Hun Sen says no escalation along border

THAILAND, CAMBODIA TO DISCUSS PREAH VIHEAR SITUATION TOMORROW

By: BANGKOK POST AND AGENCIES

Published: 5th April, 2009

Newspaper section: News

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday a border clash with Thailand around the 900-year-old Preah Vihear Hindu temple would not escalate into a more serious conflict.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE: A Cambodian soldier walks past the site of a burned market in front of Preah Vihear temple.

"I regard the fighting yesterday as an incident, not a war," Hun Sen said a day after Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged rifle and rocket fire near the temple.

Cambodia suffered two casualties and Thai authorities said two soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in the worst fighting since a military stand-off near the temple last year.

"I don't want to see these incidents repeated or fighting expand to other areas," Hun Sen told a group of disabled soldiers during a visit to the coastal province of Kampot in Cambodia.

Cambodian soldiers fired a short burst of bullets yesterday close to a base of Thai rangers near Pha Mor E-Daeng in Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket. The Cambodian military said the fire was unintentional. However, a mortar shell landed near the same area later. There were no casualties reported.

Army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda said troops would refrain from armed retaliation against Cambodian soldiers as the Thai position was to settle all problems through negotiations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat called on Cambodia to stop firing all weapons into Thailand and said both sides should be patient in allowing negotiators to resolve the conflict.

Preah Vihear, or Khao Phra Viharn as it is known in Thailand, sits on an escarpment that forms the natural border between the two countries and has been a source of tension for generations.

The International Court of Justice awarded it to Cambodia in 1962, but the ruling did not determine the ownership of 4.6 square kilometre of scrub next to the ruins, leaving considerable scope for disagreement.

Thailand and Cambodia will meet at the Joint Boundary Commission tomorrow and Tuesday in Phnom Penh.

The meeting was planned long before the fresh conflict which started on Thursday when a Thai soldier stepped on a landmine followed by fatal clashes on Friday.

Singapore has urged Thailand and Cambodia to show restraint in a violent border dispute between the two neighbours that has claimed the lives of at least two soldiers.

"We are concerned about the recent developments at the border and we urge both parties to exercise utmost restraint in the broader interests of the region," the Singapore Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"We encourage both sides to continue to resolve their differences peacefully through further negotiations."