Bangkok Post
Writer: Nattaya Chetchotiros and Sermpong Thongsamrit
Thailand has provided written observations
challenging the Preah Vihear "vicinity" map that Cambodia handed to the
International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The document was drawn up by the Thai legal team led by Thai
ambassador to The Netherlands Virachai Plasai, according to deputy
permanent secretary for foreign affairs Natthawut Photisaro. He declined
to reveal any further details, citing an ICJ directive.
"We have to obey the court until we are given permission to do
otherwise," Mr Natthawut said. The court will take about six months to
consider the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.
The two countries on April 26 submitted to the court maps outlining
their claims to the area surrounding the Preah Vihear temple after
making oral presentations from April 15-19.
The court ruled in 1962 that the temple belongs to Phnom Penh but it
did not make clear who owned what of the territory surrounding it,
prompting the border dispute.
Meanwhile, Thai military officers on Friday paid a visit to a
Cambodian border village in an attempt to strengthen bilateral ties amid
the legal battle in The Hague. The Suranari Task Force delegation, led
by its deputy chief Col Sanya Kiattisan, visited Ban Sashuk in Anlong
Veng district of northwestern Oddar Meanchey province.
The delegation was welcomed by Col Chea Sophea, deputy chief of staff of the Cambodian army's 4th Region.
Villagers showed the visitors how they have successfully adapted to self-sufficiency agricultural techniques.
Ban Sashuk residents make their own fertiliser and also rear catfish and chickens for their own consumption.
The villagers told the military delegation they had learnt a great deal from Thai farmers living near the border.
The exchange of farming techniques is common among border area
farmers and is considered an act of friendship, village head Yua Hom
said.
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