Thai, Cambodian forces build up along border: Cambodia

Cambodian soldiers stand guard in front of a Cambodian pagoda close to Preah Vihear temple

Cambodian Buddhist monks walk at Preah Vihear temple

Thai soldiers are seen near the Thai border with Cambodia

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AFP) — Thailand and Cambodia have built up forces at more points along their common border, stepping up a week-long standoff over disputed territory, Cambodian officials said Wednesday.

More than 500 Thai troops are facing off against at least 1,000 Cambodian soldiers over a tiny area of land near the ancient Preah Vihear temple, but thousands more Thai troops have been positioned along the border, they said.

"There are about 1,000 Thai troops in their territory -- there's a military build-up there," said Cambodian cabinet spokesman Phay Siphan, who estimated about 4,000 Thai troops in total have gathered across the entire border.

But Thailand denied it was reinforcing the frontier.

"Thailand has not been building up forces along the border," deputy army spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong told AFP.

"We maintain the same amount of soldiers, and more than 400 soldiers were sent to the overlapping area."

Cambodian officials said both sides had sent more troops and heavy weapons to a spot near the former Khmer Rouge stronghold Anlong Veng, where there is also disputed territory.

"There are more (Thai) troops now at Anlong Veng than there are here (at Preah Vihear). There are tanks and artillery," said a military official on condition of anonymity.

Cambodia has also sent heavy weapons to the area, said the Cambodian colonel, who has close ties to Thai armed forces

In neighbouring Banteay Meanchay province, police chief Hun Hean said Thailand had increased its troop presence directly across the border by up to 600 since the standoff began July 15.

Thailand and Cambodia have both stationed troops on a small piece of disputed soil near a small Buddhist pagoda at the foot of the mountain leading to the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

Although Thailand says it wants to solve the dispute through bilateral talks, Thailand's UN ambassador said the issue would be raised at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday at Cambodia's request.

The dispute erupted after three nationalist Thai protesters were arrested last week for jumping a barbed-wire fence to reach the temple, prompting armed troops to head to the border.

Towards Hun Sen's Cambodia

The one-eyed, Chain-smoking "strongman of Cambodia"

Asia Times Online
Southeast Asia
Jul 23, 2008

By Craig Guthrie PHNOM PENH - Even though Cambodia goes to the polls Sunday for the country's fourth general election since Vietnamese occupation ended in 1989, Prime Minister Hun Sen can comfortably escape the chaotic campaign noise in his heavily guarded, villa-studded compound in suburban Phnom Penh and light up a well-earned 555 cigarette - his smoke of choice since his soldiering days.

The one-eyed, chain-smoking "Strongman of Cambodia" could play a casual round of golf at the private course kept groomed at the complex known to locals as the "Tiger's Lair", or maybe take a helicopter trip from the adjacent military airfield used to whisk him up and down his impoverished nation. In fact, as his foes rally and march around the capital, it probably doesn't matter much what Hun Sen does.

Outside in the streets, colorful campaign convoys are clogging Phnom Penh's frangipani-lined boulevards, with truck-mounted bullhorns and the frenetic clashing of cymbals and drums promoting their respective candidates. The scenes are colorful and vibrant, the atmosphere intense, but many say the underlying political picture is actually black and white.

By all accounts, 57-year-old Hun Sen, in power since 1985, has little to worry from the oncoming polls; in recent months he has increasingly consolidated his hold over the electorate through a masterful opera of jibes, scaremongering and gold-toothed charm.

By outfoxing an already fractured opposition, wooing billions in foreign investment and artfully placating the once-powerful labor movement and previously hostile superpowers, the master manipulator has again outmaneuvered his rivals.

Hun Sen - riding a booming economy, hard-won social stability and a vast network of patronage and blood relations [One big happy family in Cambodia, Asia Times Online, March 20, 2007] - has all but ensured that he and his formerly communist Cambodian People's Party (CPP) will head the country when the potentially boundless riches from oil deposits, found by Chevron off the southwestern coast, begin to flow.

Hun Sen is in full grip of the nation's institutions and tightly aligned with its wealthiest tycoons. He has predicted that his CPP machine will win 81of the National Assembly's 123 seats and 73% of the vote. The margin of victory is probably immaterial, since the country, as proposed by opposition party leader Sam Rainsy, adopted a 50-plus-one seat requirement in 2004 to form a government, replacing the previous two-thirds of the vote rule. The proposal was passed to avoid a repeat of the political stalemates which destabilized the country following the 1998 and 2003 elections, and resulted in fractious coalition governments.

Even so, Hun Sen has been openly deriding his opponent's chances for months. In recent weeks he has told them they can "stay at home" on election day, and has announced that he himself will sit out the last few weeks of the campaign in order to avoid "verbal confrontations".

In another speech, the prime minister pre-picked his cabinet while comparing his management style to Manchester United's football manager Alex Ferguson. This is classic Hun Sen: a powerful orator who mixes paddy-field populism, personal potshots and home-spun humor to embolden his allies and intimidate his foes. In 2006, he laughed at a foiled government attack, saying in a speech reported by the Phnom Penh Post: "I know all. Even if you farted, I would still know. You cannot hide from me."


In the past he has said he has no intention of standing down as prime minister until he is at least 90 years old. This would be a remarkable run: he became the Vietnamese-backed premier of Cambodia in 1985, when he was 33.

As the country some call Asia's "best kept secret" heads into its Fourth Mandate - what the new government will be called - Cambodia is more than ever Hun Sen's nation. This sits poorly with his legion of critics, some of whom have labeled the CPP regime a corrupt "kleptocratic elite" with little regard for the millions of rural rice farmers living in abject poverty. Others, including diplomats, say worse.

In 2006, UN high commissioner for human rights Louis Arbour called the problems within the Cambodian judiciary "profound". Dr Lao Mong Hay, senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission, wrote in a June 18 editorial,

...institutions remain subject to the control inherited from pre-1993 communist days, and are utilized to serve the interests of the ruling class rather than those of the people. Although Cambodia has held periodic elections, and preparations for the forthcoming election are underway, its multi-party, liberal democracy has little substance

The National Election Committee is regularly accused by the opposition of a lack of independence, and many independent election monitoring groups have alleged that state resources and media have been deployed to the ruling party's electoral advantage.

"Never assume that Cambodia is a democracy," said Chea Vannath, a political commentator. "If a democracy is when a nation is ruled by a government chosen by its people, yes, Cambodia is democratic. But in terms of governance, Cambodia is a different story. There is no check and balance on the executive branch, the judiciary or the monarchy."

In recent weeks he has also even veered away from an earlier commitment to adopt a long-awaited draft anti-corruption law, which foreign donors and civil society groups have long clamored for. And he's deployed old-fashioned scaremongering to justify the controversial move.

"Will corrupt officials agree to any confiscation of their riches? No. Then war will erupt," said Hun Sen in a speech broadcast on national radio at the end of May. "After confiscating for a while, all the rich people will all become poor - as in Khmer Rouge times - more than 3 million people will be destroyed. Don't play with that," he said.

A temple revisited The country's millions of impoverished farmers and fishermen, for years saturated with state-controlled media looping four-hour-long Hun Sen speeches interspersed with reels of CPP officials handing over packs of instant noodles to needy villagers, are likely headed towards five more years of inequality, drudgery, and bad TV.

The premier's media-influenced popularity was recently pushed to greater heights by the listing last week of the Preah Vihear temple complex as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) national heritage site. When the decision was announced live on national channel CTN, Hun Sen's image was shown with revolving stars around it. A televised concert held to celebrate the listing was attended by hosts regularly shouting words of support for Hun Sen among other cheers of national glory.

The ensuing border tension with Thailand over the controversial listing will be a strong test of his government's ability to stand up to stronger neighbors before a watchful Cambodian public in the heat of an election season. Aside from the temple tiff, a closer look at the less-monitored countryside has revealed that the level of political killings, threats and intimidation that have marred previous elections has substantially diminished in the run-up to this weekend's polls.

