Pictures From Preah Vihear

Cambodian frontline commander Gen. Chea Tara talks with reporters Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province,about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old Hindu temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian army soldier burns incense stick as he makes prayers next to a Buddhist monk at Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, which wasenlisted as UNESCO's World Heritage, in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Hundreds of Cambodian soldiers were camped Wednesday at a cliff-top Khmer temple and World Heritage site in the line of fire in deadly border skirmishes with Thailand. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian Buddhist monk, right, cooks meals together with army soldiers at Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, which was enlisted as UNESCO'sWorld Heritage, in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. A Cambodian army soldiers through the Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, which was enlisted as UNESCO's World Heritage site in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian army soldiers walk around Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, which was enlisted as UNESCO's World Heritage in Preah Vihear province,about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Hundreds of Cambodian soldiers were camped Wednesday at a cliff-top Khmer temple and World Heritage site in the line of fire in deadly border skirmishes with Thailand. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian army soldier stands near a crater on the compounds of Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province,about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old Hindu temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian army soldier points at the damaged section of Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province,about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old Hindu temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A sign is seen under Cambodian and UNESCO flags at the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailand and Cambodia February 9, 2011. Thailandand Cambodia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Wednesday to end an armed standoff on a stretch of border surrounding the 900-year-old clifftop temple as guns held silent for a second day. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

An overview of Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, UNESCO's World Heritage, is seen in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Hundreds of Cambodian soldiers were camped Wednesday at a cliff-top Khmer temple and World Heritage site in the line of fire in deadly border skirmishes with Thailand. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Pictures by Radio Free Asia

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Pictures From Preah Vihear

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong (R) shakes hands with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh February 7, 2011. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) dispatched Natalegawa to Cambodia on Monday in a bid to defuse the Thai-Cambodian border crisis. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

A Cambodian woman carries her children after fleeing her home near the Preah Vhear temple on February 7. Cambodian and Thai troops held fire on their tense border on Tuesday as the world heritage body UNESCO prepared a mission to inspect an ancient temple reportedly damaged in the deadly standoff.(AFP)

Cambodian army soldiers eat lunch Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old Hindu temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian army soldier takes photographs of the damaged section of Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Preah Vihearprovince, about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old Hindu temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian soldier talks on a phone from his position at the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailand and Cambodia February 9,2011. Thailand and Cambodia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Wednesday to end an armed standoff on a stretch of border surrounding the 900-year-old clifftop temple as guns held silent for a second day. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Phat Lin (L), a Cambodian boy who stays with soldiers and monks, sits at a window of the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailandand Cambodia February 9, 2011. Thailand and Cambodia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Wednesday to end an armed standoff on a stretch of border surrounding the 900-year-old clifftop temple as guns held silent for a second day. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Phat Lin (L) and Ol Pros, Cambodian children who stay with soldiers and monks, rest at the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailandand Cambodia February 9, 2011. Thailand and Cambodia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Wednesday to end an armed standoff on a stretch of border surrounding the 900-year-old clifftop temple as guns held silent for a second day. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Buddhist monks, who stay with Cambodian soldiers, sit outside their shrine at the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailand and CambodiaFebruary 9, 2011. Thailand and Cambodia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Wednesday to end an armed standoff on a stretch of border surrounding the 900-year-old clifftop temple as guns held silent for a second day. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Ol Pros, a Cambodian boy who stays with soldiers and monks, rests at the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailand and Cambodia February9, 2011. Thailand and Cambodia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Wednesday to end an armed standoff on a stretch of border surrounding the 900-year-old clifftop temple as guns held silent for a second day. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

A Cambodian soldier smokes a cigarette at his unit's position in the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailand and Cambodia February9, 2011. Thailand and Cambodia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Wednesday to end an armed standoff on a stretch of border surrounding the 900-year-old clifftop temple as guns held silent for a second day.REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

A Buddhist monk and a Cambodian soldier prepare food at the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the border between Thailand and Cambodia February 9, 2011.Thailand and Cambodia faced growing diplomatic pressure on Wednesday to end an armed standoff on a stretch of border surrounding a 900-year-old clifftop temple as guns held silent for a second day. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

