Cambodians Scared To Return Home After Clashes

12 Feb, 2011
Source: Bernama

PHNOM PENH, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- Over a week after the armed clashes on Feb 4-7 between Cambodian and Thai troops in the disputed border area near the 11th century temple, evacuees still feel unsafe to return home, Cambodian officials said Saturday.

"They still worry about their safety. As of Saturday, just about ten percent of the evacuees have returned home," Sar Thavy, vice governor of Preah Vihear province, told Xinhua news agency by telephone.

He said that since the clashes unleashed a barrage of artillery shells on both sides of the border, some 3,200 Cambodian families with some 12,000 people (mostly women and children) in four communes in Chorm Kasan district nearby the area of the armed clashes had been fled their houses for safe shelters in Kulen district, some 90 kilometers from Preah Vihear Temple.

Cambodian Major General Srey Doek, commander of Military Division 3, said on Saturday the situation is quiet in the border area near the temple, but "we're still on high alert to fight against any invasion."

"Every night, Thai soldiers throw five to ten bombs into our territory in the disputed area," he said. "But we keep maximum restraint, not to fight back."

The clashes on Feb 4-7 had killed at least 8 people and injured 67 on both sides; and tens of thousands of the two countries' villagers nearby the disputed area fled home.

The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been completely demarcated. Although the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple itself belonged to Cambodia, the row over the 4.6-square-km territory around the temple has never been resolved.

-- BERNAMA