But the lack of violence is probably more a testament to the CPP's successful vanquishing of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party's (SRP) grassroots machinery. The opposition's hardship has been brewing for months, due in part to some deft political maneuvers by Hun Sen and the CPP political machine. But their spectacular collapse in the lead-up to the July 27 election has still surprised many political observers. The SRP has been deflated by the defection of more than 20 high profile lawmakers and tens of thousand of grassroots members party executives claims the CPP has bought to switch sides.

"We have seen a people buying campaign ... Prime minister Hun Sen actively seeks out SRP members by using money as bait Each member receives at least US$2,000, and those with high positions in the SRP receive US$200,000," said Rainsy in a recent letter. "I am worried and feel pity for those [defectors] who get cheated. After the election they will be kicked out," he said. Hun Sen responded by saying that SRP defectors "are not goods or animals to be bought and sold".

The SRP has been left meek, and hoping for a highly unlikely post-election "people power" movement to challenge a CPP-dominated government. The SRP campaign has revolved mostly around the now globally recognized opposition stratagem of pointing to high oil and food prices as the incumbent government's failure to serve its people. But both strategies seem doomed to failure: a planned "mass rally" of SRP supporters against inflation saw a mere 300 supporters turn out, leading Hun Sen to quip that a local midget comedian usually has more people in his audience.

The punch-drunk party has also lost one of its more meaningful friends in the trade unions movement, which has the power to mobilize hundreds of thousands of garment and factory workers in a mass protest. The leader of the largest union, Chea Mony - whose brother popular SRP-affiliated union leader Chea Vichea was gunned down in 2004 - announced earlier this year the bloc was withdrawing from politics. The decision almost immediately followed Hun Sen's announcement of a $6 monthly increase to garment workers monthly salaries - bringing them to $56.

The loss of the trade unions - the largest organized sector in Cambodia - is a double blow to Rainsy, who, along with Chea Vichea and Ou Mary, founded the labor movement in 1996.

Opposition off the rails

Rainsy, a former minister of finance who was sacked for complaining about corruption, has tried another political tack. In several well-publicized broadsides, he has attacked the personal backgrounds of what he claims to be former Khmer Rouge members in Hun Sen's government. He recently alleged to supporters at a Buddhist ceremony at the Choeung Ek "killing fields" that CPP stalwart and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong was once chief of the Khmer Rouge-run Boeung Trabek "re-education" center, where thousands of diplomats and intellectuals were interred before execution.

Hor Namhong rebuked the accusation, claiming he was instead a liaison between the prisoners and the wardens at the camp and insisting that several of his close family members were executed there. He filed a defamation lawsuit against Rainsy, but the salvo provided little political capital for the SRP. The arrest of an opposition-aligned newspaper editor who reprinted Rainsy's allegations drew international condemnation, but hardly enough to improve the SRP's electoral chances. Nor has international outcry over the assassination of SRP-aligned journalist Khim Sambor and his son, who were shot and killed in a drive-by shooting on July 11.

The other main opposition party, the royalist Funcinpec, has also disintegrated in the run-up to the polls. Crafty, almost choreographed, moves saw the party's past leader and erstwhile Hun Sen rival, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, ousted in an inter-party coup. The move was orchestrated by Nhiek Bun Chhay, secretary general of the party and a former defense minister. Funcinpec is still the coalition partner of the CPP, but since the ouster of Ranariddh, has been widely seen as a puppet of the ruling party.

Ranariddh was subsequently convicted for pocketing $3.6 million from the sale of Funcinpec's former headquarters and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, a move some have attributed to Hun Sen's alleged influence over the courts. He fled the country in December 2005, and has since resorted to giving telephone speeches to embattled supporters of his new Norodom Ranariddh Party from self-exile in Malaysia.

In June, Ranariddh reportedly sent Hun Sen a humbling private note asking for the return of his private jet. Meanwhile, his magnificent $2 million colonial-era villa in the center of Phnom Penh has already been sold off by the government to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Cambodia, which plans to turn it into a carbon-friendly boutique hotel. Hun Sen has said Ranariddh will be "handcuffed and taken to jail", if he returns to Cambodia and has blocked any chance or a royal pardon.

The fledgling Human Rights Party, led by self-styled people's champion Kem Sokha and backed by controversial former head of state Pen Sovann, is assured of winning at least a handful of seats. The party may have carved a small nationalist niche among the electorate, and like the SRP is known to have had US backers. Sokha left his previous organization, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, under a cloud of scandal as 16 former employees accused him of corruption and embezzlement from the US-financed group.

Despite Sokha's grassroots popularity, his HRP is not seen as a major threat to the CPP juggernaut. Nor is the US seen as overtly supporting any particular opposition party, as it has been perceived of in the past. Washington, which in 2004 threatened Cambodia with sanctions for lack of progress on trafficking issues, has since given the nation a glowing report its latest human trafficking report.

The US Embassy in Phnom Penh has commended the lack of violence in this year's election build-up, though it reacted strongly and offered Federal Bureau of Investigation assistance following the murder of Sambor. Washington has taken a softer line towards Cambodia in the past year as China moves to increase its local influence. After Chevron's apparent discovery of oil and gas, the US this year lifted a 10-year ban on direct aid to Cambodia in February and re-started direct military aid in May.

Assuming that the oil and gas deposits are actually there, an energy bonanza would profoundly change the Cambodian economy and its terms of trade. Drilling by a Singaporean firm began in mid-July and state and private companies from China, South Korea, Japan and France are currently negotiating contracts related to the find. Although the government is still awaiting a key assessment from Chevron, estimates range from anywhere between $200 million to $2 billion a year in potential revenues. That should provide plenty of resources for Hun Sen to further consolidate his political dominance, and if this weekend's elections produce the landslide win for his CPP many analysts project, could signal the beginning of a new era of one-party rule in Cambodia. Craig Guthrie is a reporter for the Mekong Times newspaper in Phnom Penh. He has covered Cambodian affairs since 2004.

Two Cambodian Journalists Win Hellman/Hammett Writer’s Award

Human Rights News

Rights Group Honors Defenders of Independent Media in Cambodia

___________
Chheang Bopha and Duong Sokha represent a small minority among Cambodia’s press corps who dare to challenge corrupt and politically biased institutions through their writings and their actions.
Sara Colm, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch
___________

(New York, July 22, 2008) – Two young Cambodian journalists, Chheang Bopha and Duong Sokha, are among a diverse group of 34 writers from 19 countries to receive the prestigious Hellman/Hammett writer’s award, which recognizes courage in the face of political persecution, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Hellman/Hammett grants, administered by Human Rights Watch, are given annually to writers around the world who have been targets of political persecution or human rights abuses. The grant program began in 1989 when the American playwright Lillian Hellman willed that her estate be used to assist writers in financial need as a result of expressing their views.

“Chheang Bopha and Duong Sokha represent a small minority among Cambodia’s press corps who dare to challenge corrupt and politically biased institutions through their writings and their actions,” said Sara Colm, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Bopha, 28, and Sokha, 27, worked as reporters at Cambodge Soir, Cambodia’s leading French language daily newspaper. They quit in 2007 to protest the dismissal of a colleague who was fired for writing about a report by Global Witness, an international environmental organization, that documented the alleged complicity of top government officials in illegal logging.

Striking Cambodian staff elected Sokha as their spokesperson to demand that Cambodge Soir reinstate the fired journalist and guarantee editorial independence. The newspaper’s owners responded by closing the paper and reopening it several months later under new editorial management. Most of the former employees eventually returned to work without reassurances of editorial independence, but Sokha and Bopha refused despite intense pressure to do so.

They both pursued far less lucrative work in journalism teaching before eventually joining forces with other journalists to start an independent internet publication in Cambodian and French, Ka-Set (http://www.ka-set.info). Bopha will soon be leaving to pursue a master’s degree in journalism at the Training Center for Professional Journalists in Paris.

