News dailyJuly 28, 2008 9:42 am

ASEAN Fails to Resolve Cambodia-Thailand Border Dispute

By VOA News
22 July 2008

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations failed to resolve a simmering border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand during an emergency meeting Tuesday.

Diplomats said both countries presented their side of the issue during a lunch meeting, but no progress was made.

Thai soldiers enter to a Cambodian Buddhist pagoda, near Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, 22 Jul 2008
Thai soldiers enter to a Cambodian Buddhist pagoda, near Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, 22 Jul 2008
Cambodia has requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to mediate the military standoff with Thailand over disputed territory around a historic temple.

The appeal to the world body Tuesday came a day after talks between top defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia failed to end the stalemate.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for both sides to exercise restraint.  

Both countries have voiced willingness to peacefully resolve the territorial dispute.

The dispute centers on ownership of about 4.6 square kilometers of land surrounding the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple. An estimated 4,000 troops are facing off near the ancient Hindu temple.

Tensions flared last week, when Thai soldiers crossed the border to follow three Thai protesters trying to reach the temple. The protesters were detained for illegally entering Cambodia but were later released.

The U.N. cultural organization, UNESCO, recently approved Cambodia’s application to name the Preah Vihear temple a World Heritage site. The move renewed a decades-old dispute over who owns the temple and the land around it.

The International Court of Justice granted Cambodia sovereignty over the temple in 1962, but did not rule on which country owns the surrounding land.

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News daily 9:36 am

Thai FM to join border dispute talks with Cambodia

2008-07-28 12:28:02 

BANGKOK, July 28 (Xinhua) — Thailand’s newly-appointed Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag left Bangkok Monday morning for Cambodia’s Siem Reap to hold a talks with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong aimed at solving a diplomatic and military standoff between the two neighbors on the border dispute around the Preah Vihear temple.

    Before his departure, Tej said that the dispute not be easy to resolve, but he will do his best in his first task after officially taking office on Sunday.

    The minister said he believed that the atmosphere of the talks would be positive and constructive based on what has achieved from last week’s meeting between Thai Supreme Commander Gen. Boonsang Niempradit and Cambodian Defense Minister Gen Tea Banh.

    Tej had discussed with concerned top military officials before heading for Cambodia. On Sunday he also met with some foreign ministry officials concerning the dispute.

    Tej, a veteran diplomat, was appointed as the head of Thailand’s Foreign Affairs days after Noppadon Pattama resigned earlier this month over the Preah Vihear dispute which has arouse a wave of nationalist sentiment in the country.

    The two countries has been locked in a military standoff on the border areas between Kantharalak district, Si Sa Ket province in Thailand’s northeast and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province where the 11th century Khmer-style Hindu temple Preah Vihear is located.
    

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