Gen. Chhum socheat (R) confers with Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan.PHNOM PENH, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged gunfire in the disputed border area for the fourth consecutive day on Monday.
Thai troops fired artillery shell into Cambodian territory over the disputed border area at the Ta Moan temple in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday afternoon, the spokesman said.
"At 1: 45 p.m. Thai forces had fired six rounds of artillery at the area near Ta Moan temple," Lieutenant General Chhum Socheat, the spokesman for Cambodian Ministry of Defense, told Xinhua by telephone.
No casualties were available now from the latest clash which marks the fourth straight day of conflict on Thai-Cambodian border. Both sides blamed each other for triggering the clashes.
Meanwhile, Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, Royal Thai Army spokesperson, told Xinhua that a clash occurred at around 10 a.m. near the 13th-century Ta Muen Thom temple in Phanom Dong Rak district of northeastern Surin province.
"Some four to five artillery shells landed on Thai territory but no further casualty was reported," Col. Sansern said.
The spokesman also admitted that sporadic skirmishes continued as noise of rifle, machine-gun and mortar were heard continually from the area.
The clashes from April 22 to 24 around Ta Muen Thom temple and Ta Kwai temple, known in Cambodian as Ta Moan temple and Ta Krabei temple respectively, on Thai-Cambodian border left five Thai soldiers dead and at least 25 others wounded. On Cambodian side, there were six troops killed and 16 others wounded during the fighting.
The fresh clashes came after the four-day conflict in February across the disputed border area near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple claimed at least 10 lives of soldiers on both sides.
Chhum Socheat said that despite Thai insistence on bilateral talks with Cambodia to solve the border dispute, Cambodia kept its firm stance to hold talks with Thailand with the third party mediation.
He added that Thai's ambition was to capture the 13th century Ta Moan temple and Ta Krabei temple in Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province, which shares the border with Thailand's Surin province.
"So far, we have maintained all our bases, and have not lost any positions to Thailand," he said.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, current rotating ASEAN chair, canceled his original plan to visit Cambodia and Thailand on Monday to discuss sending observers to monitor ceasefire on border between Cambodia and Thailand.
Koy Kuong, spokesman of Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said that Marty did not explained the reason for the cancellation and mention when he would rearrange the visit.
"I just suspect that his visit cancellation is due to Thai disagreement to sign the terms of reference for the deployment of the Indonesian observers at disputed border areas to prevent further armed clashes," he said.
As of Monday afternoon, 21,893 have fled their homes in Oddar Meanchey province's Samrong district and Banteay Ampil district, some 30 kilometers from the fighting zone, Ly Thuch, chief of the Cambodian National Committee for Disaster Management, told Xinhua by telephone.
"As the situation remains tense, I believe that more Cambodian villagers will continue fleeing home for safe shelters," he said.
Editor: Fang Yang
Thai troops fired artillery shell into Cambodian territory over the disputed border area at the Ta Moan temple in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday afternoon, the spokesman said.
"At 1: 45 p.m. Thai forces had fired six rounds of artillery at the area near Ta Moan temple," Lieutenant General Chhum Socheat, the spokesman for Cambodian Ministry of Defense, told Xinhua by telephone.
No casualties were available now from the latest clash which marks the fourth straight day of conflict on Thai-Cambodian border. Both sides blamed each other for triggering the clashes.
Meanwhile, Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, Royal Thai Army spokesperson, told Xinhua that a clash occurred at around 10 a.m. near the 13th-century Ta Muen Thom temple in Phanom Dong Rak district of northeastern Surin province.
"Some four to five artillery shells landed on Thai territory but no further casualty was reported," Col. Sansern said.
The spokesman also admitted that sporadic skirmishes continued as noise of rifle, machine-gun and mortar were heard continually from the area.
The clashes from April 22 to 24 around Ta Muen Thom temple and Ta Kwai temple, known in Cambodian as Ta Moan temple and Ta Krabei temple respectively, on Thai-Cambodian border left five Thai soldiers dead and at least 25 others wounded. On Cambodian side, there were six troops killed and 16 others wounded during the fighting.
The fresh clashes came after the four-day conflict in February across the disputed border area near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple claimed at least 10 lives of soldiers on both sides.
Chhum Socheat said that despite Thai insistence on bilateral talks with Cambodia to solve the border dispute, Cambodia kept its firm stance to hold talks with Thailand with the third party mediation.