“In a climate of increased suppression of free expression and attacks against independent media – including from the highest levels of the government – few journalists dare challenge the system,” said Colm. “Sokha and Bopha aim to uphold professional media standards in a country with few truly independent media outlets.”

Ka-set was the brainchild of a group of four former Cambodge Soir journalists and a Magnum photojournalist. Originally launched in March 2008 with the journalists’ own money, the internet publication uses a multimedia approach to cover a wide range of issues – politics, justice, human rights, economics, Khmer Rouge, environment, culture and society. Access is free, and income comes from advertising, although the team, now numbering 10, is currently seeking additional support.

“The rare professional skills, ethics and courage exhibited by Duong Sokha and Chheang Bopha should be applauded and encouraged, especially at a time when independent journalism in Cambodia is increasingly at risk,” said Colm.

The Cambodian government controls all broadcast media and regularly suspends, threatens, or takes legal action against journalists or news outlets that criticize the government. In addition, reporters risk dismissal, physical attack, or even death for coverage of controversial issues. Earlier this month, for example, gunmen shot and killed Khim Sambo, a journalist for Moneaksekar Khmer (Khmer Conscience), a newspaper affiliated with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP).

“As political power is increasingly consolidated in Cambodia in the run-up to the July 27 national elections, so is control over the media,” said Colm.

In June, military police arrested Moneaksekar Khmer editor, Dam Sith, who is also running as a SRP candidate in the elections, after the paper reported on allegations about the current foreign minister’s role during the Khmer Rouge regime.

In 2007, a reporter in Pursat Province was the victim of two attempted arson attacks on his home, which the local police chief attributed to the reporter’s coverage of illegal logging. In June 2007, the government banned Global Witness’s report on illegal logging. Journalists who covered the report and people who helped prepare it received anonymous death threats.

Bopha holds bachelor’s degrees in French literature from Phnom Penh University and in management from the National University of Management. At Cambodge Soir she covered the human rights beat, vividly documenting the plight of Khmer Rouge victims, garment workers, women, ethnic minorities and children. She has also worked as a correspondent for Radio France International, Radio Free Asia, and International Press Service. In 2003, she assisted with the production of a documentary film, “Les Artistes du Theatre Brulé”, by Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh. Bopha has also taught print journalism at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Sokha studied French at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

During his four years at Cambodge Soir, Sokha was known for his reporting on justice, human rights and politics. In addition, he has worked as a French lecturer at the Royal University of Law and Economics, an event promoter for the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, and a television reporter for “Cambodian Voices,” broadcast on TV-9 in Cambodia.

“Though young, both Bopha and Sokha are respected for their leadership and integrity during and after the newspaper strike, as well as their hard-hitting coverage of social issues and human rights,” said Colm.

Since 1989, Human Rights Watch has administered the Hellman/Hammett awards, which have been given to nearly 700 writers – including 10 Cambodians – over the 19 years of the program. The Hellman/Hammett program also makes small emergency grants to writers who have an urgent need to leave their country or who need immediate medical treatment after serving prison terms or enduring torture.

ASEAN to discuss Thai-Cambodia tension - diplomat

A police officer walks past the national flags of countries attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministerial Meeting and ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore July 21, 2008. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

Wed Jul 23, 2008

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia will meet on Tuesday, a Thai diplomatic source said, after marathon talks failed to end a week-long military stand-off over an ancient temple on their border.

The meeting at noon (0400 GMT) in Singapore will be chaired by Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo and is in response to a letter sent to him by Cambodia's government late on Monday, asking the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to intervene to cool escalating tensions between the neighbours.

"The meeting will be held at 12 p.m. today, and will be attended by the foreign ministers from Thailand and Cambodia and will discuss the situation over the temple," the diplomatic source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other ASEAN foreign ministers may also be at the meeting, an ASEAN official said.

At the heart of the dispute is a 4.6 sq km area around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, which sits on a jungle-clad escarpment that forms a natural boundary and is claimed by both nations. The temple was awarded to Cambodia by an international court in 1962.

The military showdown began last Tuesday when Thai troops moved into the disputed area after three Thai protesters were briefly detained there. Since then, both sides have sent hundreds more soldiers and heavy artillery to the border.

After complaining to the United Nations on Friday that Thailand had violated its "sovereignty and territorial integrity," Phnom Penh took its case to ASEAN.

Cambodia has asked ASEAN to form an Inter-Ministerial Group of foreign ministers from Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos to "find a peaceful solution to the current crisis and to avoid a military confrontation between two ASEAN members."

ASEAN foreign ministers are holding their annual series of meetings first amongst themselves, then with Asia-Pacific powers culminating in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which has ambitions to deal with issues such a the Thai-Cambodia spat.

Monday's talks on the Thai-Cambodia border partly bogged down over which maps should be used to settle ownership of the temple and surrounding area, officials said.

A Rumble in the Jungle?

Cambodian soldiers patrol around the Preah Vihear temple where Cambodian and Thai troop levels were recently escalated. The temple is in an area being disputed by the two countries.
Heng Sinith / AP

TIME
Tuesday, Jul. 22, 2008
By KEVIN DOYLE

There's a lot of talk about mortality in the Hindu temple at Preah Vihear right now. "I won't leave the temple," vows Hang Soth, the Cambodian government official responsible for maintaining the World Heritage site. He has been holed up in his office for more than a month. "This is a life-and-death place for me. If I die here, I die with honor." The reason for Hang Soth's dark mood is evident everywhere you look around the 11th century temple complex. A Cambodian-army heavy machine gun stands near the entrance; three times in the past week, it has been prepared for firing and then stood down. All around the complex, an estimated 3,000 Cambodian and Thai troops face one another in a hair-trigger standoff that began on June 15, when Thai troops entered a contested border area. Cambodia claims the crucial piece land that provides access to the temple site; Thailand disagrees. And diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation have yet to bear fruit.

The Thai military acted after Cambodia succeeded in getting Preah Vihear listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site despite Thailand's insistence that the Khmer temple be jointly managed by both countries. Over the years, the area around Preah Vihear has come under the sway of both nations as well as of Cambodia's former colonial overlord, France. But in 1962, in a decision that still rankles the Thais, the International Court of Justice ruled that the temple belongs to Cambodia. Still, that judgment did not quite settle the issue of who owns the 1.8 sq. mi. of land surrounding the site. It is on this land that Thai troops have moved in and bunkered down near the pagoda. Although Thailand does not officially dispute Cambodia's ownership of the temple itself, it has now taken charge of the land used to access Preah Vihear.

Talks on July 21 between Cambodia's Minister of Defense, Tea Banh, and Thailand's Supreme Commander General, Boonsrang Niumpradit, failed to resolve the standoff. That was no surprise to the Cambodian officials gathered at Preah Vihear to organize what they characterize as a to-the-death defense of Cambodia's most sacred national symbol after Angkor Wat. (Cambodian nationalism has been inflamed by political rhetoric ahead of this month's general election.)
More than 200 Cambodian women and children are camped under sheets of plastic at a wooden pavilion inside the temple complex, having been forced to move from the ramshackle market area at the locked entrance gates to the temple from the Thai side. Coils of razor wire now bar those gates, through which hundreds of visitors usually pass daily to climb to the top of Preah Vihear and take in its stunning mountaintop view over the plains of northern Cambodia. "I am very afraid," says 8-year-old Ol Srey Mao as she hides behind her grandmother's sarong. At least she has an escape route planned. "If the Thai troops come, I will run up there," she says, pointing to the temple's ornately sculpted stone entrance.

In the air-conditioned halls of power in Bangkok, few are expecting war at Preah Vihear. On the Thai side, the dispute has been turned into an issue by an opposition alliance that is berating the government for initially failing to challenge Cambodia's bid for World Heritage status for the site. Hundreds of Thais have gathered on the border to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and to vow to protect the land that they believe belongs to Thailand. But cooler heads may prevail. Thailand has written to the United Nations emphasizing that the "prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia have already pledged utmost restraint and expressed their conviction in resolving the issue."

