Cambodian evacuees return home after deadly clashes over border row

18 Feb, 2011
Source: Xinhua

Two weeks after the armed clashes on Feb. 4-7 between Cambodian and Thai troops over the border disputed area near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, a quarter of the evacuees have returned home, said officials on Friday.

Some 800 families out of the total 3,200 evacuated families have returned home, Nhim Vanda, the first vice-president of the Cambodian National Committee for Disaster Management, told Xinhua on Friday.

"They still worry about their safety, but they miss their houses, crops and animals, so they begin to return home," he said.

The evacuees fled from their houses in Chorm Kasan district nearby the areas of the armed clashes on Feb. 4-7 and were taking refuge in a camp in Kulen district -- some 90 kilometers from Preah Vihear Temple.

"They can stay in the camp as long as they want as we have built 60 makeshift houses, installed clean water and toilets already," he said. "Now sanitation is good in the camp."

A brigadier general Thul Sovan, deputy commander of Cambodian Military Division 3, stationed at the frontline near Preah Vihear temple, said Friday that the situation at the border areas near the Temple of Preah Vihear is calm in the last two days, but still tense.

"We observed that the last two nights, there have no any sounds of explosions," he told Xinhua by telephone.

"However, military confrontation still continues, there is no any sign of troop reduction from Thai side," he added. "Future's armed clashes are unpredictable."

Cambodia and Thailand have had border conflict just a week after Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

The conflict is due to Thai claim of the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub next to the temple, triggering a military build-up along the border, and periodic clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.

The latest clashes on Feb. 4-7, unleashed a barrage of artillery shells on both sides of the border, had killed and wounded people of both sides, and caused tens of thousands of the two countries' villagers nearby the disputed areas fleeing for safe shelters.

The ASEAN foreign ministers will hold a meeting on Feb. 22 in Jakarta, Indonesia to mediate the conflict.

ASEAN countries consist of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Source: Xinhua