Thailand reopens national park near disputed temple

TopNews.in

by Sahil Nagpal
Tue, 02/10/2009

Bangkok - Provincial authorities on Tuesday reopened Phra Viharn National Park that has been closed for the past seven months because of a border spat with Cambodia over an ancient Hindu temple adjacent to the area.

"It's an arrangement at the local level," Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said. "We're letting the local people try it to see how smoothly it goes."

Phra Vihran National Park in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province, 350 kilometres north-east of Bangkok, has been closed to the public since July 14, 2008.

Provincial authorities won permission from the Thai army to reopen the park last week, in an effort to bring back tourism to the area.

But park visitors will not be permitted to cross the border into Cambodia to see Preah Vihear temple, a 11th-century Hindu monument that has been the cause of a sovereignty dispute between the two neighbouring countries for decades.

Preah Vihear, perched on a 525-metre-high cliff on the Dongrak mountain range that defines the Thai-Cambodian border, sparked a short border clash last July after UNESCO's listing of the temple as a World Heritage Site on July 9.

Cambodia's detention of three Thai nationals who refused to leave the temple to protest the listing prompted some 150 Thai paramilitary troops to cross into the disputed area and some 800 troops to be dispatched to the area in a show of force.

Cambodia responded by dispatching hundreds of its own troops as well, leading to a several border clashes that left two Cambodian soldiers dead and several Thais wounded.

Despite numerous bilateral talks since the flare-up, Thailand and Cambodia continue to keep troops posted in the temple's vicinity.

Thailand insists that the territory around the temple is still disputed.

Ownership of the 11th-century temple has been a bone of contention between the two countries for decades.

The temple was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the International Court in The Hague, but the surrounding border area is still disputed.

Many Thais were angered by UNESCO's decision to list the temple as a World Heritage Site before the dispute over the adjacent area was settled. (dpa)