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Cambodia insists no soldiers stationed at temple, a claim that Thailand and media refute

via CAAI

By Todd Pitman, The Associated Press

The Canadian Press

The UNESCO's World Heritage Committee flag drops from the pole near the temple entrance of the Cambodia's 11th century Hindu Preah Vihear temple, which was enlisted as UNESCO's World Heritage site in Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers (152 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011. The flag dropped during an armed clash between Cambodian and Thai troops last weekend. Thailand accused Cambodia of refusing to negotiate to resolve a border dispute that led to the fourth straight day of fierce clashes Monday, as Phnom Penh said that only U.N. peacekeepers can stop the fighting near an 11th century temple. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia - Cambodia angrily rejected Thailand's accusation that Cambodian troops used a centuries-old temple along their disputed border as a military base, revving up a war of words Wednesday amid a fragile truce.

The mountaintop Preah Vihear temple, designated as a World Heritage site, was the scene of fierce artillery battles during a four-day flare-up of a long-standing border dispute between the two neighbours. The fighting left at least eight dead and dozens wounded.

Shrapnel from the blasts chipped away at some of the sanctuary's ancient walls, sparking a debate between the two sides over how much damage was done and who is to blame.

Thailand accuses Cambodia of stationing soldiers at the temple and firing across the border at Thai soldiers, leaving them little choice but to retaliate.

Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday it "strongly rejects such a slanderous assertion," adding that "there has never been and there will never be Cambodian soldiers" at Preah Vihear temple.

"This has always been a place for worship and tourism," the statement said, adding that the only security presence at the temple is a small number of policemen with light weapons to ensure safety at the site.

On Wednesday, however, hundreds of Cambodian soldiers were seen by Associated Press journalists deployed in and around the sprawling temple compound, which was fortified by sandbagged bunkers.

Dressed in military camouflage, some played cards inside the temple's shaded walls. Some rested on cots or hammocks while others poured new sandbags and stacked them up. Aside from scattered rifles, weapons were not visible.

Cambodian officials said over the weekend that Thai artillery collapsed "a wing" of the temple, but Thai officials dismissed the account as propaganda. Tuesday was the first day journalists were able to visit the temple since Cambodia made the claim. Damage appeared to be light and the structure remained intact.

Thai army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd defended his earlier remarks about Cambodian military presence at the temple.

"It's obvious," he said. "You can take a look at the photographs, even the ones taken by them. There's definitely military presence at Preah Vihear. Their soldiers fired at us from there."

"We never intended to attack Preah Vihear," he added."We would never want to damage such a valuable cultural and religious site. The firing only occurred when they fired at us from that location."

Preah Vihear temple, built between the 9th and 11th centuries, sits on a atop a 1,722-foot (525-meter) cliff in the Dangrek Mountains along a disputed border zone between Thailand and Cambodia. It has been a source of tension and fueled nationalist sentiment on both sides of the border for decades.

It is dedicated to the Hindu diety Shiva, but it was later used as a Buddhist sanctuary. The temple is revered partly for having one of the most stunning locations of all the temples constructed during the Khmer empire — the most famous of which is Angkor Wat.

The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over adjacent areas has never been clearly resolved.

In 2008, UNESCO backed Cambodia's bid to list the temple as a World Heritage site. Thailand initially supported the bid but then reneged after the move sparked domestic outrage and protests. Some Thais worried that the distinction would undermine their claims to a strip of surrounding land.

Both sides sent troops to the border, resulting in several small clashes over the years. But the latest skirmishes were the most intense yet, marking the first time artillery and mortars have been used, according to soldiers and locals.

The latest fighting comes as Thailand's embattled government faces protests from ultranationalists at home who say it hasn't done enough to protect Thailand's sovereignty in the border region.

UNESCO said Tuesday it plans to send a mission to the area to assess the damage.

"World Heritage sites are the heritage of all humanity and the international community has a special responsibility to safeguard them," UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova said in a statement.

___

Associated Press writers Jocelyn Gecker and Thanyarat Doksone contributed to this report from Bangkok.

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UN to meet on Feb 14 on Thai-Cambodian border disputes - reports

via CAAI

UN Security Council has agreed to meet on Feb 14 to solve the border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, Inter City Press reported.

The council reached the conclusion on late Tuesday, the Press; a non-governmental organization said.

