5 Thai soldiers hurt in border clash

15 Feb, 2011
Source: Bangkok Post

Five Thai soldiers were wounded, one seriously, when Cambodian soldiers attacked their post near Phu Ma Khua, near a disputed area in Si Sa Ket province, on Tuesday morning, 2nd Army Region commander Tawatchai Samutsakhon said on Tuesday.

Lt-Gen Tawatchai said the Cambodians attacked about 5am on Tuesday, only hours after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) called for a permanent ceasefire on the border and for Bangkok and Phnom Penh to negotiate an end to their dispute.

Lt-Gen Tawatchai said five Thai soldiers were wounded. One of them, Sgt Ratchapol Sripanya, was in a serious condition.

There were no details offered of any Cambodian casualties.

Military sources said although people in Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district had returned to their homes, many were still sleeping in bunkers because they were still not convinced the border fighting was over.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva

They returned to their villages each morning.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has instructed the Interior and Defence ministries to build more bunkers to shelter border villagers and to improve communication procedures and routes for emergency evacuations.

Acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the cabinet meeting today instructed the Culture Ministry to inform the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) that Thailand would not agree to it sending a team to inspect Preah Vihear temple at this time.

Mr Panitan said the message would be passed on when Unesco representatives visit Thailand on a cultural exchange mission.

Unesco also plans to send officials to inspect what damage was done to world heritage site during the recent fighting in the disputed area between Thai and Cambodian troops.

The spokesman said the Thai trade exhibition would still open in Phnom Penh on Feb 17, when Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwannakhiri would have a chance to meet Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to exchange opinions.

The cabinet also assigned Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti to attend the World Heritage Committee meeting in France, where he would stress that Thailand wants the listing of the Preah Vihear temple as a world heritage site put on hold.

Prime Minister Abhisit said he was confident the UNSC's decision will push Cambodia to return to the negotiating table with Thailand over the border dispute and this will cool down the conflict.

Speaking before the weekly cabinet meeting, Mr Abhisit said the UNSC wanted the two sides to exercise maximum restraint and avoid any armed clashes.

It gave support to the Association of Southeast Asia Nations' (Asean) efforts to seek a settlement through negotiations.

"It’s clearly shown that the world community wants the border dispute to be solved through negotiations.

"Cambodia may have no excuse to deny this and will return to the negotiating table with Thailand," said Mr Abhisit, who was in a cheerful mood after being briefed by Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya on the UNSC’s call for a permanent ceasefire between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya speaks with media after a closed-door meeting of the UNSC on the Thai-Cambodian border row at UN headquarters in New York on Feb 14, 2011. (EPA)

The UNSC made the call after being briefed during a closed-door session by the foreign ministers of Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia, the current Asean chairman. The council said it would not intervene in the border dispute at this time.

Mr Abhisit said he expected Asean would use the foreign ministers meeting scheduled for Feb 22 in Jakarta, Indonesia, to mediate talks between the two countries.

He believed the UNSC's resolution will help ease the tension along the Thai-Cambodian border. He stood firm on his earlier statements that Thailand had not started the fighting. Bangkok wanted everything to be settled through the bilateral framework.

Asked if he thought Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong would attend the Jakarta meeting, Mr Abhisit said he thought Cambodia would listen to the UNSC’s views as it had brought the matter to the council’s attention.

There would be no other forum where the two countries could settle their conflict if Cambodia ignored the UN's call. He was confident Cambodia would hold talks with Thailand on border demarcation.

Foreign Minister Kasit said the government is ready to present its case in the Thai-Cambodian border dispute if Phnom Penh takes the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

"Right now, all the problems rest with Cambodia and whether it will follow the UNSC's call. If not, other countries won't support Cambodia because it started it first," Mr Kasit said.

He said the government will see if the Cambodian foreign minister attends the Jakarta meeting and the Thai-Cambodian Joint Border Commission meeting on Feb 27.

Cambodia had earlier shut the door on Thailand’s attempts to solve the border dispute with a Joint Border Boundary Commission meeting. It called for the UNSC and third countries to intervene to solve the border conflict.

Thailand and Cambodia blamed each other for the crisis, which left at least 10 dead, including seven Cambodians, in border clashes which began on Feb 4.