Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON Cambodian soldier Mom Kiri (right) greets a Thai trooper who came back to the scene of fighting Thursday to collect his belongings.
Refugees and robbers cause chaos on flight from war
Wednesday's violent clashes near Preah Vihear between Cambodian and Thai troops have caused chaos along the border, villagers say, with people fleeing their homes and the roadways becoming hunting grounds in some places for highwaymen preying on refugees. “Robbers are taking motorbikes from people – last night four or five bikes were taken,” said the owner of the China Guesthouse, who gave her name as Kosal, in the border town O’Smach. “O’Smach is very quiet now, even the market is closed,” she said Thursday. “I am very scared to live here, but I have to remain because I am also afraid that someone will break into my house and steal my belongings,” she added. The roads between Preah Vihear and Siem Reap are full of people fleeing – often packed with what belongings they could carry on the back of motorbikes and in cars. According to Kosal, taxi drivers are taking advantage of the panic by more than tripling normal fares to as much as 100,000 riels (US$25) per seat. In Sa Em town, near Preah Vihear, one villager watched the flow of people saying, “They are so afraid of war.”
REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA AND SAM RITH
THE PHNOM PENH POST
Written by Cheang Sokha and Tracey Shelton
Friday, 17 October 2008
International community expresses alarm over violent clash on the Thai-Cambodian border, but troops on the ground manage a tenuous peace less than a day after trying to kill one another
Wednesday's violent clashes near Preah Vihear between Cambodian and Thai troops have caused chaos along the border, villagers say, with people fleeing their homes and the roadways becoming hunting grounds in some places for highwaymen preying on refugees. “Robbers are taking motorbikes from people – last night four or five bikes were taken,” said the owner of the China Guesthouse, who gave her name as Kosal, in the border town O’Smach. “O’Smach is very quiet now, even the market is closed,” she said Thursday. “I am very scared to live here, but I have to remain because I am also afraid that someone will break into my house and steal my belongings,” she added. The roads between Preah Vihear and Siem Reap are full of people fleeing – often packed with what belongings they could carry on the back of motorbikes and in cars. According to Kosal, taxi drivers are taking advantage of the panic by more than tripling normal fares to as much as 100,000 riels (US$25) per seat. In Sa Em town, near Preah Vihear, one villager watched the flow of people saying, “They are so afraid of war.”
REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA AND SAM RITH
THE PHNOM PENH POST
Written by Cheang Sokha and Tracey Shelton
Friday, 17 October 2008
International community expresses alarm over violent clash on the Thai-Cambodian border, but troops on the ground manage a tenuous peace less than a day after trying to kill one another
Preah Vihear
IF not for the splintered tree trunks and bullet holes torn through plastic tent covers, it would have been hard to tell that this patch of scrub forest near Preah Vihear was just a day earlier the scene of the worst violence in the three-month standoff between Cambodian and Thai soldiers over disputed border territory.
Thai troops, who less than 24 hours earlier were engaged in a deadly exchange of rocket and automatic rifle fire with Cambodian adversaries, slowly trickled back into the camps the two sides have been sharing for weeks to ask, somewhat sheepishly, for their weapons and belongings back.
"We didn't touch anything," Cambodian soldiers Mom Kiri told the Post after chatting with a Thai trooper who wanted to retrieve a bedroll. "We left it here for them."
The Thai, smiling, said, "They are our Cambodian brothers."
But while an uneasy quiet returns to the front line, which has seen the largest recent buildup of military personnel and equipment, concern is rising internationally.
Numerous world powers have turned their attention to this tiny border spat, calling for the border dispute to be resolved by talks rather than bullets.
Rising alarm
UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern about the exchange of gunfire, urging both sides to show restraint.
"The secretary general is deeply concerned about the exchange of gunfire [Wednesday] along the Cambodia-Thailand border and the reported casualties," said a statement issued by his spokeswoman Michele Montas.
"He calls on both parties to exercise utmost restraint and urges them to expedite bilateral talks so that their differences can be resolved peacefully," it added.
The United States and Britain also weighed in.
"We've noticed an uptick over the past couple of days in the tensions on both sides of the borders," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
"We would urge restraint on both sides, to refrain from any use of violence or any provocation to the other side, and to resolve what are clear differences over a border area," McCormack said.China - Cambodia's largest foreign donor - said it was alarmed over the fighting, which left at least two Cambodian soldiers dead and several other troops from both sides wounded.
"We express concern about the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.
"We hope the two countries will maintain restraint and resolve the conflict properly through dialogue."
" WE HOPE THE TWO COUNTRIES WILL MAINTAIN RESTRAINT AND RESOLVE THE CONFLICT. "
Fleeing back home
More than 400 Thais have fled Cambodia after Wednesday's clash, a Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.
No official evacuation plan is in place, but the ministry has urged all Thais not on urgent business to come home. Spokesman Tharit Charungvat said that 432 of about 1,500 Thais in Phnom Penh have so far heeded the warning.
"We have convinced them to return," Tharit said.
Military transport planes remain on standby in case an evacuation plan needs to be implemented, he added.
Thai nationals were last evacuated from Cambodia in 2003 during the anti-Thai riots, when the Thai embassy was burned.
Land mine denial
Amid ongoing finger-pointing over who sparked off the most recent border violence, Cambodia denied that it has recently laid land mines along the disputed border.
"Cambodia strongly reaffirms the fact that land mines in this border area are the remnants of almost three decades of war," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement released Thursday.
Two Thai soldiers were wounded after stepping on mines near the Cambodian front lines earlier this month, sparking accusations that Cambodia had mined the border.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
IF not for the splintered tree trunks and bullet holes torn through plastic tent covers, it would have been hard to tell that this patch of scrub forest near Preah Vihear was just a day earlier the scene of the worst violence in the three-month standoff between Cambodian and Thai soldiers over disputed border territory.
Thai troops, who less than 24 hours earlier were engaged in a deadly exchange of rocket and automatic rifle fire with Cambodian adversaries, slowly trickled back into the camps the two sides have been sharing for weeks to ask, somewhat sheepishly, for their weapons and belongings back.
"We didn't touch anything," Cambodian soldiers Mom Kiri told the Post after chatting with a Thai trooper who wanted to retrieve a bedroll. "We left it here for them."
The Thai, smiling, said, "They are our Cambodian brothers."
But while an uneasy quiet returns to the front line, which has seen the largest recent buildup of military personnel and equipment, concern is rising internationally.
Numerous world powers have turned their attention to this tiny border spat, calling for the border dispute to be resolved by talks rather than bullets.
Rising alarm
UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern about the exchange of gunfire, urging both sides to show restraint.
"The secretary general is deeply concerned about the exchange of gunfire [Wednesday] along the Cambodia-Thailand border and the reported casualties," said a statement issued by his spokeswoman Michele Montas.
"He calls on both parties to exercise utmost restraint and urges them to expedite bilateral talks so that their differences can be resolved peacefully," it added.
The United States and Britain also weighed in.
"We've noticed an uptick over the past couple of days in the tensions on both sides of the borders," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
"We would urge restraint on both sides, to refrain from any use of violence or any provocation to the other side, and to resolve what are clear differences over a border area," McCormack said.China - Cambodia's largest foreign donor - said it was alarmed over the fighting, which left at least two Cambodian soldiers dead and several other troops from both sides wounded.
"We express concern about the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.
"We hope the two countries will maintain restraint and resolve the conflict properly through dialogue."
" WE HOPE THE TWO COUNTRIES WILL MAINTAIN RESTRAINT AND RESOLVE THE CONFLICT. "
Fleeing back home
More than 400 Thais have fled Cambodia after Wednesday's clash, a Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.
No official evacuation plan is in place, but the ministry has urged all Thais not on urgent business to come home. Spokesman Tharit Charungvat said that 432 of about 1,500 Thais in Phnom Penh have so far heeded the warning.
"We have convinced them to return," Tharit said.
Military transport planes remain on standby in case an evacuation plan needs to be implemented, he added.
Thai nationals were last evacuated from Cambodia in 2003 during the anti-Thai riots, when the Thai embassy was burned.
Land mine denial
Amid ongoing finger-pointing over who sparked off the most recent border violence, Cambodia denied that it has recently laid land mines along the disputed border.
"Cambodia strongly reaffirms the fact that land mines in this border area are the remnants of almost three decades of war," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement released Thursday.
Two Thai soldiers were wounded after stepping on mines near the Cambodian front lines earlier this month, sparking accusations that Cambodia had mined the border.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
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