To make clear that the UN is deferring to the regional group, Indonesia, as chair of this year's Asean, will be invited to the meeting. The country will be represented by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.

The meeting seemed to respond to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's request for the UN to intervene in the dispute while Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva insisted that the dispute should be solved on bilateral basis.

Meanwhile Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Press on Tuesday that he had spoken with the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia. Some wonder why Ban isn't mediating, or even asked to mediate, under UN Charter Article 99.

In Bangkok, Chavanond Indharakomalsut, secretary to the foreign minister that FM Kasit Piromya is scheduled to travel to the UN to explain the Thai positions to the UN chief next week.

One of the positions is that Thailand wanted the problems be solved bilaterally and did not want to see a third party step in.

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Japan in Cambodia has China aid rival

Aid agenda: From right, Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung arrive for the 13th ASEAN Plus Three summit in Hanoi last October. AP PHOTO

via CAAI

By PUY KEA

Kyodo News

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia, one of the least developed parts of Southeast Asia, extends a welcoming hand to economic aid from Japan and China, but analysts in the country are wary of the competitive intent of the nation's two largest aid donors.

Officially, the government hails both countries as champions of Cambodia's rehabilitation and development via their economic aid programs.

Japan has provided about $130 million a year since the early 1990s, mostly in the form of grant aid, while China channels its assistance largely through loans.

For years, however, some Cambodians and observers have been curious about the drive behind the Japanese and Chinese aid programs, as neither country imposes preconditions, a sharp contrast with economic aid from the United States and other Western powers that is often tied to human rights and democracy in recipient countries.

Since the early 1990s, the Japanese aid program in Cambodia has focused on infrastructure projects, including bridges, roads and irrigation networks. Japan has also been the largest donor of international funds to finance the U.N.-backed trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders.

Some Cambodians see Japan's financial assistance to fund the operation of the U.N.-backed tribunal as part of its contribution to help heal Cambodia's trauma from the brutal Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s.

Cynics, however, suggest Japan is giving money to finance Khmer Rouge trials as a way to harass China, Japan's major political and economic rival in Asia. Beijing backed the Khmer Rouge regime, which is blamed for the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians during its nearly four years of repressive rule.

A Japanese diplomat in Phnom Penh denies the allegation, saying Japan sees the importance of reconstruction and the rule of law in Cambodia.

"Japan has no hidden agenda behind our assistance, which has been given for humanitarian and rule of law purposes," the diplomat said.

Chheang Vannarith, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, a Phnom Penh-based research institute, said Japan has been focusing on Southeast Asia in general and Cambodia in particular to maintain its economic role and political influence in the region.

Vannarith added Japan "is interested in balancing China's rise."

The rise of China, which has replaced Japan as the world's second-largest economy, has significantly bolstered its economic and diplomatic reach in Southeast Asia.

Vannarith said China has been conducting an experiment on its aid diplomacy in Cambodia and uses Cambodia as a model for other developing countries in the region and in the world at large.

"So far, China's aid to Cambodia has been very effective in terms of winning the heart of Cambodian leaders," he said.

In the last six years, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen paid 11 visits to China, more than to any other country, while Chinese leaders made six visits to the Cambodia.

King Norodom Sihamoni made five state visits to China between 2005 and 2010.

Hun Sen has no reservations about hailing Cambodia's close diplomatic ties with China.

"Starting from the restoration of Cambodia-China diplomatic relations in 1994, the ties developed to a level of mutual trust and confidence by 2004. We are now in the state of comprehensive cooperation and partnership," he said recently.

Hun Sen was also lavish in expressing Cambodia's gratitude to investments from China, which totaled $5.6 billion from 2008 to last June.

The growing economic ties between China and Cambodia have prompted words of caution from Washington.

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Emotional fall-out of Thailand-Cambodia clashes

More than 16,000 people on the Thai side of the border have been moved to temporary shelters

via CAAI

A long-running border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia has flared into deadly clashes, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. The BBC's Rachel Harvey looks at the human cost of the conflict.

As the early morning sun rose above the rooftops of the local government buildings, orderly queues were forming in the car park down below.

Villagers, evacuated from their homes when Thailand and Cambodia renewed their long-simmering border dispute with a new and deadly vengeance, lining up for a free hot meal.

Most had spent the last two nights sleeping on mats on the ground.

