Cambodia pulls its request for UN help
BANGKOK POST AND AGENCIES
Thai soldiers patrol near the Pha Mor E-daeng cliff, about 600 metres from the disputed area with Cambodia close to the Preah Vihear temple ruins. |
Cambodia has withdrawn its request for the United Nations Security Council to intervene in the border row with Thailand over the contested area near the Preah Vihear temple.
Phnom Penh's decision was announced after talks between Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and Cambodian Premier Hun Sen yesterday.
The leaders agreed their foreign ministers should meet on Monday in Siem Reap in a new attempt to defuse the antagonism on the border between Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket and the Cambodian province of Preah Vihear, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said.
The countries failed to reach any settlement at a top-level General Border Committee meeting in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district last Monday.
Both countries insisted on sovereignty over the 4.6-square-kilometre area of the overlapping zone.
Mr Hun Sen said his Foreign Ministry had advised the UN Security Council to ''temporarily postpone [consideration of the request] while awaiting results of the negotiations between Cambodia and Thailand''.
The Security Council confirmed that it had cancelled a meeting on the dispute over the Thai-Cambodian border at the request of Phnom Penh.
''We have cancelled the meeting pending the bilateral talks,'' Vietnam's ambassador Le Luong Minh told reporters in New York. Vietnam is holding the rotating council presidency for July.
Mr Samak promised that Thailand will have a new foreign minister in time to lead the negotiators to Siem Reap.
''It is my duty to settle this issue,'' the prime minister said.
The foreign affairs portfolio has been vacant since Noppadon Pattama resigned this month after the charter court ruled the joint communique he signed with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on Thai support for the temple being a World Heritage site should have been approved by parliament.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which has rejected a call from Cambodia for the 10-member grouping to help resolve the row with Thailand, did not want to see the issue go to the UN Security Council.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said that it was ''premature'' to take the Thai-Cambodian border dispute to the UN Security Council and urged more bilateral effort between the rivals.
''It should not have to go to the UN Security Council,'' said Mr Yeo, the outgoing Asean chairman. ''We should not let a small issue _ that was a non-issue in the past _ become a big issue.''
The Cambodian decision to withdraw the case from the Security Council came after diplomatic momentum appeared to swing in favour of Thailand's desire to use bilateral talks to end the feud.
Until yesterday, France was the only permanent member of the council which showed no enthusiasm for resolving the row through bilateral talks.
The other permanent members, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, favoured the Thai position, according to Thai ambassador to the UN, Don Pramudwinai.
''There is only one country opposing Thailand,'' Mr Don said yesterday without naming the country.
But talks yesterday in Singapore between Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Banditkul and French Deputy Foreign Minister Rama Yade indicated he was referring to France.
After the meeting, Mr Sahas said France believed the situation was tense, and the military stand-off worried Europeans because of their interest in the ancient Hindu temple.
Historical ties between France and its former colony, Cambodia, played a part in the French decision to back Cambodia, he said. France changed its mind after Thailand explained its stance.
Ms Yade is in Singapore for sideline meetings with Asean ministers.
Yesterday the Foreign Ministry quoted Mr Samak and army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda as saying there was no military build-up on the border, despite what Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith had told the media.
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