports Cambodia accusing Thai troops of occupying disupted temple
Radio Australia – August 04, 2008
Cambodia is reported to have escalated the border dispute over the Preah Vihear temple by accusing Thai troops of occupying a temple far to the west.
The Bangkok Post newspaper says a Cambodian spokesman in Phnom Penh claims about 70 Thais have been at the 13th Century Ta Muen Thom temple complex in Surin province since Thursday.
It says the Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag says no troops have moved into the area.
The newspaper says the Cambodian statement appears to be linking the Preah Vihear and Ta Muen Thom disputes, but although both are in border areas, they are not connected in either distant or recent history – until now.
It says Thai military commanders are relaxed saying there’s no apparent tension at the site.
They say there’s a paramilitary post there because Ta Muen Thom belongs to Thailand and there are soldiers deployed to take care of the area.
Thailand, Cambodia trade claims over disputed border
Radio Australia – August 03, 2008
Officials from Thailand and Cambodia have been trading claims over another disputed ancient ruin on their border.
The two countries, which have been in a military standoff over the Preah Vihear temple since last month, are now laying contradictory claims to the Khmer ruin of Ta Muen Thom.
Thailand says it lies in northeastern Surin province, while Cambodia says it is in its northern province of Uddor Meanchey.
At talks last week, the two countries said they’d be willing to withdraw thousands of troops facing off near the Preah Vihear temple, but neither has shown signs of making a first move.
Temple ruling against principles of justice: Thai lawyer
Radion Australia – August 04, 2008
Cambodian and Thai forces continue to face off near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.
The confrontation started earlier this month, when Bangkok backed Cambodia’s bid to have the temple listed as a World Heritage site. That sparked Thai nationalists, who seized the opportunity and swung into action. But there has been continued sentiment over the issue, ever since the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia.
Anti-Thai sentiment ‘increases in Cambodia’
Bangkok Post – August 04, 2008
Phnom Penh (dpa) – Reports that a second sacred temple on the Thai- Cambodian border has been occupied by Thai troops has drawn an angry reaction from the public, Cambodian media reported Sunday.
Ta Muen Thom temple, at the border of Surin province and Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey, has been manned by Thai troops for more than five years, the chairman of the government’s border committee, Var Kimhong, told locally broadcast Radio France Internationale (RFI).
However the nation’s largest selling newspaper, Rasmei Kampuchea, as well as the French-funded RFI and US-funded Radio Free Asia began running reports of its alleged occupation Sunday.
Kimhong said there was no legal doubt Ta Muen Thom was Cambodian.
Public outrage has grown steadily since areas around Preah Vihear temple, which Cambodia says are sovereign and Thailand says are disputed, were occupied by Thai troops on July 15, days after it was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site against Thai wishes.
At a press conference held just before national elections last month, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith declined to answer a question on whether troop build-ups had also occurred on the Thai border with Banteay Meanchey.
The Cambodian government has tried to dampen the nationalist sentiment sweeping the country and urged the public to allow bilateral diplomacy to work, or, failing that, UN mediation.
In 2003 an angry mob torched the Thai embassy and several businesses over a false story a Thai actress had claimed the nation’s icon, Angkor Wat temple, was Thai – a serious setback for trade and diplomatic relations.
Claims published in the Thai media accusing Cambodia’s First Lady Bun Rany, wife of Prime Minister Hun Sen, of leading a black magic ritual when she hosted a Buddhist ceremony attended by more than 1,000 people at Preah Vihear Friday have not helped.
To be accused of sorcery is regarded as a terrible insult by Cambodians, who regularly kill those accused of it.
Cambodia, Thailand in standoff over second temple
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia said Sunday that Thai soldiers are occupying a second temple site along on their border in an escalation of an ongoing armed standoff that nearly led to clashes between the neighbors last month.
Maj. Sim Sokha, a Cambodian border protection unit deputy commander, said about 70 Thai soldiers on Thursday occupied the 13th century Ta Moan Thom temple in a northwestern border region of Cambodia.
Maj. Taveesak Boonrakchart, a spokesman for the Thai army in the disputed area, denied the allegations of an incursion. He said troops from both countries have been in the area for years.
The temple is several hundred miles west of the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, where Cambodian and Thai soldiers have been locked in a standoff for three weeks in a dispute over nearby land.
Sim Sokha said Thai soldiers have been deployed in an 80-yard radius around the temple grounds and have prevented Cambodian troops from entering. About 40 Cambodian soldiers are in close proximity to the Thai troops, he said.
“They (Thai troops) said they will pull back only when the issue near Preah Vihear temple is resolved,” Sim Sokha said by telephone from Oddar Meanchey province, about 290 miles northwest of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.
He said the Cambodian soldiers have been given orders to exercise restraint and wait for the government to try to resolve the issue with Thailand.
Khieu Kanharith, the chief Cambodian government spokesman, said he was aware of a new troop movement but was unable to give details. He said his government will try to solve the issue through peaceful means.
Although it is not as well known as the Angkor or Preah Vihear temples, Ta Moan Thom is part of the architectural wonders of the ancient Khmer empire.
It was built in the 13th century as a rest house along a road linking the ancient Angkor city with what is currently northeastern Thailand, said Chuch Phoeun of the Cambodian Ministry of Culture.
The border dispute erupted last month near the Hindu-style Preah Vihear when UNESCO approved Cambodia’s application to have the complex named a World Heritage Site. Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej had backed the bid, sparking anti-government demonstrations by Thais near the temple. Thailand then sent troops to the border area.
Thai government critics fear the temple’s new status will jeopardize their country’s claims to land adjacent to the site.
About 800 troops from Cambodia and 400 from Thailand remain at a pagoda near the temple complex, despite a tentative agreement reached by foreign ministers last Monday to redeploy them in an effort to ease tensions.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded Preah Vihear and the land it occupies to Cambodia. The decision still rankles many Thais even though the temple is culturally Cambodian, sharing the Hindu-influenced style of the more famous Angkor complex.
Cambodian official: Thai troops deploy at second border temple
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) — Thai troops have deployed at a second temple near the Thai-Cambodian border, as the bilateral military standoff entered the 20th day over disputed ownership of the land there, said a senior official Sunday.
Thai soldiers have occupied the 13-century Ta Moan Thom Temple in Kork Mon commune, Bantey Omil district, Otdar Meanchey province of Cambodia, next to Preah Vihear province, where Thai troops haveclaimed the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda since July 15, Phay Siphan, spokesman of the Council of Ministers of Cambodia, told Xinhua.
The Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda is just 300 meters away from the Preah Vihear Temple and situated on the only road leading to the temple, which is the focus of the dispute.
“We already have our troops there patrol the (second) temple. Both sides agreed to plant border demarcation posts there and we already have one old border post near the temple,” the spokesman said.
He couldn’t confirm the numbers of both troops there.
Monday, foreign ministers from Cambodian and Thailand convened a meeting to agree mulling evacuating troops from the border near Preah Vihear province, but both sides haven’t made the final decision so far.
Previous efforts by the two countries and the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations had failed to break the standoff, either.
On July 15, Thai troops went into the disputed area to fetch three trespassers and stationed there ever since, triggering the military stalemate.
The Preah Vihear Temple straddles the Cambodian-Thai border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice decided that the 11-century temple and the land around belongs to Cambodia, which rankled the Thais and has led to continuous disputes in the coming years.
Kuwait PM in Cambodia for oil talks
Radio Australia – August 04, 2008
Kuwait’s prime minister, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, is in Cambodia for talks with the governnment on the country’s developing oil and gas industry.
Cambodian Foreign Minister, Hor Namhong, says trade and investment and energy cooperation will top the agenda.
He says he he hopes the visit would bring “fruitful” cooperation between Cambodia and oil-rich Kuwait.
Cambodia expects to begin oil production of its offshore fields in 2011, following the discovery of oil in 2005 by US energy giant Chevron.
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