Leave disputed area or face “death zone,” Cambodia tells Thailand
Written by Writer on Monday, October 13th, 2008
Leave disputed area or face “death zone,” Cambodia tells Thailand
Thailand has 24 hours to pull its troops out of a disputed border region that includes an ancient temple, Cambodia’s prime minister warned Monday on threat of violence.
“Thai troops must withdraw from Cambodian land by tomorrow at the latest,” Hun Sen told reporters after meeting Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat in Phnom Penh.
“We will not allow them to occupy our land.”
Both countries have laid claim to the Preah Vihear temple complex, an ancient Hindu site built by the same Khmer dynasty as the internationally renowned Angkor Wat temples in central Cambodia.
“We see that territory is our land, too. What would it mean if we retreated?” Sompong told reporters in Bangkok.
“If the Cambodians think it is their land, too, we should start bilateral talks to sort that out very quickly.”
Thailand’s failure to immediately withdraw, however, will incite Cambodian forces to turn the area into a “death zone,” Sen said.
Cambodian troops are en route to the disputed territory to counteract up to 500 Thai soldiers who have crossed the border, Cambodian deputy defence minister Gen. Neang Phat said Monday.
Decades-old dispute
The dispute has simmered for decades but came to a head in July when UNESCO accepted Cambodia’s request to declare the temple complex a World Heritage Site, a move seen in Phnom Penh as de-facto international recognition of its claim.
Thousands of heavily armed soldiers from both sides rushed to the disputed 460-hectare area, about 250 kilometres north of Phnom Penh, and faced off in hillside trenches just metres apart from one another.
Since then, two Thai soldiers have lost their legs in blasts from landmines strewn around the temple. A number of others from either side have been wounded during exchanges of fire.
Both countries are members of the Association of South East Asian Nations, or ASEAN, which has previously offered to mediate in the dispute. No consensus could be reached, however, on how best the organization could be involved.
Thai forces occupied land around the temple in 1954 when France withdrew its soldiers from newly independent Cambodia.
International legal authorities have found in favour of Cambodia’s claim in the past, but Thailand has rejected such rulings.
Cambodia has since appealed to the United Nations Security Council to help resolve the standoff.
With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
