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.
    

PHNOM PENH, July 22 (Xinhua) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has written a letter to UNESCO, accusing Thailand of aggression by moving troops into disputed border territory, and warned that Thailand threatened peace in the region.

    "Thai behavior gravely threatens peace and stability in the region" and Thailand is "defying all principles of international law," Hun Sen said in the letter addressed to Koichiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO.

    Thailand’s "unwarranted aggression" violates international convention designed to protect World Heritage sites during times of conflict by stationing heavily armed soldiers near the Preah Vihear Temple, he said in the letter dated Monday and made public Tuesday.

    "The encroachment by large number of Thai armed soldiers in an area adjacent to the temple, with the attendant risk of provoking conflict in and around a World Heritage Site, clearly qualities as a prohibited action and thus constitutes a violation of the World Heritage Convention," he said.

    The government of Cambodia would like to request UNESCO assistance in resolving this matter and request it to take urgent actions for the protection of this World Heritage Site, he said, adding that the military standoff may ruin the site.

    Currently, both sides stationed over a thousand troops at the border near the Preah Vihear Temple, which was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee.

    Monday, bilateral talks failed to produce any agreement to end the military standoff. Cambodia has asked UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to intervene and find peaceful solution for the week-long stalemate.

    Last Tuesday, three Thai protesters trespassed the border to reclaim the temple, but were immediately arrested. Thai troops then came in to fetch them, thus triggering face-off with Cambodian soldiers there. Bilateral military build-up occurred dayby day. Currently, the troops there were widely estimated at thousands.

    In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded the 11-century classic Khmer-style Preah Vihear Temple, together with the land it occupies, to Cambodia.

PHNOM PENH, July 9 (Xinhua) — Sam Rainsy, president of the eponymous opposition party, here Wednesday found no staff members at the local court to receive his evidence over the defamation charges filed against him by Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong.

    Rainsy went voluntarily to the court to submit documents in his defense, but no prosecutors showed up to receive them.

    "The prosecutors all fled. They are scared by Sam Rainsy," he told reporters as left the court.

    Court officials could not be reached for comments immediately.

    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong filed a defamation lawsuit in April at Phnom Penh Municipal Court against Sam Rainsy over his remarks alleging that the minister was a former member of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK).

    Hor Namhong has long said that he and his family were prisoners at a DK camp, and has successfully sued people in the past for claiming that he had links to the regime that is widely held responsible for the death of over 1.7 million people during the 1970s.

    Rainsy is now leading his party as the main opposition force to campaign for the general elections on July 27.

    Altogether 11 parties are participating in the election. The current ruling Cambodian People’s Party is widely expected to score landslide victory.

AFP © [Enlarge photo]

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand’s government will not appeal a ruling that suspended its endorsement of Cambodia’s bid to see a disputed Hindu temple granted World Heritage status, the foreign minister said Tuesday.

Despite a long-standing territorial dispute over the 11th century Preah Vihear temple site, the Thai cabinet voted two weeks ago to support its neighbour’s application at a UNESCO meeting in Canada this week.

But anti-government protesters succeeded in obtaining an injunction last weekend from the Central Administrative Court to annul the joint communique.

"We have resolved to comply with the court’s decision. We will suspend the joint communique and keep Cambodia informed," Thai foreign minister Noppadon Pattama told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.

"Our prime minister has already told Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that we will send them an official letter," Noppadon said.

The government would seek further legal advice, Somchai Wongsawat, deputy prime minister told AFP.

"We will wait for advice from the Council of State, which I expect to seek in next week’s meeting," Somchai said.

Last week Cambodia closed the temple after more than 100 Thais marched to the compound to protest the deal.

Cambodia had planned to present the joint communique as part of its application to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee tohave the site listed to attract more tourists.

Cambodia last year attempted to have the ancient Hindu temple, perched on a mountaintop on the Thai-Cambodia border, listed by UNESCO. But that effort failed, amid rumours Thailand had blocked the deal.

Cambodia began seeking World Heritage status for the temple, which has long plagued relations between the two countries, nearly six years ago.

Both countries have historically laid claim to the site, which sits on Cambodian soil but can only be easily accessed from Thailand.

Former Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk took Thailand to the World Court in 1962 over the two countries’ claim to Preah Vihear. The court ruled the temple belonged to Cambodia.