Wednesday, 16 February 2011

Thailand Satisfied With UNSC Outcome

via CAAI

BANGKOK, Feb 15 (Bernama) -- Thailand believes the Asean informal Foreign Ministers Meeting in Jakarta next week will toe the line set by the United Nations Security in dealing with the Thai-Cambodia conflict over the disputed border.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said today he believed the other Asean countries would encourage Thailand and Cambodia to settle the matter through dialogue.

"We are satisfied with the outcome of the United Nations Security Council meeting last night which asked for the conflict to be settled through dialogue," he told reporters after chairing the weekly Cabinet meeting here.

UNSC has urged the two parties to establish a permanent ceasefire and resolve the situation peacefully and through dialogue.

Foreign Ministers Kasit Piromya of Thailand, Hor Namhong of Cambodia and Dr Marty Natalegawa of Indonesia, the current Asean Chair, attended the meeting in New York.

Kasit and Hor presented their respective case of the four-day clashes with heavy weapons starting Feb 4 at the border which claimed 10 lives from both sides.

Both countries are claiming an area of 4.6 square kilometers surrounding the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear Hindu Temple, located in Cambodia as ruled by the International Court of Justice in 1962 and listed as a world heritage site by Unesco in 2008.

Abhisit said Thailand had no objection to Asean facilitating the two sides to come to the negotiation table.

"We believed it could be resolved at the bilateral level, something we can resolve together as it involves a bilateral problem," Abhisit said.

Bangkok had planned to hold the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Border Committee meeting in this capital to iron out the border demarcation process late this month.

Asked about the Phnom Penh's response as initial news reports from Phnom Penh indicated reluctance to attend the meeting, Abhisit said:

"Give them some time (to respond). No deadline has been set for them to respond."

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