By Ek Madra
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Thailand and Cambodia must bury the hatchet in a dispute over a 900-year-old Hindu temple, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday, further easing fears the spat would escalate into military confrontation.
"We must not bring our countries to war just because of disputes on our border," Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla who won re-election last month, said in a live television broadcast. He has been prime minister for the past 23 years.
"We need to stay together as good neighbors for tens of thousands of years to come. We need to narrow our disputes and maximize bilateral cooperation, including trade," he said, striking a very different tone from the nationalist rhetoric of his campaign trail last month.
Both countries have sent hundreds of soldiers and artillery to lay claim to 1.8 square miles of scrub near the Preah Vihear temple, which sits on the jungle-clad escarpment that separates the two southeast Asian countries.
Talks between the countries' two foreign ministers the day after Cambodia's July 27 general election yielded vows to sort out the spat peacefully, but both sides have been reluctant to be the first to withdraw troops for fear of being painted as weak.
Hun Sen said he hoped another meeting between the two foreign ministers in Thailand on August 18 would help narrow the differences.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong will also pay a courtesy call to Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Hun Sen said.
He also said Phnom Penh was ready to withdraw its troops, echoing a Thai cabinet decision on Tuesday to assign a regional military commander to discuss troop "re-deployment" to calm tensions.
The spat erupted last month when protest groups trying to overthrow the Thai government attacked Bangkok's backing of Cambodia's bid to list Preah Vihear as a U.N. World Heritage site.
Preah Vihear has been claimed by both sides for decades, but was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962, a ruling that has rankled in Thailand ever since.
The row spread at the weekend to a second temple on the border although a military stand-off at the Ta Moan Thom site was averted when Thai troops pulled out late on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Nopporn Wong-Anan and Ed Cropley and Paul Tait)
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Thailand and Cambodia must bury the hatchet in a dispute over a 900-year-old Hindu temple, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday, further easing fears the spat would escalate into military confrontation.
"We must not bring our countries to war just because of disputes on our border," Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge guerrilla who won re-election last month, said in a live television broadcast. He has been prime minister for the past 23 years.
"We need to stay together as good neighbors for tens of thousands of years to come. We need to narrow our disputes and maximize bilateral cooperation, including trade," he said, striking a very different tone from the nationalist rhetoric of his campaign trail last month.
Both countries have sent hundreds of soldiers and artillery to lay claim to 1.8 square miles of scrub near the Preah Vihear temple, which sits on the jungle-clad escarpment that separates the two southeast Asian countries.
Talks between the countries' two foreign ministers the day after Cambodia's July 27 general election yielded vows to sort out the spat peacefully, but both sides have been reluctant to be the first to withdraw troops for fear of being painted as weak.
Hun Sen said he hoped another meeting between the two foreign ministers in Thailand on August 18 would help narrow the differences.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong will also pay a courtesy call to Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Hun Sen said.
He also said Phnom Penh was ready to withdraw its troops, echoing a Thai cabinet decision on Tuesday to assign a regional military commander to discuss troop "re-deployment" to calm tensions.
The spat erupted last month when protest groups trying to overthrow the Thai government attacked Bangkok's backing of Cambodia's bid to list Preah Vihear as a U.N. World Heritage site.
Preah Vihear has been claimed by both sides for decades, but was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962, a ruling that has rankled in Thailand ever since.
The row spread at the weekend to a second temple on the border although a military stand-off at the Ta Moan Thom site was averted when Thai troops pulled out late on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Nopporn Wong-Anan and Ed Cropley and Paul Tait)
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