End of discussion

The Bangkok Post

Phnom Penh - Talks between the foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand are over for now - at least until Cambodia forms a new government, expected in late September, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Monday. Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit suggested Cambodia pull back its troops from a second disputed temple area.

"There will be no more meetings. Wait until the new government is formed," Kanharith said at a press conference for the visit of Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

Instead, discussions would be left to the border committees on both sides for now, he said. The tensions on the northern border auger badly for pending negotiations over disputed sea borders which hold potentially rich oil fields in the balance.

Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said on Monday that Phnom Penh is committed to avoiding a shooting conflict. "The situation along the border has not yet reached emergency state," he told reporters.

In Bangkok, official Thai News Agency reported that Gen Boonsrang had asked his Border Affairs Department to pass a message to Cambodian Defence Minster Tea Banh:

"We ask Cambodia to move their soldiers, who are near the Ta Muen Thom temple," he said. "I have not received the response yet."

Reports on Sunday that a second temple on the Thai- Cambodian border has been occupied by Thai troops has drawn an angry reaction from the public. Click here for earlier Bangkok Post report.

Gen Boonsrang said a small group of Cambodian soldiers advanced on Sunday or Monday towards the temple.

Ta Muen Thom ruin sits in the Thai border district of Phanom Dong Rak in the northeastern province of Surin, but Cambodia claims that the ruin is in Cambodia's northern Banteay Meanchey. The demarcation between the two countries has not yet been settled by the Thailand-Cambodia General Border Committee (GBC).

Gen Boonsrang denied that Thailand had increased the number of troops stationed at Ta Muen Thom, and he declined to comment on ownership of the ruin.

"I don't want to answer other questions, otherwise it will escalate," he said.

Cambodia has said it will take the border dispute surrounding ancient temples the United Nations Security Council if bilateral talks fail.

Tensions flared on July 15 when Cambodia detained briefly three Thai protestors it said had strayed into Cambodian land after Preah Vihear temple was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site against Thai wishes. Thailand retaliated by sending in troops.

Sunday the dispute spread to Ta Muen Thom temple, hundreds of kilometres to the west, further straining relations.

Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti prime minister had some poignant words for Cambodia Monday during his 3-day official visit, Kanharith said.

"He told us once Kuwait was invaded by Iraq but now it has an embassy in Iraq," Kanharith said, referring to the 1991 Gulf War.

"Kuwait wants to solve problems by peaceful means ... not fighting." (dpa)