More than 16,000 people on the Thai side of the border have been moved to temporary shelters.

Pranee Wanchalerm's home is about 13km (8 miles) from the border - that was too close for comfort.

On Saturday night she sheltered in a bunker listening to the terrifying sound of shells falling around her.

"I saw the flashes in the sky and I was really afraid something was going to land on my house," she said.

“ I've never seen anything like this before - [the shelling] has never been this heavy before”

Mon Si Thai villager

Those fears were justified as a school a little closer to the disputed area took a direct hit - or more accurately several hits.

The main building now has a gaping hole in the roof. Three classrooms behind it have been completely wrecked. Desks and chairs lie covered in roofing tiles and other debris.

By some mercy the children were not in the classrooms. There was a special sports event that day, so they were outside.

The extent of the structural damage vividly demonstrates the power of the ordinance used. One can only imagine the potential human cost if the bombardment had been at any other time or on any other school day.

Determined to stay

A village a short distance away bears its own scars from the recent battles. In the dusty earth between the wooden and concrete buildings there is a crater more than 6m wide. Across the road, a house has been gutted by fire. Another has part of a wall missing.

Thailand and Cambodia continue to blame one another for the hostilities

Most people in the village have now moved to the evacuation camps. But not Mon Sida - he doesn't want to leave his property or his chickens.

Mon has lived in this particular village for more than 30 years and in the district all his life.

"I've never seen anything like this before. It's never been this heavy before," he told me.

"It wasn't just one," he adds, and then graphically imitates the sound of an incoming mortar followed by several explosive booms, just to make sure I'd understood.

A few other villagers arrived to collect some belongings and to take stock, taking advantage of a lull in the fighting. They loaded items on the back of a pick-up truck then headed back towards the main town.

Mon is clearly very frightened. He saw his neighbour killed during the shelling but he is determined to stay on his land.

As the truck drove off he was contemplating another night in his own private refuge - a drainage pipe running under the main road.

'Virtual observer'

Occasionally we were passed on the road by an army jeep or truck, but there was no sign of more artillery on the move. Presumably the weapons are now all in position and well dug in.

There is certainly no sign of either side backing down.

Thailand and Cambodia continue to blame one another for the initial hostilities and for each new outbreak since.

Cambodia has called on the United Nations Security Council to get involved. Thailand says there is no need for third-party intervention - bilateral channels are best to resolve the border tension.

The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, has visited both countries in the past two days offering to be what he called a "virtual observer", willing to listen to the complaints of both sides, though he was careful to avoid the word mediator.

Asked whether there was any sign of progress, Mr Natalegawa replied: "Well I'm less pessimistic than I was two days ago."

One day of calm doesn't amount to a formal ceasefire, let alone a sustainable peace.

There are still two armies, backed by an awful lot of military hardware, facing each other across a disputed and volatile border. But it's a welcome respite after the past few days.

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JBC tool to solve Thai-Cambodian border row: Cambodian ambassador

via CAAI

February 09, 2011

The continuing Thai-Cambodian border dispute could be settled under framework of Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), Cambodia's ambassador to Thailand You Ay said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Couple of Love and Rival seminar on Tuesday morning, she said through bilateral framework Vietnam and Cambodian were able to successfully solve border issue between the two countries.

People in both countries should not politicize the border issue, she said.

The border row would jeopardize regional cooperation in Southeast Asia, such as the single-visa agreement under the Acmecs (Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy) scheme, she said.

The main cause of Thai-Cambodian conflict lays in the map which Thailand and Cambodian differently adhere to. However, both are ASEAN member countries and if the dispute continues, ASEAN may not be able to achieve ASEAN community in 2015.

The ambassador also asked media to report all incidents fairly in order to avoid further discord between the two countries.

Cambodia and Thailand troops have exchanged fire for five times since Feb. 4, and both sides have used heavy weapons including rockets, machine guns, mortars and artillery. The clashes between Cambodia and Thailand troops have already left many soldiers and civilians killed and wounded.

Source: Xinhua

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Uneasy calm at border

Photo by: Pha Lina

A Thai soldier captured during fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border is released into the custody of Thai officials at the Ministry of Defence in Phnom Penh today.

via CAAI

Tuesday, 08 February 2011 20:43 Cheang Sokha

Preah Vihear province

Cambodian and Thai troops close to Preah Vihear temple remained on high alert today, following four days of clashes that left at least eight dead.

