ICJ considers call to halt army activity in Cambodian-Thai dispute

Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, left, President of the court Japan's Judge Owada, second right, Vice-President of the Court Slovakia's Judge Peter Tomka, second left, and Judge Koroma from Sierra Leone, right, are seen at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday May 30, 2011. Thailand and Cambodia will face off at the United Nations' highest court Monday, in the latest move to settle a decades-old battle for control of a disputed border region that has erupted into deadly military clashes. Cambodia is asking the court to order Thailand to withdraw troops and halt military activity around a temple at the center of the dispute between the Southeast Asian neighbors.
(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Monsters and critics
May 31, 2011,

Brussels (DPA)- Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Tuesday evening began deliberating a request by Cambodia to order a halt to all Thai military activity in the area of a disputed temple until the contentious border issue is settled.

The court did not provide a date on which a ruling is expected, saying it would be announced 'in due course.'

In April, Cambodia had asked the ICJ in The Hague to revisit a 1962 ruling that awarded the Preah Vihear temple to Phnom Penh. Thailand asked the court to dismiss the case.

Cambodia's filing was accompanied by an 'urgent' request for the court to order Thailand to withdraw its forces from Cambodian territory in the vicinity of the temple and ban all Thai military activity in the area.

It also wants to see Thailand 'refrain from any act or action which could interfere with the rights of Cambodia or aggravate the dispute in the principal proceedings.'

That is the request currently being considered by the ICJ judges.

Thailand has said that it honours the 1962 ruling and acknowledges that the 11th-century Hindu temple itself is in Cambodia. What is at issue is a 4.6-square-kilometre area near the complex that Thailand maintains was not included in the court's 1962 ruling.

That dispute goes back decades but Bangkok said it resurfaced after UNESCO in 2008 designated Preah Vihear a world heritage site, over Thai objections.

The temple has proved a flashpoint and sparked several clashes between the countries, most recently eight days of artillery and small arms skirmishes in April that killed 16 people, mainly soldiers, on both sides, and wounded around 60.

Both Thailand and Cambodia blamed each other for starting the fighting.