But such reassuring words mean little to the terrified Cambodians at Preah Vihear. "If bombs are dropped in the temple, there is nothing we can do," says Van Kim Yan, a 57-year-old grandmother. The Cambodian government says its troops are under orders to fire only if fired upon. At first glance, its soldiers don't look too impressive, though. Most are wearing flip-flops and mismatched uniforms and each is armed with little more than a rusty AK-47 rifle or a rocket launcher whose shoulder strap is an old rope. Over the past week, they have ridden on motorbikes or walked up the steep 3-mi. mountain road to the temple. Don't be fooled, says Captain Thor Bun Hong: some of these men are actually fearsome former Khmer Rouge guerrillas who once controlled this entire area. "The real soldiers wear flip-flops," he boasts. "The men with boots can run away. The men with flip-flops stand and fight."

Thai-Cambodian conflict enters 2nd week

AP foreign , Wednesday July 23 2008

By KER MUNTHIT
Associated Press Writer

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Thailand accused Cambodia of eyeing even more of its land and leaflets appeared in the Cambodian capital calling for a boycott of Thai goods, as a military standoff over disputed border territory entered a second week Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Cambodia asked the U.N. Security Council to intervene in the dispute over the 1.8 square miles of land near the ancient temple of Preah Vihear, warning that the two sides were at ``an imminent state of war.''

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said he had no choice but to appeal to the United Nations after discussions with Thailand on Monday failed to produce a breakthrough in the crisis.

He made a similar request to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but the region's key bloc urged the two countries to continue bilateral negotiations.

In a countermove Wednesday, Thailand's Ambassador to the United Nations Don Pramudwinai said Cambodia was bringing the quarrel before the Security Council because ``the Cambodian target is not only Preah Vihear but the entire common border.''

Don told Bangkok's Business Radio that Cambodia was trying to force Thailand to accept a French colonial map as the document that demarcates the border, stretches of which are disputed.

The French map generally favors Cambodia, and Thailand rejects it saying it was drawn up by a colonial power to its own advantage. Thailand relies on a different map drawn up later with American technical assistance.

The fight over the land near Preah Vihear escalated this month when UNESCO approved Cambodia's application to have the complex named a World Heritage Site.

Thailand sent troops to the border July 15 after anti-government demonstrators attacked Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's government for supporting Cambodia's application to UNESCO. They claim the temple's new status will undermine Thailand's claim to land around the temple. Cambodia responded with its own deployment.

Both sides have pledged not to use force, although some 4,000 troops are now amassed in the area.

The dispute has shaken Thailand's domestic political scene.

The National Counter Corruption Commission has begun to investigate Samak and his entire Cabinet over accusations that the government violated Thailand's Constitution by not consulting Parliament before supporting Cambodia's application.

The investigation could lead to the impeachment of all members of the government, although the process would be a long one, commission spokesman Klanarong Jantik said Wednesday.

Cambodian police were meanwhile investigating leaflets distributed in Phnom Penh that call for a boycott of Thai products and services.

``While the government is trying to solve the dispute with Thailand, we do not want to see any discrimination against Thai products, and people should not be aroused by such incitement,'' police chief Brig. Gen. Touch Naroth said.

The atmosphere remained calm among Cambodian and Thai troops at the hilltop Preah Vihear temple Wednesday, despite the intense diplomatic rhetoric by the respective governments.
Troops from both sides ``continued interacting cordially,'' said Cambodian Brig. Gen. Chea Keo without elaborating.

---

Associated Press writers Ambika Ahuja and Sutin Wannabovorn in Bangkok, Thailand, and Sopheng Cheang in Cambodia, and Sumeth Panpetch along the Thai-Cambodian border contributed to this report.

The win-win way for Cambodia and Thailand

The Bangkok Post
Wednesday July 23, 2008

DR. SOMKIATI ARIYAPRUCHYA

The recent military buildup along the Thai-Cambodian border is proving to be very disturbing because both sides have a lot to gain and a lot more to lose if the matter is not quickly brought to a peaceful end.

One must look at the big picture. Continued good relations between the two countries would reap huge benefits for Cambodia and Thailand in terms of increased tourism, cross-border trade and investment, and people-to-people contact.

Conflicts among neighbours in Indochina on border issues are nothing new, however. They are often the legacy of brutal, schematic and unjust colonialism in the 19th century.

France came to Indochina in the mid-19th century and by 1862 had subdued most of Vietnam. It then cast its greedy eyes over all of Southeast Asia right up to Yunnan, with an aim to rival England's colonial influence in Burma and India.

The Franco-Cambodian Treaty of 1863 made Cambodia a French Protectorate. Next, it was Siam (as Thailand was known then). By the Treaties of 1893, 1904 and 1907, parts of Siam were ceded to France which would later become known as the territories of Laos and Cambodia. This explains why there were treaties between Siam and France regarding the borders between Siam and her neighbours, Laos and Cambodia. These treaties were unequal treaties, one-sided, and imposed upon the weak by the strong.

For a clear understanding of the Phra Viharn temple case, it is necessary to delve into the details.

The 1904 Treaty stipulates that the watershed would form the borderline between Siam and France's Cambodia around the region where the temple is located. The Treaty of 1904 leaves the demarcation of the actual watershed line to the Mixed Delimitation Commission.

The so-called Annex I map drawn up by the Delimitation Commission placed the temple within the border of Cambodia even though it did not conform to the principle of the watershed line.

The watershed line, as determined by experts, would place the temple within the Siamese border.

The International Court of Justice on June 15, 1962, by 9 to 3 votes, declared that sovereignty over the Temple of Phra Viharn belonged to Cambodia.

The Court, while recognising the principle of the watershed line, placed more importance on the Annex 1 map, which it believed was based on the work of the Mixed Delimitation Committee.

The Court also noted that Siam, and later Thailand, had never protested against the inaccuracy of Annex 1 when it had several opportunities to do so until 1958.

The Court therefore ruled that Thailand was stopped from claiming territorial sovereignty over Phra Viharn temple.

However, the Court's decision was considered by the government and the public of Thailand to be contrary to international law, the principles of justice and the facts of the case. It was deemed as yet another injustice inflicted on Thailand.

The Court's decision, while awarding Phra Viharn temple to Cambodia, was silent on the frontier demarcation. Thus, the border demarcation issue remains. Cambodia and Thailand remain at loggerheads over the demarcation of the frontier.

The temple issue must be viewed in the right historical context. Prior to the colonial encroachment of France and England in the late 19th century, there was no fixed and clear border demarcation among countries in the Southeast Asian region.

The region was loosely structured under a tributary system. The practice of clear territorial demarcation was then alien to both Cambodia, Thailand and indeed the non-Western world.

The issue of Phra Viharn should be considered by both Cambodia and Thailand as an unwanted legacy of colonialism. The past should not be allowed to cloud the bright future ahead for all concerned.

Both countries have tremendous benefits from peace, bilateral cooperation and regional cooperation through the various regional mechanisms such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), GMS (Greater Mekong Subregion) and ACMECS (The Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy).

What, then, is the win-win way forward?

In my view, the Asean way should be utilised. In other words, disputes should be settled through diplomatic means.

At present, Cambodia has gone ahead with its unilateral inscription of the Phra Viharn temple as a World Heritage Site.

Looking at the big picture, Cambodia should be magnanimous enough to invite Thailand to jointly inscribe the temple. Such an action would be in the national interest of Cambodia. Phnom Penh may still invite a joint inscription even at this late hour.

There is nothing in the rules and regulations of the World Heritage Committee that forbids joint inscription even after a unilateral inscription has been granted.

This magnanimous act would in one fell swoop cool down the current dispute and make the temple of Phra Viharn truly a world heritage site of universal value and a symbol of cooperation between the two countries for years to come.

