Cambodia to pull out next week
14 July 2012
Writer: Thanida Tansubhapol
Bangkok Post
PHNOM PENH : Cambodia announced yesterday it
would withdraw its military personnel from the the Provisional
Demilitarised Zone (PDZ) near Preah Vihear temple on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said during a news conference after the
Asean Ministerial Meeting that the announcement had been made by
Cambodia's Defence Ministry.
He said Cambodia will withdraw 480 military personnel from the area.
"The withdrawal is a sign showing Cambodia's strong will to implement
the International Court of Justice's order of last year," he said.
Cambodia can withdraw all military personnel from the PDZ in 24 hours, Hor Namhong said.
The withdrawal will proceed on Wednesday, which marks the one-year
anniversary of the ICJ's order for Cambodia and Thailand to pull their
armed personnel out from 17.3 sq km PDZ on disputed land near the
10th-century Preah Vihear temple.
The dispute over the temple flared up in July 2008 after Unesco's
World Heritage Committee approved Cambodia's request to list the Hindu
temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.
This dispute led to exchanges of fire between troops of the two countries last year.
Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat yesterday accompanied Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to Siem Reap for a meeting with Cambodian
Prime Minister Hun Sen.
He also joined the talks on the issue of redeployment of troops from both countries in the disputed area around Preah Vihear.
However, he could not give a specific timeframe for troop
redeployment, although he said the two sides would do this
simultaneously.
Both countries are deploying border patrol police, possibly to replace soldiers.
ACM Sukumpol dismissed claims by the opposition Democrat Party that
the troop redeployment was in exchange for cooperation in energy
business interests in disputed maritime areas in the Gulf of Thailand.
He insisted the redeployment of troops would benefit both countries and ease tensions between the two sides.
Meanwhile, Ms Yingluck and Myanmar President Thein Sein yesterday had
a brief meeting during the Asean-United States Business Forum hosted by
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Phnom Penh.
Ms Yingluck said after the talks that she had asked Thein Sein to
help take care of 92 Thais detained in Myanmar and land encroachment
charges.
The prime minister said Thein Sein assured her that his government would give the arrested Thais justice and fairness.
Ms Yingluck said, however, that the Myanmar president insisted that
his government would press on with legal action against the detained
Thais, as they allegedly had weapons and explosives in their possession
when they were arrested.
The Thais have been arrested on suspicion of illegally encroaching on
land in Myanmar opposite to Ranong's Kra Buri district for a period of
nearly two weeks.
Thai officials said the suspects had been duped into buying land in Myanmar by a Thai gang.
They were allegedly cutting down trees and clearing an area to plant rubber trees there.
As for economic cooperation, Ms Yingluck said the two countries
agreed to help develop the Dawei deep seaport project in Myanmar and
related public infrastructure systems.
Thein Sein will pay an official visit to Thailand between July 22 and
July 24 and will travel to Laem Chabang deep-sea port in Chon Buri to
learn about its operations, she said.
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