Thailand to UNESCO: Ask before entering disputed border zone

BANGKOK, May 21 (TNA) - Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday notified the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that its representatives must seek permission from the Thai government prior to entering the disputed Thai-Cambodian border area near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. The warning was conveyed by the Ministry’s Treaties and Legal Affairs director-general Weerachai Palasai to the Bangkok-based UNESCO chief of Information and Knowledge Management Unit Clive Wing during a meeting at the ministry. It came after representatives of the International Councils on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) entered the disputed area between late March and early April, without giving prior notification to or seeking permission from the Thai authorities. UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture Francoise Riviere informed the Thai embassy in Paris later on April 17 about the survey in which she said that the officials flew by helicopter and landed at the cliff on the Cambodian side and then spent about two hours walking to the ancient temple. She said the UNESCO team avoided passing through the area contested by Thailand and Cambodia. The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, but the most practical entrance to the site begins at the foot of a mountain in Thailand. Both sides claim portions of the surrounding territory. Tensions in the area have arisen after Cambodia successfully received UNESCO’s World Heritage site certification for the temple in July last year. The latest fighting between the two neighbouring countries in the temple vicinity occurred on April 3 when Thai soldiers died and several others were wounded. Mr. Wing told journalists after the meeting that no protest letter was given to him by the Foreign Affairs Ministry and he personally did not have details about that trip because it was conducted by UNESCO in Paris and Phnom Penh. However, Mr. Wing said he would convey Thailand’s concerns to his immediate chief. In another development, Thai army chief Gen. Anupong Paochinda flew to Kantharalak border district where Preah Vihear temple sits to visit and boost the morale of Thai soldiers stationed there. (TNA)