By: BangkokPost.com
Published: 3/07/2009
Thailand and Cambodia on Friday began to cut down on the numbers of their troops along the border near Preah Vihear temple.
Mr Suthep said this should help ease the tension along the sensitive frontier.
He and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had agreed during talks last weekend that the border dispute should be settled by peaceful means.
The deputy prime minister will tomorrow leave for Phnom Penh for another meeting with Mr Hun Sen.
In a related development, local administrative officials and the Second Army on Friday decided to call off a planned evacuation drill and the annual refreshment training for village defence units along the Thai-Cambodian for fear that they might be seen by Cambodia as preparations for a combat situation.
The planned evacuation drill and refreshment training were to involve troops of the Suranaree Task Force and the 23rd Rangers Task Force in Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district.
According to Col Thanya Kiatsarn, commander of the 23rd Rangers Task Force, the drill was originally to be carried out under a scenario that the enemy's four artillery rounds had landed on Phum Sarol village, causing four villagers wounded, two of them seriously. The village headman, therefore, told the villagers to collect their necessities and get ready to evacuate from the village immediately to a reception area 11km away.
Col Thanya said some local media mistook the evacuation drill as having been actually ordered by the district chief after the situation around Preah Vihear became tense. It was a case of wrong communication. Therefore, the drill was called off to prevent misunderstanding on the part of Cambodia, he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment