A Change of Guard

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Thursday 25 June 2009

Opposition and civil society appeal to the govt not to negotiate with Thailand on Preah Vihear issue

Ron Chhun protesting against Thai invasion of Preah Vihear in late 2008.

24 June 2009
By Phan Sophat
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata for Ki-Media
Click here to read the article in Khmer


Officials from the opposition party and from civil society in Cambodia appealed to Cambodian government leaders not to accept negotiations to Thailand’s plan to review for a joint listing of Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site.

The appeal was made immediately after Thai PM declared that his government will ask the UNESCO World Heritage committee to review the decision to list Preah Vihear temple.

Thailand’s TNA news agency quoted Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand PM, claiming that Suthep Thaugsuban, Thailand’s deputy PM, will travel to Cambodia to explain about Thailand’s stance. Abhisit said also that he is confident that border issues between the two countries will be resolved peacefully.

Rong Chhun, President of the Cambodian Confederation of Union (CCU), said: “Bilateral negotiations should end because we have seen for umpteenth times that we couldn’t win, and the results are naught. Thailand’s actions never respect any of their promises, they kept on moving their troops [to the border] continuously.”

Lawyer Sok Sam Oeun, Executive Director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, also said: “The government should tell its Thai counterpart that for other issues, we can talk to each others, but for this kind of issues, there is no need to negotiate.”

About the idea of negotiation with Thailand, SRP MP Yim Sovann said: “We should review the [1991] Paris Peace Agreements in which a number of signatory countries raised about the defense of our national integrity.”

Up until the evening of Wednesday 24 June, Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Cambodian ministry of Foreign Affairs, told RFA that there was no official letter from Thailand to negotiate the Preah Vihear issue, unlike what was reported in the news which indicates that [negotiations] will take place on Saturday.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of ministers, said that he does not know if Hun Sen will accept to meet to negotiate with the Thai officials or not, however, he spoke about Thailand’s goals: “There’s nothing important to explain to Samdach Dek Cho [Hun Sen], they should apply the agreement made by the joint Cambodian-Thai border committee instead.”

According to Cambodian military source, the military situation at the Preah Vihear temple is still confrontational between the two countries, and this situation started when Thailand sent in several hundreds of Thai black-clad troops to the Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak Pagoda on 15 July 2008, right after UNESCO listed Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site.

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