Looking further into the future, the win-win way to cement good relations between Cambodia, Thailand and indeed Laos, would be to form a CALATHAI Community (acronym for Cambodia, Laos and Thailand), a la Benelux and the wider EU. Through positive functionalism, they will achieve a deeper integration in the areas of goods, capital and labour. The prosperity and destiny of these countries will thus become inextricably intertwined.

As citizens of the member countries find it easier to live and practice their profession wherever they want in the community, so would the question of territorial sovereignty decline in importance.

The greater goal of joint prosperity, stability and peace would therefore be achieved.

This win-win way forward is not easy; it requires magnanimity, bravery, vision and political will on the part of leaders. Now is the time to rise to this challenge.

The author is dean of the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies, Rangsit University.

This article is based on his speech at the 6th IDIS Forum on July 11, 2008.

Strong economy boosts Cambodia's ruling party ahead of polls

Cambodians buy vegetables at a market outside their garment factory in Phnom Penh

People walk past a cut out model of the International Finance Complex (IFC) Phnom Penh in Phnom Penh

A Cambodian man pushes his cart past the Cambodian People's Party headquarters in Phnom Penh

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Once sleepy streets in Cambodia's capital are crammed with construction sites, crowned by towering cranes building the first skyscrapers in the leafy, low-rise city.

Phnom Penh's building boom is one of the most visible signs of the sweeping changes in one of the world's poorest countries, which according to some estimates has averaged 11 percent economic growth over the last three years.

It's also a key reason why voters are expected to hand Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) a victory in general elections on Sunday, analysts say.

"Generally we agree that economic growth in Cambodia is a very good sign" of the country's progress, said Yang Saing Koma, president of the Cambodian Centre for the Study and Development of Agriculture, which monitors the effects of the economy on the rural poor.

Thirty years ago Phnom Penh was almost deserted, after the Khmer Rouge forcibly evacuated the capital as they plunged the nation into the darkness of the "Killing Fields" that would claim up to two million lives.

They dismantled the economy and even banned the use of currency in a genocidal drive to create a Maoist agrarian utopia.

After the Khmer Rouge were forced from power, they continued to battle the government until 1996, leaving a shattered nation strewn with landmines and a population struggling to survive.
Now that's slowly changing.

Economic data on Cambodia remains sketchy, but international estimates agree that the country's growth in recent years has been among the strongest in Southeast Asia. Foreign investment, mainly from other Asian nations, is pouring into hydro-electric dams, property and tourism.

Tourism, which brought in 1.4 billion dollars last year, is expected to grow by at least 20 percent in 2008, according to the government.

The garment industry has also thrived, sheltered for years under a unique labour-friendly deal with the United States.

The growth has helped power the construction boom, with realtors estimating that prime pieces of property in the capital can fetch 3,000 dollars a square metre (yard), a six-fold increase from eight years ago.

But the growth also has a dark side. Soaring land values have resulted in mass evictions and land grabs in Phnom Penh.

The garment industry faces tough competition from China and Vietnam, creating fears of job losses in an industry that is the country's biggest private employer.

Corruption remains rampant, posing a drain especially for small entrepreneurs trying to start up local businesses that could help Cambodia end its dependence on imports for many basic goods, said Yang Saing Koma.

"You have to take a lot of time, and you have to pay extra money to get something done," he said.

Inflation, driven by high fuel and food prices, hit 18.7 percent in January and prices for staples such as rice have risen by as much as 80 percent. The government has since stopped releasing inflation data, drawing accusations that it's trying to hide the bad news.

"Income of the poor has to keep up with inflation," said Chan Sophal, head of the Cambodian Economic Association, warning that poor farmers were struggling to cope with rapidly rising prices.

Some 35 percent of the country's 14 million people live on under 50 US cents a day. Those people in desperate poverty spend most of their money on food, but are struggling to keep up with rising prices, he said.

Despite the troubles, Cambodians overall are still pleased with the visible signs of their nation's recovery -- the construction in Phnom Penh and the main tourist areas, as well as new roads and bridges spreading into the countryside, said political analyst Chea Vannath.

"Cambodia needs infrastructure, and that's what the ruling party provides to the people," she said. "The CPP gets support from the people for that."

Cambodia warns Thai 'aggression' threatening region

Radio Australia

Cambodia's prime minister has accused Thailand of unwarranted aggression by moving troops into disputed border territory, warning the action threatens peace in the region.

Hun Sen made the statement in a letter to the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, after two days of diplomacy failed to resolve the week-long military stand-off centred on the ruins of the Preah Vihear temple.

The tensions began after UNESCO early this month awarded World Heritage status to the temple, considered the finest example of ancient Khmer architecture after the famous Angkor Wat complex.

The UN recognition infuriated Thai nationalists, and now more than 500 Thai troops are facing at least 1,000 Cambodian soldiers over a tiny area of land near the temple.Recent crisis talks among Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Singapore failed to make any headway.

Senior Cambodian and Thai defence officials have also ended eight hours of negotiations with no resolution.

#11 - News : Preah Vihear - 22.07.2008

Thailand negotiations provide no resolution to Cambodia border dispute

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Deirdre Jurand

[JURIST] Thai and Cambodian officials agreed Monday that neither country will use military force against the other in their dispute over the border area surrounding the Preah Vihear temple [Telegraph backgrounder], over which both countries claim ownership. The meeting was designed to resolve the major border dispute issues, but the sides made no further agreements because Thai officials want to employ US cartography [TNA report], while Cambodian officials want French materials to be controlling because they mark the border at a different place. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [official website] Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo said [statement text] of the meeting:

Thailand and Cambodia gave the assurance that they would exercise utmost restraint and resolve the issue amicably in the spirit of ASEAN solidarity and good neighbourliness. Both sides also reiterated that they would handle the situation in accordance with their ASEAN and international obligations.

Both countries will keep troops at the border, and talks have been suspended until after the Cambodian general elections scheduled for later this month. Xinhua has more. The Bangkok Post has additional coverage.

Tensions have long existed between Thailand and Cambodia concerning the Preah Vihear temple, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided [opinion, PDF] in 1962 that it was located in Cambodia. In early July of this year, the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) [official website] approved a Cambodian application [UNESCO press release, in French] for recognition of the temple as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Two weeks ago, Thailand's Constitutional Court [official website, in Thai] ruled that current prime minister Samak Sundaravej [BBC profile] violated the country's constitution by dropping Thai claims [JURIST report] to the temple without parliamentary approval. Opponents of the temple transfer have called for those involved to be impeached and charged with treason [JURIST report], while others have called for the government to rescind its recognition of the bid or join in the multinational force [Bangkok Post reports] that will guard the site. Cambodia has sent sent a letter to the UN [JURIST report] seeking to draw attention to the border dispute.

Cambodia seeks help from UN, ASEAN over military stalemate with Thailand

www.chinaview.cn

2008-07-22

PHNOM PENH, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian government has written letters to the United Nations Security Council, UNESCO and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for mediation to end its week-long military standoff with Thailand in border area near the Preah Vihear Temple.

"We have asked the UN Security Council to have an urgent meeting to find a peaceful resolution for our border tension," said Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong here Tuesday.

UN could possibly have a meeting next Monday, he said at a briefing meeting with foreign diplomatic corps, ASEAN and EU representatives, about border tension between Cambodia and Thailand.

"We have asked the Thai side to withdraw their troops from Cambodian territory, and requested the Thai side to return to the status quo prior to July 15, 2008," he added.

In another development, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has written a letter to UNESCO, accusing Thailand of aggression by moving troops into disputed border territory, and warned that Thailand threatened peace in the region.

"Thai behavior gravely threatens peace and stability in the region" and Thailand is "defying all principles of international law," Hun Sen said in the letter addressed to Koichiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO.

Thailand's "unwarranted aggression" violates international convention designed to protect World Heritage sites during times of conflict by stationing heavily armed soldiers near the Preah Vihear Temple, he said in the letter dated Monday and made public Tuesday.

