More violence 'unlikely': M'sia

Asia One News

Tue, Oct 21, 2008
AFP

KUALA LUMPUR - VIOLENCE is unlikely to erupt again along Thailand and Cambodia's disputed border after South-east Asian leaders appealed for peace, Malaysia said Tuesday.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said Thailand would avoid further conflict as it was due to chair the 10-member Association of South-east Nations (Asean).

'The message (to stop violence) has been transmitted to them,' Mr Rais told reporters ahead of his meeting with Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat in Bangkok on Wednesday.

Malaysia will dispatch Rais to Phnom Penh to meet Prime Minister Hun Sen with a special message from Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the two countries to avoid military confrontation and restart peace talks.

'Prime Minister Abdullah earnestly hopes there would be a settlement ....,' Mr Rais said, adding that 'we should not resort to skirmishes or violence or the use of arms to settle disputes'.

He said Malaysia hoped the two countries would restart their peace talks quickly and Monday warned that the conflict could embarrass Asean which describes itself as a harmonious grouping.

Two Cambodian soldiers died during the shoot-out, while a third died a day later of smoke inhalation and illness which authorities said was linked to the clashes.

A Thai soldier who sustained shrapnel wounds to the head during a firefight died on Tuesday.

Tensions between Cambodia and Thailand flared in July when Preah Vihear was awarded UN World Heritage status, rekindling long-simmering tensions over ownership of land surrounding the temple. -- AFP