He added that Thai's ambition was to capture the 13th century Ta Moan temple and Ta Krabei temple in Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province, which shares the border with Thailand's Surin province.
"So far, we have maintained all our bases, and have not lost any positions to Thailand," he said.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, current rotating ASEAN chair, canceled his original plan to visit Cambodia and Thailand on Monday to discuss sending observers to monitor ceasefire on border between Cambodia and Thailand.
Koy Kuong, spokesman of Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said that Marty did not explained the reason for the cancellation and mention when he would rearrange the visit.
"I just suspect that his visit cancellation is due to Thai disagreement to sign the terms of reference for the deployment of the Indonesian observers at disputed border areas to prevent further armed clashes," he said.
As of Monday afternoon, 21,893 have fled their homes in Oddar Meanchey province's Samrong district and Banteay Ampil district, some 30 kilometers from the fighting zone, Ly Thuch, chief of the Cambodian National Committee for Disaster Management, told Xinhua by telephone.
"As the situation remains tense, I believe that more Cambodian villagers will continue fleeing home for safe shelters," he said.
Editor: Fang Yang
5 comments:
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5137712
25/04/2011
UN chief calls on Cambodia, Thailand for ceasefire
Moscow, April 25 (IANS/RIA Novosti) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on warring Cambodia and Thailand to declare a ceasefire, as border clashes between the two countries continued for a third day, BBC reported Sunday.
'The secretary-general calls on both sides to exercise maximum restraint and to take immediate measures to put in place for an effective and verifiable ceasefire,' BBC quoted an UN spokesman Martin Nesirky as saying.
Clashes on the disputed border between Thailand and Cambodia intensified Friday, leaving four Thai and three Cambodian servicemen dead. By Sunday, the conflict left up to 10 soldiers from both sides dead, according to Bangkok Post figures.
Border conflicts between the two states over the ownership of the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple that began a century ago resumed in 2010-2011. The two neighbours fought a four-day war near the temple this February, and a ceasefire has been in place since March.
The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been demarcated in detail.
The Preah Vihear temple was awarded to Cambodia in a 1962 ruling by the World Court, but the issue of sovereignty over the adjacent land was not resolved and remains a point of contention between the Southeast Asian neighbours.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2011042555021700.htm&date=2011/04/25/&prd=th&
SINGAPORE: The sound of gunfire along the Thai-Cambodia border on Sunday appeared to have fallen silent, at least for the moment, after an emphatic call by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for “immediate measures for an effective and verifiable ceasefire”.
As on the preceding two days of intermittent fighting, Cambodia and Thailand blamed each other for starting Sunday's clash. However, even as their defence forces counted new casualties and as more civilians in the troubled areas were evacuated, the political focus shifted to the differences over ways to end the crisis.
In Bangkok, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Thailand “will not fall into Cambodia's trap of inflating the issue” of title to a few temples along their border and arguing that the competing claims could not be resolved bilaterally. However, the real issue, in his view, was that Thai sovereignty was at stake and direct talks with Cambodia were needed to address this.
Also seeking to dispel the impression that the Thai military was orchestrating this crisis for domestic political reasons, Mr. Abhisit said he was in constant communication with the defence leaders.
In Phnom Penh, the Foreign Ministry rejected what it described as Thailand's “slanderous and false allegation” that Cambodia was to blame for the starting the current round of hostilities. The only way forward was to allow the deployment of Indonesian military observers along the border between Thailand and Cambodia.
However, Thailand had not yet accepted the draft terms for such a deployment, although the three countries had agreed, several weeks ago, that the Indonesian observers could help prevent clashes, the Cambodian Foreign Ministry said.
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http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?sec=3&id=18609
Political will missing to end border row
Editorial Desk
The Nation (Thailand)
Publication Date : 25-04-2011
Thailand needs to understand that the longer this conflict drags on, the more the country stands to lose internationally. Thailand is being seen as a big bad wolf for not coming to terms over the ownership of the ancient Hindu Temple, Preah Vihear, while the smaller Cambodia is the victim of a neighbour's internal domestic politics.
Bangkok always complains about Cambodia wanting to internationalise the issue. But like it or not, the boundary dispute between the neighbouring countries has already been internationalised, as Phnom Penh was successful in bringing it to the United Nations Security Council and later to an informal meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
(full story see url above)
Why Chhum Socheat cry? He didn't cry before?
25 april 11:15pm
someone unofficially stated that we lost some military commanders. i heard someone say General Pol Ream was killed by a Thai Sniper Squad.
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