In addition, Hor Namhong wrote a letter on Monday to ask Singapore, the presiding country of ASEAN, to form a regional inter-ministerial group to help find a peaceful solution to the crisis and avoid military confrontation between the two ASEAN members.

In the letter addressed to Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo, he said, "Thai troops with artillery and tanks are building up along the border, constituting a very serious threat not only to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia, but also to peace and stability in the region."

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Cambodian Council of Ministers organized a special press conference to show maps, files and documents to domestic and international journalist to testify the kingdom's conventional and legalized ownership of the border area and the Preah Vihear Temple.

"Thailand invaded Cambodian sovereignty, saying that the land where they deployed their troops is Thailand soil according to their map which was drawn unilaterally," said Chan Tani, secretary of state of the Council of Ministers.

Currently, both sides stationed over a thousand troops at the border near the Preah Vihear Temple, which was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

Bilateral top-level talks on Monday in Thailand failed to reach any agreement to end the military standoff.

On last Tuesday, three Thai protesters trespassed the border to reclaim the temple, but were immediately arrested. Thai troops then came in to fetch them, thus triggering face-off with Cambodian soldiers there. Bilateral military build-up then occurred day by day.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

Cambodia on brink of war with Thailand

Cambodian paramilitary personnel stand guard at the Preah Vihear temple near the Thai border in the Cambodian Preah Vihear province Photo: AFP/GETTY

Cambodia has appealed for the United Nations Security Council to diffuse an "imminent state of war" on its border with Thailand.

Telegraph.co.uk
By Thomas Bell in Pulaong
22 Jul 2008

Since last week the two countries have ranged hundreds of troops and artillery against one another.

At the centre of the dispute is the 900-year-old ruined temple of Preah Vihear, spectacularly perched on a frontier hilltop, and 1.8 sq miles of disputed jungle at its base.

In a letter to the UN, the Cambodian premier Hun Sen, said: "Thai behaviour gravely threatens peace and stability in the region."

He also accused Thailand of "defying all principles of international law".

On the Thai side of the border children were today performing air-raid drills at school.

If the situation escalates shells will fly overhead from the artillery batteries newly installed in fields down the road.

Preah Vihear is no stranger to conflict. In a strong defensive position it was one of the last places in Cambodia to fall to the genocidal Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, and they held out there until a peace deal only 10 years ago.

Besides gorgeously carved stones, the area is also scattered with land mines and bunkers.

Yet Mr Boonmee Buaton, headman of Pulaong village next to the temple, describes harmonious relations between the communities on either side.

"We're friends, we're neighbours, we've been doing business together for ever," he said.

Like many other observers, he blames radical Thai nationalists and anti-government protesters with ulterior motives for fermenting the crisis.

"The local people don't agree with the protesters coming here," he said. "It's only going to create a war. After they come here and mess everything up they are going to go home and we have to stay."

The crisis started last Tuesday when three protesters from Thailand were arrested in disputed territory by Cambodian soldiers.

They were quickly released, but the Thai army began pouring into the area and the deployment was matched by troops from the other side. In their tensest moments they have levelled their weapons at one another.

But the true source of the crisis, analysts say, is the determination of conservative opposition groups to exploit almost any cause to topple the Thai government elected just six months ago.

According to physical geography, Preah Vihear appears to be in Thailand, on Bangkok's side of the border and with access principally from Thailand.

Yet a 1908 map, drawn up by Cambodia's French colonialists, showed the area in Cambodia. In 1962 the International Court of Justice ruled that the map was valid.

Thailand reluctantly returned the temple to Cambodia. Yet it continued to occupy 1.8 square miles of adjoining territory that the 1908 map also shows in Cambodia.

Earlier this year, when Thailand supported Cambodia's application to list Preah Vihear as a UN World Heritage Site, the opposition cried foul.

They accused the government of somehow ceding territory, although the UN said the listing had no territorial implications.

Nevertheless, the foreign minister resigned over the affair and there are plans to impeach the entire cabinet.

Now Thai soldiers have even re-occupied the temple itself, rubbing shoulders there with Cambodian troops, according to a Thai officer of the edge of the zone, which has been closed to civilians.

Incongruously, a group of monks still lives there, receiving alms from both sides every morning, he said.

With the seemingly stronger legal case Cambodia is seeking international intervention, while Thailand prefers to address the matter "bilaterally".

Negotiations between the Thai army chief and Cambodian defence minister failed to make any progress on Monday.

At an army post of the edge of the exclusion zone, cluttered with radios and camouflage-wrapped log books, a Thai major told TheTelegraph that his soldiers are reluctant to fight. Many of them know their adversaries personally.

"We're all friends," he said. "We don't want to fight each other. It is just up to the governments to decide what the direction will be."

VN urges end to Thai, Cambodia row

VNS News Digest
22-07-2008

HA NOI — Viet Nam called on Cambodia and Thailand to resolve their dispute relating to the Preah Vihear Temple through peaceful negotiations in the spirit of friendship and solidarity.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesman Le Dung made the appeal yesterday while answering a correspondent’s question about Viet Nam’s reaction to recent developments between the two members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"We want the two sides to restrain themselves to avoid making the situation complicated and to try to resolve remaining issues through peaceful negotiations in the spirit of friendship and solidarity of ASEAN, for the interest of both countries and for stability and development of the group," the spokesman said.

Thailand ready for ASEAN chair despite standoff -- Surin

Agence France-Presse
07/22/2008

SINGAPORE -- Thailand is ready to assume the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations even without a foreign minister and as its troops face off with Cambodia, ASEAN's secretary general said Tuesday.

Thailand is to take over the rotating chair of the 10-nation regional bloc on Friday from Singapore after the group's foreign ministers conclude a series of annual meetings in the city-state.

Surin Pitsuwan, the ASEAN secretary general, told Agence France-Presse he has no worries about Thailand taking over despite recent disarray in the country's government.

He noted that as a founding member of the bloc, established in 1967, Thailand is a veteran of regional diplomacy.

"I think Thailand has the expertise and has the experiences and has the confidence. And the officials, the permanent officials, are very, very competent. So, no worry," said Surin, himself a former Thai foreign minister.

"I have full confidence. They are not going to fail the ASEAN community."

The foreign minister of ASEAN's largest nation, Indonesia, told AFP that Thailand had assured its fellow members that "they would operate it professionally, take the mandate professionally."

Thailand prepares to take the group's helm as more than 500 of its troops are engaged in a standoff with 1,000 soldiers from neighbor and fellow ASEAN member Cambodia on their border around a small Buddhist pagoda.

Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Bandidkul is representing Thailand at this week's ASEAN meetings after the foreign minister, Noppadon Pattama, resigned earlier this month in a controversy over the Preah Vihear temple, now the subject of the standoff.

A court ruled that Noppadon and the entire cabinet should have sought parliamentary approval for a deal with Cambodia over the temple. The deal supported Cambodia's bid to seek World Heritage status for Preah Vihear.

Noppadon became the third top official in the ruling People Power Party to be forced out of office in less than 48 hours over various controversies.

Thailand remains one of three ASEAN members, along with Indonesia and the Philippines, which have yet to ratify the new ASEAN charter that transforms it into a legal entity and will give the group greater clout in international negotiations.

Temple Stand-Off Tensions Mount

Thai villagers try to break through a police blockade at the temple

SKY News
Tuesday July 22, 2008

Thailand and Cambodia are being urged to resolve a stand-off over an ancient temple on their border before bullets start to fly.

Cambodia has appealed to the United Nations after crisis talks among south east Asian diplomats meeting in Singapore failed to end the week-long border confrontation.

At the heart of the dispute is a 1.8 square mile area around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

The 900-year-old structure sits on a jungle-clad escarpment that forms a natural boundary.
The are is claimed by both nations but in 1962 an international court awarded the temple to Cambodia.

"In order to avoid armed confrontation, the Royal Government of Cambodia has decided to request an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to find a solution to the problem in accordance with international laws," said the country's foreign affairs ministry.