Soldiers on the Cambodian side of the border held fire but dug into positions, bracing for more fighting in the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area surrounding the 11th-century Khmer temple.

Dom Sophal, 55, a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldier based behind Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvara, a pagoda about 300 metres from Preah Vihear, said that the situation had calmed since Monday afternoon, though Cambodian troops remained in their positions and ready to defend their territory.

“We cannot say what is going on,” Dom Sophal said while sitting in a shelter close to the front lines.

“[Fighting] can happen any time but it depends on the Thai side.”

Starting on Friday morning, troops from both sides exchanged artillery, tank and rocket fire in a series of skirmishes which came to a close on Monday morning.

The two sides have each blamed the other for starting the fighting, the deadliest clashes that have occurred since tensions broke out on the border in July 2008, following UNESCO’s listing of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site.

“It was the largest fighting I have ever met before,” said another RCAF soldier, Sam Song.

“However, our soldiers controlled the situation during the clashes.”

The way up to the temple was blocked today to tourists and civilians, though military authorities allowed some journalists access to the area around the cliff-top temple.

Felled trees, small craters and blackened remnants of fires told a story of fierce fighting around the temple, which sustained damage from grenades fired from over the border.

“Things are calm, but it’s still very tense,” said RCAF Lieutenant Tek Saran.

“We don’t know when this situation will become normal again.”

A handful of young, saffron-robed monks walked around the moss-

covered stone temple today, where they sought refuge from artillery shells that rained down on either side of the disputed frontier over the previous four days.

“In the last few days I’ve been running for cover,” said Seng Ly, a 19-year-old monk.

“The Thais are Buddhists too – why did they attack our temple? I’m really afraid.”

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said on Monday that five Cambodians had died and 45 others were injured in the skirmishes.

Thai officials said two on their side were killed and 34 injured as of Monday.

The Bangkok Post reported today, however, that another Thai soldier had died at a hospital in Ubon Ratchathani province from serious injuries sustained during the skirmish.

Sergeant Thanakorn Poonperm, 30, was admitted to the hospital after being wounded on Sunday night, the paper reported.

Nearly 3,000 Cambodian families living around the battle zone have also been evacuated to Kulen district after shelling resumed on Monday, and will return to their home village once hostilities have ceased, said Han Chheang, an officer of Caritas Cambodia who brought rice and other supplies to evacuees.

“They are in need right now,” he said.

In Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng town, about 15 kilometres from the Thai-Cambodia frontier, residents were braced for further clashes.

Shops and businesses were shuttered and truckloads of infantry soldiers rumbled towards the border, some stacked with boxes of instant noodles.

Many soldiers were permanently based at Preah Vihear, several accompanied by their children who stayed behind as thousands fled in a exodus of villagers carrying only a few personal belongings.

“My father is a soldier, so I stayed here,” said Oun Ya, 13. “I’m not scared.”

Oun Ya’s friend, Ol Pros, 15, said he had never been to school and had spent most of his life in Preah Vihear.

His future, he said, was already decided.

“When I grow up, I’m going be a soldier,” Ol Pros said as men in camouflage outfits, Kalashnikov rifles strung over their shoulders, piled up sandbags and dug trenches.

“I have to wait until I’m 18. Then I’ll join the army.”

On the Thai side of the border, villages such as Ban Sangam in Sisaket province, about seven kilometres from the border, were eerily quiet, aside from the occasional sound of military trucks.

Provincial governor Somsak Suvarnsujarit said 16,654 people had been evacuated.

“There is still a lot of uncertainty and we will only let people move back into villages when there is a clear sign from the army that situation has returned to normal,” he said.

Thai Interior Minister Chavarat Chanvirakul today instructed governors of provinces close to the Cambodian border to set up “war rooms” to monitor the situation and aid Thai villagers affected by the fighting, according to Thai state media.

Return home

Also today, a Thai soldier captured by the Cambodian military at Preah Vihear temple was handed over to Thai officials at the Ministry of Defence.

Nim Sowath, the chief of Defence Minister Tea Banh’s cabinet, said Songkran Tongchompoo, 22, was captured by Cambodian soldiers during the fighting over the weekend.

“We yesterday received an official letter from Thailand’s defence ministry signed by Minister Prawit Wongsuwan on Monday, requesting Cambodia release the captured Thai soldier. This reflects that they accept they invaded,” he told reporters. “Now we have decided to give him back to Thailand.”

Prasas Prasasvinitchai, Thailand’s ambassador to Cambodia, thanked the Cambodian government “for returning Songkran Tongchompoo to Thailand so quickly”.

The handover was also attended by a representative of the International Committee of Red Cross.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY THET SAMBATH AND REUTERS

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Hun Sen makes plea to UN

Photo by: Sovan Philong

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong talks with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa during a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh today.

via CAAI

Monday, 07 February 2011 21:51 Sam Rith and Vong Sokheng

Prime Minister Hun Sen called today for the United Nations to send peacekeepers to the Thai-Cambodian border near Preah Vihear temple, where at least seven people have been killed in clashes over the past few days.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh, the premier repeated his plea for third party mediation, saying the conflict was in danger of spiraling out of control.

“We have sent [peacekeepers] to Sudan, Chad, the Central African Republic and Lebanon, but now we would like the UN to establish a buffer zone so that we can avoid fighting with each other,” Hun Sen said. “Even in a boxing arena, they need a referee.”

The prime minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong have both written to the UN within the past few days appealing for intervention in the escalating conflict.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, whose country now holds the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday to meet with Hor Namhong, and was also set to meet with senior officials in Bangkok.

Hun Sen said Cambodia “welcomes the urgent intervention of ASEAN” in the conflict and urged Thailand to accept it.

“Please do not fear the third party, either ASEAN, the United Nations or others,” Hun Sen said. “Please do not fear the police, for the person who is not a thief does not fear the police.”

Hor Namhong said yesterday that he planned to travel to New York in the near future to explain the situation at the United Nations.

Thai officials, however, have consistently rejected calls for outside mediation, claiming the dispute can be resolved between the two countries. Abhisit said yesterday that the Joint Border Committee, the bilateral body through which Thailand and Cambodia are now demarcating their shared border, should be sufficient to handle the issue, Thai state media reported.

Natelegawa noted that border conflicts were common within ASEAN, but added that it was unfortunate that regional countries had allowed the situation between Thailand and Cambodia “to degenerate in this way”.

“There is no more place for use of force and military means in resolving problems or challenges among ASEAN countries,” he said.

“This is an issue that will be resolved by the two countries concerned, but there is also room for other countries to help create a climate conducive for resolution of the problem through bilateral means.”

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who visited the Kingdom in October, has voiced concern over the recent clashes, calling for the two sides to “exercise restraint and resolve their dispute through dialogue”.

“The Secretary-General appeals to both sides to put in place an effective arrangement for cessation of hostilities and to exercise maximum restraint,” Ban’s office said in a statement on Sunday.

The two sides have blamed one another for touching off clashes that began on Friday and resumed for a fourth straight day yesterday.

Tensions in the area have been heightened since 2008, when Preah Vihear temple was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site for Cambodia over Thai objections. Thailand subsequently concentrated troops in the area, with Cambodia following suit, as the sides continued to disagree over the sovereignty of territory surrounding the temple.

UNESCO director general Irina Bokova expressed “distress” on Sunday regarding the battles near the 11th century site, calling in a statement for the two sides to “exercise restraint for the sake of the preservation of the Temple of Preah Vihear”.

Chan Chhorn, director of information for the Preah Vihear National Authority, said yesterday that a Thai rocket had crashed into a wing of the temple and had significantly damaged it.

Small arms fire and artillery also caused surface level damage to the temple staircase and other portions of the exterior, he added. Sun Saing, abbot of Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvara, which sits adjacent to the temple, said the pagoda’s charity hall and monks’ quarters were also damaged.

“There has been huge damage to the temple,” Chan Chhorn said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA AND JAMES O’TOOL

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Security Council ready to meet

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

A Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldier sits at the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple yesterday following four days of fighting with Thai troops stationed along the contentious border.

via CAAI

Tuesday, 08 February 2011 21:02 Thomas Miller and Vong Sokheng

The United Nations Security Council says it is willing to hold a meeting on the recent round of hostilities between Thailand and Cambodia following Prime Minister Hun Sen’s call for UN peacekeepers to be deployed at the border.

