Riot police try to stop Thai nationalist protesters from breaking through a blockade on a highway to the disputed Hindu temple on the Cambodian border. (REUTERS)
The Peninsula Online
7/18/2008
Source ::: AFP
preah vihear • Cambodian Premier Hun Sen urged Thailand yesterday to withdraw its troops, warning a "worsening" border row was damaging relations between the two
neighbours.
Hun Sen wrote to Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej asking him to "ease the tensions and order the Thais to withdraw from the area," as more than 400 Thai troops stood on the border.
"The situation has worsened due to the continuing increase of the number of Thai military inside and around the area," he wrote in the letter, given to reporters.
"The deteriorating situation is very bad for the relations between our countries."
More than 400 Thai troops and more than 800 Cambodian soldiers remain assembled around a small Buddhist pagoda on the slope of a mountain leading to the ruins of an ancient temple at the centre of the dispute.
Cambodia accuses Thailand of sending troops across the border after three protesters illegally broke across on Tuesday vowing to reclaim the Preah Vihear temple, which they say rightly belongs to them.
However Thailand continues to deny the trespass, insisting the soldiers remain on their own soil.
The two prime ministers spoke on Wednesday and agreed to hold talks next week to resolve the standoff, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.
Cambodia said it would send its defence minister to Monday's talks. Samak has yet to confirm whether he will attend or send his army chief.
He told reporters yesterday he blames the situation on the three Thai protesters.
7/18/2008
Source ::: AFP
preah vihear • Cambodian Premier Hun Sen urged Thailand yesterday to withdraw its troops, warning a "worsening" border row was damaging relations between the two
neighbours.
Hun Sen wrote to Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej asking him to "ease the tensions and order the Thais to withdraw from the area," as more than 400 Thai troops stood on the border.
"The situation has worsened due to the continuing increase of the number of Thai military inside and around the area," he wrote in the letter, given to reporters.
"The deteriorating situation is very bad for the relations between our countries."
More than 400 Thai troops and more than 800 Cambodian soldiers remain assembled around a small Buddhist pagoda on the slope of a mountain leading to the ruins of an ancient temple at the centre of the dispute.
Cambodia accuses Thailand of sending troops across the border after three protesters illegally broke across on Tuesday vowing to reclaim the Preah Vihear temple, which they say rightly belongs to them.
However Thailand continues to deny the trespass, insisting the soldiers remain on their own soil.
The two prime ministers spoke on Wednesday and agreed to hold talks next week to resolve the standoff, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.
Cambodia said it would send its defence minister to Monday's talks. Samak has yet to confirm whether he will attend or send his army chief.
He told reporters yesterday he blames the situation on the three Thai protesters.
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