Heritage site proposal deadlocked

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Published on May 13, 2008

Cambodia and Thailand struggle to resolve the Preah Vihear temple issue

Negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia over a proposal to list the Preah Vihear temple as a United Nations Educational Science and Culture Organisation (Unesco) World Heritage Site are now approaching a deadlock as available options are not getting accepted.

The Thai military chief of staff General Songkitti Jaggabatara suggested the Unesco postpone considering the proposal if both sides fail to reach an agreement before the world heritage committee makes its final decision in July in Canada.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962 ruled that the ancient Hindu temple of Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia and Thailand has no right to object, according to Phnom Penh.

However, the point of contention is the overlapping area of 4.6 square kilometres around the temple - claimed by both sides - which Cambodia has included in its proposal. Thailand opposed the proposal on the grounds that both sides have not yet reached a proper solution.

Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niumpradit said Thailand could not allow Cambodia to claim the area in question, because it would automatically go under Cambodian sovereignty.

"Only the joint technical committee has the right to decide on the overlapping area. We cannot depend on different maps and claim it," he said.

Thailand and Cambodia formed the Joint Boundary Commission to demarcate the border but the commission has made little progress on the demarcation of the 640km land boundary.

It will take another 10 years to complete the demarcation, the Foreign Ministry's legal expert Virachai Plasai said. Virachai is also the former director of the Treaties and Legal Affairs Department.

Both sides agreed in 2000 to make no changes in the overlapping area before completion of the demarcation.

So far, Cambodia has built a Buddhist temple and developed communities in 2004, constructed a road in 2005 and deployed armed forces in late 2007 in the overlapping area, prompting official protests from Thailand that such moves were deemed a violation of Thai sovereignty.

Cambodia's Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said his government rejected the protests.

Phnom Penh claimed the area as its own, in accordance with the 1904 French Indo-China and Siam Treaty, which indicated the watershed of Dongrak mountain range as the border.

The treaty itself did not make anything clear until the annexed map drawn by the French experts suggested that in the eastern sector of the Dongrak range, in which Preah Vihear is situated, the frontier was to follow the watershed line, meaning it was to be on the Cambodian side.

The Hindu temple was built on the edge of the cliff. Thailand considers the cliff the watershed, while Cambodia sees the watershed as located far from it.

Cambodia argued that Thailand had already accepted the annexed map since the ICJ's ruling. Phnom Penh issued a decree in 2004 to claim the 4.6-square-kilometre area.

However, in 2005, the Thai Cabinet interpreted the court ruling differently, saying the court ruled only on the temple and not the boundary, so Thailand retained its right over the area. The ICJ ordered withdrawal of Thai troops from the temple but never said anything about the area around it.

There were three options to settle the dispute. First, Cambodia was to list the temple as a world heritage site without changing the status quo of the boundary.

The Thai military disagreed, as it feared Phnom Penh would automatically claim the peripheral area.

Second, the site would not be listed before the completion of boundary demarcation.

This option is unlikely to be accepted by Cambodia, as it would take years.

The final option, suggested by the Thai Foreign Ministry, is to have a joint contemporary regime for the administration of the site.

The option is under negotiation, but Phnom Penh is reluctant to allow Thais to share the right to run the temple. The deadlock is not easy to break.