Talks among the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed to make any headway after senior Cambodian and Thai defence officials ended eight hours of negotiations with no resolution.

But Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, hosting the ASEAN meeting, said both sides "were committed to a peaceful resolution of the issue".

The military build-up began a week ago when Thai troops moved into the disputed area after three Thai protesters were briefly detained there.

Since then, both sides have sent hundreds more soldiers and heavy artillery to the border.

Preah Vihear's listing as a World Heritage site in Cambodia this month triggered a political uproar in Bangkok, where the People's Alliance for Democracy accused the government of selling out Thailand's history by initially backing the listing.

The stand-off has become a key issue in the run-up to Cambodia's general election on Sunday, with ruling party and opposition politicians slamming the "Thai invaders".

But domestic politics in Thailand have played an even bigger role in fuelling the dispute.

A coalition of activists and royalists is waging a street campaign against Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, whom they accuse of acting as a proxy for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a coup in 2006.

Cambodia requests UN help to resolve border dispute

A Cambodian Buddhist monk sits on the top of the Dang Reak mountain, site of the Preah Vihear temple compound. [Reuters]

Radio Australia

Cambodia is seeking help from the United Nations Security Council and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to end a tense border standoff with Thailand.

The focus of the nearly week-long crisis has been disputed land near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple on their joint border.

Hostilities between the two countries have escalated over the past two weeks ever since UNESCO accepted Cambodia's proposal to have the ruins at Preah Vihear added to the world heritage list.

Now an estimated 4,000 soldiers from both sides are in the area.

Our South East Asia correspondent, Karen Percy, says Cambodia's foreign minister, Hor Namhong, is pushing for the permanent members of the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to resolve the issue.

He has held talks with Phnom Penh-based ambassadors, while on Monday, lengthy talks between the countries' military leaders failed to make progress, although the two sides have agreed not to resort to violence.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that it belongs to Cambodia, but its most accessible entrance lies in Thailand and the exact border is in dispute.

Phnom Penh told not to push border dispute too far

The Nation

Asean Chairman told Cambodia not to push the border dispute with Thailand too far beyond bilateral and regional forums since it could harm the Asean stand.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said in a letter to Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong that the issue should not be push to the United Nations Security Council.

"The parties concerns are too quick to resort the matter to the UN Security Council. This would do harm Asean standing and actually make the resolution be more difficult," Yeo said in his letter.

Thai share prices close lower on profit-taking, political concerns

Thomson Financial News
07.22.08

BANGKOK (Thomson Financial) - Thai share prices closed lower Tuesday as investors sold shares for short-term profit-taking after the market rose the previous day.

The Thai bourse fell in line with other regional markets, while investors were also concerned about a military stand-off on the Thai-Cambodian border, domestic politics, and a rebound of global oil prices.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index lost 5.15 points or 0.75 percent to close at 682.15 points, while the blue-chip SET-50 index fell 4.11 to 480.24. afp

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONCERNED BY ESCALATING TENSIONS BETWEEN CAMBODIA, THAILAND OVER PREAH VIHEAR TEMPLE; CALLS FOR RESTRAINT, DIPLOMATIC RESOLUTION

7th Space

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: The Secretary-General is closely following the situation on the Cambodia-Thailand border near the Preah Vihear Temple.

He is concerned about the current escalation of tensions between the two countries, including the build-up of troops.

The Secretary-General calls for restraint on both sides and hopes that this matter can be resolved peacefully and by diplomatic means in the context of the excellent relations that traditionally exist between the two countries.

Cambodian PM writes to UNESCO, accuses Thailand of aggression

http://www.chinaview.cn/

2008-07-22

PHNOM PENH, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has written a letter to UNESCO, accusing Thailand of aggression by moving troops into disputed border territory, and warned that Thailand threatened peace in the region.

"Thai behavior gravely threatens peace and stability in the region" and Thailand is "defying all principles of international law," Hun Sen said in the letter addressed to Koichiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO.

Thailand's "unwarranted aggression" violates international convention designed to protect World Heritage sites during times of conflict by stationing heavily armed soldiers near the Preah Vihear Temple, he said in the letter dated Monday and made public Tuesday.

"The encroachment by large number of Thai armed soldiers in an area adjacent to the temple, with the attendant risk of provoking conflict in and around a World Heritage Site, clearly qualities as a prohibited action and thus constitutes a violation of the World Heritage Convention," he said.

The government of Cambodia would like to request UNESCO assistance in resolving this matter and request it to take urgent actions for the protection of this World Heritage Site, he said, adding that the military standoff may ruin the site.

Currently, both sides stationed over a thousand troops at the border near the Preah Vihear Temple, which was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

Monday, bilateral talks failed to produce any agreement to end the military standoff. Cambodia has asked UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to intervene and find peaceful solution for the week-long stalemate.

Last Tuesday, three Thai protesters trespassed the border to reclaim the temple, but were immediately arrested. Thai troops then came in to fetch them, thus triggering face-off with Cambodian soldiers there. Bilateral military build-up occurred dayby day. Currently, the troops there were widely estimated at thousands.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded the 11-century classic Khmer-style Preah Vihear Temple, together with the land it occupies, to Cambodia.

Editor: Bi Mingxin

Asean talks fail to ease Thai-Cambodia tensions

Thailand's Supreme Commander Gen Boonstrang Niampradit (right) shakes hands with Cambodia's Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Gen Tea Bahn. -- PHOTO: AP

The Straits Times
July 22, 2008

ASEAN ministers failed to ease tensions between member states Thailand and Cambodia during crisis talks on Tuesday over an escalating standoff at a disputed historic site, diplomats said.

'Both ministers from Thailand and Cambodia basically gave briefings on the issue,' an Asian diplomat said after the unscheduled lunch meeting during annual Asean ministerial talks.

'Cambodia wants it resolved through Asean but the Thai side wants it resolved bilaterally,' he added.

When asked if any progress had been made towards a resolution, he replied: 'Nothing'.

Envoys said Cambodia had sent a letter to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) this week requesting help to resolve the dispute with Thailand over a section of border near ruins of an 11th-century Hindu temple.

The row, the latest flare-up in a long-running feud which stirs nationalist passions in both countries, escalated on Tuesday when Phnom Penh requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to 'avoid armed confrontation.' Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said after the lunch meeting that the atmosphere had been 'friendly' but he gave no indication progress had been made.

'Asean still insisted on the statement that the chairman put out Sunday evening that expects the two sides to find amicable solutions to the issues between them,' he said.

'Asean still stands ready to (give) any support that the two sides want Asean to play. We can't go any further than that.' Asean said on Sunday it had received assurances from both countries that they would show 'utmost restraint' as hundreds of troops from each side were deployed to the disputed area. -- AFP

Thailand, Cambodia pledge restraint in border dispute (2nd Roundup)

M&G Asia-Pacific News
Jul 22, 2008

Singapore - Cambodia and Thailand assured Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo on Tuesday that they would exercise 'utmost restraint' and try to resolve a tense border dispute amicably.

'Both sides also reiterated that they would handle the situation in accordance with their ASEAN and international obligations,' Yeo said in his capacity as chairman of the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

Foreign ministers of the 10-nation bloc had offered to mediate the growing tensions that has Thai and Cambodian soldiers massing on the common border over claims to an iconic 11th-century Hindu temple.

'The proposal found favour with a number of foreign ministers, but there was also a general view that the bilateral process should be allowed to continue, and there is still no consensus for the formation of such a group,' Yeo said.

Yeo said he requested Cambodia and Thailand 'to provide an update' at the net informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in New York.

They 'gave the assurance that they would exercise utmost restraint and resolve the issue amicably in the spirit of ASEAN solidarity and good neighbourliness,' he said.

ASEAN will not referee the dispute focusing on an ancient temple on the border unless both sides agree to its mediation, diplomats said earlier.

While Cambodia has sought ASEAN's assistance in resolving the row, the foreign ministers 'didn't go any further' than saying that the group was prepared to help, ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan told reporters.

