PHNOM PENH, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has written a letter to UNESCO, accusing Thailand of aggression by moving troops into disputed border territory, and warned that Thailand threatened peace in the region.
"Thai behavior gravely threatens peace and stability in the region" and Thailand is "defying all principles of international law," Hun Sen said in the letter addressed to Koichiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO.
Thailand's "unwarranted aggression" violates international convention designed to protect World Heritage sites during times of conflict by stationing heavily armed soldiers near the Preah Vihear Temple, he said in the letter dated Monday and made public Tuesday.
"The encroachment by large number of Thai armed soldiers in an area adjacent to the temple, with the attendant risk of provoking conflict in and around a World Heritage Site, clearly qualities as a prohibited action and thus constitutes a violation of the World Heritage Convention," he said.
The government of Cambodia would like to request UNESCO assistance in resolving this matter and request it to take urgent actions for the protection of this World Heritage Site, he said, adding that the military standoff may ruin the site.
Currently, both sides stationed over a thousand troops at the border near the Preah Vihear Temple, which was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.
Monday, bilateral talks failed to produce any agreement to end the military standoff. Cambodia has asked UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to intervene and find peaceful solution for the week-long stalemate.
Last Tuesday, three Thai protesters trespassed the border to reclaim the temple, but were immediately arrested. Thai troops then came in to fetch them, thus triggering face-off with Cambodian soldiers there. Bilateral military build-up occurred dayby day. Currently, the troops there were widely estimated at thousands.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded the 11-century classic Khmer-style Preah Vihear Temple, together with the land it occupies, to Cambodia.
Editor: Bi Mingxin
"Thai behavior gravely threatens peace and stability in the region" and Thailand is "defying all principles of international law," Hun Sen said in the letter addressed to Koichiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO.
Thailand's "unwarranted aggression" violates international convention designed to protect World Heritage sites during times of conflict by stationing heavily armed soldiers near the Preah Vihear Temple, he said in the letter dated Monday and made public Tuesday.
"The encroachment by large number of Thai armed soldiers in an area adjacent to the temple, with the attendant risk of provoking conflict in and around a World Heritage Site, clearly qualities as a prohibited action and thus constitutes a violation of the World Heritage Convention," he said.
The government of Cambodia would like to request UNESCO assistance in resolving this matter and request it to take urgent actions for the protection of this World Heritage Site, he said, adding that the military standoff may ruin the site.
Currently, both sides stationed over a thousand troops at the border near the Preah Vihear Temple, which was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.
Monday, bilateral talks failed to produce any agreement to end the military standoff. Cambodia has asked UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to intervene and find peaceful solution for the week-long stalemate.
Last Tuesday, three Thai protesters trespassed the border to reclaim the temple, but were immediately arrested. Thai troops then came in to fetch them, thus triggering face-off with Cambodian soldiers there. Bilateral military build-up occurred dayby day. Currently, the troops there were widely estimated at thousands.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded the 11-century classic Khmer-style Preah Vihear Temple, together with the land it occupies, to Cambodia.
Editor: Bi Mingxin
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