Cambodian official: Thai troops to withdraw from 2nd occupied border temple

The Thai side has agreed to withdraw its troops from a temple at Cambodia's border province Otdar Meanchey and reduce its total number of soldiers within the border area, an advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen said here Tuesday. Either country will keep only 10 military personnel at the 13-century Ta Moan Thom Temple and Thailand is also to decrease its troops that have accumulated during the 22-day-long standoff with Cambodia near the border, said the advisor on condition of anonymity. In order to facilitate the evacuation, both foreign ministers will convene in Thailand in two weeks, he added. Thai troops occupied the Ta Moan Thom Temple on Aug. 3 and the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda in neighboring Preah Vihear province last month. The latter pagoda is situated on the only way leading to the Preah Vihear Temple, which was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee. On July 15, Thai troops went into the border area to fetch three trespassers who had intended to claim Thai sovereignty over the Preah Vihear Temple. However, the troops stationed there ever since, thus triggering the military stalemate. In the days to come, both sides gradually increased their military personnel to a thousand strong at the border area to showoff their determination for territorial sovereignty. On July 28, foreign ministers from Cambodian and Thailand held a meeting in Siem Reap province to agree mulling evacuating troops from the border, but both sides have not made the final decision so far. Previous efforts by the two countries and the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations had all failed to break the standoff, either. The Preah Vihear Temple straddles the Cambodian-Thai border atop the Dangrek Mountain. 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. Source: Xinhua