'ASEAN stands ready to extend any support if the two sides would like ASEAN to play a role but we didn't go further than that,' he said.

'It's unfortunate that we have to deal with the issues of two neighbours but we cannot control the situation,' he said. 'Whether or not the situation is dangerous, that has to be assessed.'

A meeting on Monday between a joint border committee of Cambodia and Thailand did not produce satisfactory results, prompting Phnom Penh to seek the help of ASEAN in resolving the issue.

The ASEAN ministers urged its two bickering members on Sunday to exercise restraint and to settle the problem amicably.

Nearly 1,000 Cambodian troops and 500 Thai soldiers continue to face each other on the disputed territory since the tension flared a week ago.

In the First Six Months of 2008, There Were 3511 Traffic Accidents and 903 People Died

23 July 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 570

“Phnom Penh: From year to year, there are more and more traffic accidents which led to an emergency alert about this catastrophe that is more devastating than AIDS and mines’ accidents. During the first six months of 2008, the total number of traffic accidents was 3,511 which killed 903 people; it increased 17%, compared to the same period of the first six month of 2007.

“According to a report from Lieutenant-Colonel Luy Chhin, who heads a road traffic office - General Trey Pho Khan of the Department of Public Order of the Ministry of Interior confirmed this report - which also Khmer Sthapana received on 21 July 2008, the number of traffic accidents of all the 24 provinces and towns increased markedly.

“The report shows that during the first six months of 2008, there were 3,511 traffic accidents countrywide, which killed 903 people – 705 male and 198 female; the number of accidents increased by 519, equal to 17% more, compared to the same period of 2007, when there were 2,992 accidents and only 724 people died. The 3,511 traffic accidents resulted in 903 deaths, 2,856 seriously injured people, 3,390 lightly injured people, the destruction of 306 heavy vehicles, among them 1,154 cars, 3,646 motorcycles, 305 other vehicles; 397 pedestrians were also affected.

“Major Suos Sokha, deputy director of the vehicle registration management office, and of the department for the registration of boats and ships of the Ministry of Interior, reported to Khmer Sthapana on 21 July 2008 the reasons that lead to the increase of traffic accidents in the first six months of 2008: these are driving in violation of traffic laws with 1,560 cases, riding motorcycles without helmets with 778 cases, not obeying priority traffic rights with 502 cases, driving while being drunk with 439 cases, speed racing with each other with 349 cases, and 261 cases of careless driving etc…

“It should be noted that the statistics of road traffic accidents in 2007 countrywide, report 5,870 cases which caused 1,434 deaths, 1,121 males and 313 females were killed; 4,860 people were seriously injured, 5,540 people were lightly injured, 528 heavy vehicles, 1,871 cars, 5,607 motorcycles, and 444 different vehicles were destroyed, and US$2,699,784 was wasted.”

Khmer Sthapana, Vol.1, #55, 22.7.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Cambodia Pushes for Solution to Standoff

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 July 2008

Khmer audio aired 22 July 2008 (2.48 MB) - Download (MP3) Khmer audio aired 22 July 2008 (2.48 MB) - Listen (MP3)

Cambodia continued diplomatic efforts to end a tense military build-up on the Thai border Tuesday, calling a meeting with around 50 diplomats in Phnom Penh and pushing the UN's cultural body for assistance.

Addressing a meeting of foreign ambassadors, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Tuesday that "Thailand, by using their own map, drawn by themselves very recently, [claimed] many parts of the border between the two countries."

"This [is] a very serious threat to our independence and territorial integrity," he said. "We have an obligation to resort to the UN Security Council."

At least 4,000 troops from both sides have amassed near the border at Preah Vihear temple, along with armored vehicles and artillery. The Royal Palace sent donations of foodstuffs andtarpaulin shelters to villagers and soldiers near Preah Vihear Tuesday.

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday invoked Preah Vihear temple's minted Unesco World Heritage status in a bid to resolve what he called an "unwarranted act of aggression" by Thailand.

"As of 21 July 2008, the situation has escalated further due to the movement of Thai artillery and armored combat vehicles into the area and the continuing increase of heavily armed Thai soldiers inside and around the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda…near the Temple of Preah Vihear," Hun Sen wrote in a letter asking assistance of Unesco Director General Koichiro Matsuura.

The US, meanwhile, called on both sides "to act in a very restrained and responsible manner."

"What is clear is that both sides need to resolve this in a peaceful and legal manner, and so far they are doing so," US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli told reporters after the diplomatic meeting with Hor Namhong.

Thai and Cambodian commanders have said their soldiers are under control and the situation is stable, but Mussomeli called the build-up of troops along the border "very worrisome."

"We have suggested to both sides that the troops should not be augmented, that more troops are always a dangerous thing, that when you have that many young men with that many weapons in that close a proximity, there's always a danger of violence, and so it would be better for the troops to not be so close to each other," he said. "That just makes common sense."

Voters Worry a Promise Is Just a Promise

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 July 2008

Khmer audio aired 22 July 2008 (1.42 MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 22 July 2008 (1.42 MB) - Listen (MP3)

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining Cambodia's voters.]

For nearly a month, potential voters have been listening to the messages of political parties campaigning for 123 National Assembly seats. Their votes will be cast on Sunday, but many voters worry that by Monday, promises made will fade away.

In the course of the campaign, 11 parties made sweeping promises before voters, vowing to fight corruption, eliminate land-grabbing, curb inflation, reform the judiciary and protect the natural environment.

And while many of the countries 8 million voters likely heard these messages, they might not have been as convinced as parties hoped.

"I like all party platforms for the purpose of pushing Cambodian society to the rule of law, development and prosperity," Hav Cheng Sim, a 22-year-old civil engineering student said recently. "But I have little belief in those political promises."

Political observers say attitudes like these should be a reminder to political parties to remember promises they've made on the campaign trail.

"The voter's concern is a very important thing to remind the politicians and candidates, who made promises before the people, that they must respect their promises after winning the election," Ly Sothearayuth, a senior program officer for the National Democratic Institute, said.

Long Saroeun, 26, sitting with her infant on her lap outside a small wooden house in Phnom Penh, said recently she was skeptical of all political parties.

"The political promise is just a political trick and strategy by all parties to lobby voters," she said. "Politicians always break their promises, after winning.”

Views in the city and the countryside were similar among some voters.

"My family makes a very poor living, but no politician or party has come to help get my family and me out of poverty, so I do not believe in the promises by politicians or parties," Meach Phalla, a 45-year-old woman living in Kmapong Cham town, said. "But I believe in myself to make a small business for supporting my family."

Fear for Safety Remains: Journalists

Sam Rithy Duong Hak, vice president of the Cambodian Association of Professional Journalists

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
22 July 2008

Khmer audio aired 22 July 2008 (5.99 MB) - Download (MP3) Khmer audio aired 22 July 2008 (5.99 MB) - Listen (MP3)

Dam Sith, the editor of the opposition newspaper Moneaksekar Khmer who was jailed for a week in June and was the boss of slain journalist Khim Sambor, fully supports the FBI's offer to aid police in solving the murder.

Speaking by phone for fear of leaving his house, Dam Sith said Thursday on "Hello VOA" he regretted that Cambodia had not yet taken the FBI up on an offer to aid the investigation of the murder of Khim Sambor, who was shot dead with his son July 11 on a Phnom Penh street.

"I strongly support the FBI to help investigate, but it's a regret that the government refuses to grant their participation," Dam Sith said.

No suspect has been arrested in the murder, but the killing, two weeks from a national election, has meant a chilling effect on opposition journalists.

"We do not dare to cover news in public, because we're concerned about our safety," Dam Sith said.

At least 12 journalists have been killed in Cambodia since 1994, but no killers have been brought to trial.

Sam Rithy Duong Hak, vice president of the Cambodian Association of Professional Journalists, echoed Dam Sith's support for FBI assistance.

"There is more fear now," he said.