Associated Press
2009-09-28
(Post in CAAI News Media)
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that anyone from Thailand who illegally intrudes into Cambodian territory claimed by both countries will be shot.
He also said that if Thai officials seeking to negotiate the border demarcation line present their own maps during bilateral talks, Cambodian officials should tear them up or walk out.
Speaking at the opening of the Tourism Ministry's new office in the capital, Phnom Penh, he charged that Thailand's leaders wanted to base their territorial claims on maps they drew up themselves because they wanted to occupy Cambodia's land.
A long-running dispute over territory heated up in July 2008 when UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, approved Cambodia's bid to have the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, located on the border, named a World Heritage Site. Thailand initially supported the bid but then reneged after the move sparked outrage and protests.
Both sides rushed troops to the border, which resulted in several small gun battles.
The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over the surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.
Hun Sen said for negotiations, Cambodia would accept only maps drawn up jointly by Thailand and France in 1904 and accepted as official by Thailand at the time.
"Any map not recognized internationally that the Thais submit for negotiation, please tear it up and I will do so also if in front of the Thai prime minister if he presents such a map for talks," Hun Sen said.
Thai government officials were not immediately available to comment on the remarks.
The Cambodian leader also denounced a Thai nationalist group that recently tried to march to the border to present its claim concerning the 1.8 square miles (4.6 square kilometers) of disputed land near the temple.
Cambodian soldiers will use their weapons to protect the country's territory and will not allow such protesters to occupy Preah Vihear temple, he said.
"Whether civilians or military officers, whenever they enter illegally (into Cambodia territory), they will be shot," Hun Sen said.
The People's Alliance for Democracy blames current and past Thai governments for failing to protect national land and sovereignty. Several hundred of its members tried to force their way to the border on Sept. 19, triggering clashes with villagers and police that left at least 17 people injured.
The alliance is the same group that last year occupied the prime minister's offices in Bangkok for three months and seized the Thai capital's two airports for a week to try to bring down governments they opposed.
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