Army says new map wrong

WASSANA NANUAM

The army has found Cambodia's new map of the Preah Vihear temple encroaches on Thai territory at two critical areas, an army source said yesterday.

In the map to be used in the listing of the ancient ruins as a World Heritage site, the border line at Bandai Naga (Naga-sided stairways), the entrance to the Hindu temple on the Thai side in Si Sa Ket province, apparently encroaches upon Thai territory about 10 metres.

The border line at the Bandai Hak (collapsed stairways) mountain pass is up to two metres into Thailand.

''The Foreign Ministry, the Fine Arts Department and the army's border affairs department are urgently negotiating with Cambodia. We cannot lose a single square inch,'' the source said.

This is not the first attempt by Cambodia to try to claim Thai areas of the ancient ruins, said the source.

The map will be a key document when Cambodia presents its case to experts of Unesco at talks next month in Quebec. The Cambodian plan needs Thailand's support.

The map was redrawn and handed to Thailand last Thursday following an agreement between the two countries to do so during a Unesco-brokered meeting in Paris late last month.