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the Brazilian ambassador who is now serving president of the Security Council, told journalists in New York on Monday that members of the council had “expressed great concern at the aggravation of tension on the border”, the AFP news agency reported.

“They called for a ceasefire and urged the parties to resolve the situation peacefully,” she said.

“They expressed their willingness to hold a Security Council meeting.”

There was no indication of when such a meeting might be held.

Regional governments and world powers including the United States and China have appealed for restraint in a conflict that has left at least eight people dead, including five Cambodians, and has displaced thousands of people on both sides of the border.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, whose country holds the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, visited Thai and Cambodian officials this week and said the regional bloc stands ready to “help create a climate conducive for resolution of the problem”.

Thai officials have consistently rejected third party mediation, saying the dispute can be resolved by the Joint Border Committee, the bilateral body through which the two countries are working to demarcate their shared border.

Tensions near Preah Vihear temple have been heightened since 2008, when it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site for Cambodia over Thai objections.

At least seven people had been killed in skirmishes between the two sides in the area in the past two and a half years prior to the most recent round of clashes.

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An wrote on Monday to UNESCO director general Irina Bokova decrying “significant damages” to the temple as a result of Thai attacks and requesting that the body hold a meeting to address the issue.

“The objective [of the meeting] will be to organise the protection of the Temple of Preah Vihear which is in grave danger of total destruction by Thai armed forces,” Sok An wrote.

Bokova issued a statement on Sunday expressing “distress” at the clashes and calling for both sides to agree to a ceasefire for the sake of the temple’s preservation. UNESCO officials in Phnom Penh did not respond to requests for comment today.

Thai Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd rejected the Cambodian government’s reports of damage to the temple as “propaganda”, the Bangkok Post said today.

Any damage sustained by the site, he added, had resulted from Cambodian troops using it as “a heavy arms base to fire at Thai soldiers stationed in areas in Thai territory that were at lower elevation”.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs angrily rejected these comments in a statement today, labelling them “slanderous” and denying that Cambodian troops had operated from within the temple walls.

“There has never been and there will never be Cambodian soldiers at the TEMPLE OF PREAH VIHEAR,” the statement read.

Armed Cambodian troops could be seen milling about the temple today, however.

The temple’s staircases and exterior appeared to have been damaged by bullet and artillery fire, while vegetation in the surrounding area had been charred by explosions.

Following a series of skirmishes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers along the border in October 2008, UNESCO said in a 2009 report that the damage to the temple “appears relatively minor”.

“However, the continuous presence of troops around the property entails a risk of possible further incidents and hampers the implementation of the recommendations made by the Committee for the strengthening of the protection and management of the World Heritage property,” UNESCO said in the report.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA

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Nationalism is the reason for Thai-Cambodian rift: experts

via CAAI

February 9, 2011

BANGKOK -- Nationalist fervor and political grandstanding are stoking a deadly border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia but both sides will be keen to avoid major hostilities, experts say.

Although the exact trigger for a series of armed clashes in recent days is unclear, tensions have grown since seven Thais — including one lawmaker — were arrested by Cambodia in December near the frontier for illegal entry.

Two of them were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for spying, outraging nationalist Thais, who have held protests in Bangkok calling on their Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign.

Observers say the recent cross-border fighting, focused on the area surrounding an ancient Khmer temple, is being used in both countries to stir patriotic sentiment with elections on the horizon.

Yet while Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen has unleashed a torrent of fiery rhetoric, accusing Thailand of being an invading aggressor and calling for U.N. intervention, for Abhisit the standoff is seen as another unwanted headache.

“Hun Sen is deliberately playing this to vitalize nationalist sentiment and reinvigorate support for himself,” said Professor William Case, director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre at the City University of Hong Kong.

Hun Sen is “something of a tough guy ... but I don't think it will be allowed to get totally out of hand,” he told AFP.

“On the Thai side this is a confrontation that the leadership would very much like to avoid. The nationalism on the Thai side is not so much coming from the government but from the masses, to which it has to respond.”

“Yellow Shirt” Thai nationalists turned out in their thousands over the weekend demanding Abhisit's resignation over the issue.

The royalist protest movement is strongly critical of Cambodia over issues such as the border row and Phnom Penh's appointment of Thailand's fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an economics adviser in 2009.

