UPDATE: Cambodia Tells Thailand To Pay Border Damages

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05-12-09

(Updates with Thailand rejection)

PHNOM PENH (AFP)--Cambodia has demanded that Thailand pay more than $2 million in compensation for damage caused by deadly border clashes last month, according to a diplomatic note seen Tuesday.

Seven Thai and Cambodian soldiers have been killed in recent months during sporadic outbursts of violence between the neighboring countries on disputed land around the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple.

In the latest clashes on April 3, three Thai soldiers were killed and a Cambodian market next to the temple ruins was burned down when Thai forces fired rockets over the border.

"The attack with heavy weapons by Thai troops on Cambodian territory...caused much damage and set a Cambodian market ablaze," said a diplomatic note sent to Thailand on Monday.

The material losses to 319 families who lost their livelihoods when the fire destroyed their market stalls amounted to more than $2.1 million, it said.

"The Royal Government of Cambodia demands that the Royal Thai government take full responsibility for these damages caused by Thai soldiers and to appropriately compensate the above losses," it said.

Thailand rejected the claim for damages, saying the incident happened on Thai soil and Cambodia would have to lodge a petition in a Thai court if it wanted to pursue the matter.

"We have always clearly stated that area belongs to Thailand and that Cambodian soldiers illegally trespassed into our territory," foreign ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said.

"We are working on the amount of compensation that we are seeking from Cambodia too, as our soldiers died," he said.

Soldiers from the two countries have been locked in a border standoff since last July, when Thailand was angered by the cliff-top temple being given U.N. World Heritage status.

Ownership of the temple was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 but the two countries are in dispute over five square kilometers of land around it that has yet to be officially demarcated.