Talks stall in Siem Reap

Cambodge Soir

23-10-2008

Military commanders took part in a border co-operation meeting on October 23, but the Thai side declared it was not "competent" when the border issue was raised.

Commanding Officer Chea Morn, in charge of military zone 4 in Cambodia, and Lieutenant Wiboonsak, the representative of the Thai military authorities in charge of zone 2,met on Thursday October 23 in Siem Reap.

These are regular meetings where the routine agenda deals with economic and security issues in border areas (Siem Reap, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear and Kampong Thom in Cambodia, Surin, Boreiram, Ubon and Sisaket in Thailand).

“This time when we tried to touch upon the border issue, at 3pm, the Thai side ended the meeting as it declared that it was not competent to deal with this issue” declared a Cambodian participant to Cambodge Soir Hebdo.

“Usually these meetings deal with trade and tourism but this time we will focus on the border row” had declared on the morning prior to the meeting, Neang Phath, the Cambodian Secretary of State for Defence.

It was the eleventh meeting of this kind. The meeting should reconvene on Friday October 24 but the agenda has not yet been set.

Hun Sen and Somchai Wongsawat should also touch upon the Preah Vihear row on Friday October 24 in Beijing within the framework of the Asean-European Union summit.

Ung Chamroeun