Seven people, including at least two civilians, have been killed since the fighting broke out on Friday around the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, with both sides accusing each other of firing the first shots.

Ties between the neighbors have been strained since the temple was granted U.N. World Heritage status in July 2008.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear itself belonged to Cambodia but both countries claim ownership of a 4.6-square-kilometer (1.8-square-mile) surrounding area.

“Nationalistic fervor is fueling both sides of the conflict,” said Professor David Chandler, a Cambodia expert at Australia's Monash University.

“Kicking Cambodia around has been a Thai hobby since the 14th century; Cambodia biting back dates from the colonial era and of course from the World Court 1962 decision.”

Michael Montesano of the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Singapore said the border issue “certainly plays well” in Cambodia.

“Cambodian efforts to protect their rights along the border and stand up to a stronger Thailand have political benefits for Hun Sen,” he said.

The 59-year-old strongman — who has ruled since 1985, vowing to remain in power until he is 90 — is looking ahead to a general election in 2013.

In contrast in Thailand the government and military would prefer to avoid a confrontation, while nationalist activists “are determined to keep tensions with Cambodia on the boil,” said Montesano.

The Yellow Shirts were once allies of the establishment-backed Abhisit, but relations have soured and the group's political party is eyeing elections expected some time this year.

“With elections in Thailand approaching, the country's civil society nationalists will play the Cambodia card to build up support for their parties,” said Paul Chambers, a Thai expert at Germany's Heidelberg University.

“Preah Vihear has fallen victim to ultra-nationalism on both sides of the Thai-Cambodian border.”

Despite the tough talk and casualties on both sides, observers believe the risk of a full-blown conflict remains slim.

“It will be a matter of bilateral negotiations with the possibility of further skirmishes,” said Professor Mark Turner at the University of Canberra in Australia. “It's difficult to envisage any widening of the armed conflict.”

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UN chief seeks to end Thai-Cambodia border clashes

via CAAI

09 February 2011

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke with the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia on Tuesday on ending their border conflict and said he again offered UN help to negotiate a deal.

At least eight people have been killed in four days of cross-border shelling which the two neighbors have blamed on each other.

With a lull in fighting since early Monday, the UN Security Council has held back from formal talks on the clashes to give time to an Indonesian mediation bid, diplomats said.

Cambodian soldiers stand on a military truck as they travel past a check point near the Preah Vhear temple in Preah Vihear province, some 500km northwest of Phnom Penh

The UN chief told reporters that he had spoken by telephone with Cambodia's Premier Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva about the renewed clashes around the ancient temple of Preah Vihear.

Ban said he urged both "to end violence, to exercise restraint, and find a lasting solution to the dispute through established mechanisms and arrangements. The United Nations remains at their disposal to assist."

Hun Sen has called for a UN buffer force to be put on the border and for an urgent Security Council meeting on the clashes, which have left five Cambodians and three Thais dead.

In a letter sent to the United Nations on Monday, Hun Sen accused Thailand of launching "a full scale armed aggression against Cambodia, using heavy sophisticated weapons," according to a copy seen by AFP.

The Cambodian leader said that some of the Thai artillery shells "have landed as far as approximately 20 kilometres inside Cambodian territory," added the letter.

Hun Sen called the shelling "extremely grave aggressions by Thailand" to justify his demand for an urgent Security Council meeting.

Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said in his letter to the United Nations that Cambodia had set off the hostilities on Friday afternoon - hours after he had held talks in the region with his Cambodian counterpart.

"On February 4, 2011 at 15:20 hours, Cambodian troops opened fire at a Thai military post at Phu Ma Khua in Thai territory, using heavy weapons such as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, recoilless rifles, long range artillery and multi-launcher rockets," said the minister.

He added that on top of the deaths and about 13 wounded Thai, some 6,000 people had fled their villages on the Thai side of the border.

"While Thailand has always exercised maximum restraint, Thai soldiers had no choice but to exercise the inherent right of self-defence" under the UN charter, the minister added in the letter, which was also released to AFP.

"Thailand protests in the strongest terms against such repeated and unprovoked armed attacks by Cambodian troops, which constitutes an act of aggression," said the letter.

The Thai minister said the two sides were "engaging in close consultations" to end the dispute.

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