A Cambodian soldier stands guard next to a buddhist monk Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple Photo: EPAA day after Cambodia warned that Thai troops must withdraw from a disputed border area or risk a "large-scale armed conflict", the two countries appear to have stepped back from the brink – for now at least.
Telegraph Media Group
By Thomas Bell in Bangkok
14 Oct 2008
But the area around a 900-year-old temple, where both countries claim 1.8 square miles of territory, remains tense and the two sides continued to offer conflicting accounts of the situation on the ground.
On Monday, Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister, gave a 24 hour ultimatum for 80 Thai troops allegedly inside Cambodia to withdraw. On Tuesday morning, the Cambodian commander, General Yim Pim, claimed the soldiers had moved back inside Thailand.
"The tense situation has now eased," he said.
But Thailand, which had earlier insisted that its troops were in its own territory, denied any withdrawal.
"There has been no troop movement," said the Thai army spokesman Sansern Kaewkumnerd. "The army wants the two countries to continue with bilateral talks, but if the situation escalates, we are ready."
Hundreds of troops and artillery have been facing each other across the heavily mined frontier since the crisis erupted in July. Both sides insist they are ready for war to protect what each regards as their sovereign territory.
Observers fear that with the area so heavily militarised that the smallest misjudgment could trigger a conflict. One Cambodian and two Thai soldiers were injured in an exchange of fire on October 3.
At the centre of it all is Preah Vihear, the spectacular ruin of a Hindu temple which the International Court of Justice ruled belongs to Cambodia in 1962.
No comments:
Post a Comment