Tuesday, February 8, 2011

KI Media

Posted by sam auto blog tune up at 5:39 PM

KI Media

Cambodian Revenue Watchdog Group Announces Landmark Business Survey

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 05:33 PM PST

Tuesday, Feb. 08, 2011
Sun Herald (Biloxi, Mississippi, USA)

Survey reveals business owners' perspective on oil, gas and mining on Cambodian economy

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency (CRRT) will announce results of its landmark business survey on the state of oil, gas and mining in Cambodia and its effects on the general business climate on Feb. 15, 2011 at the Hotel Cambodiana.

"This important survey will help all Cambodians better understand the level of knowledge about oil, gas and mining throughout the country," said Mam Sambath, CRRT chairman. "Because it is a scientific survey of the entire country, the survey will also help civil society and the Royal Government of Cambodia understand how business in Cambodia feels about these important sectors and their effects on business in general."

CRRT a coalition of civil society organizations with four members: API, DPA, NGO Forum and YRDP, is working to ensure that wealth generated from the extractive industries is managed in a socially responsible manner that is transparent, accountable, and participatory to equitably benefit all Cambodians.



The survey, conducted in conjunction with the Economic Institute of Cambodia, reflects the attitudes and opinions of business owners of small to medium sized businesses nationwide.

The survey sample represents concentrations of small and medium-sized businesses (between five and 100 employees) in the most populous Cambodian provinces of Phnom Penh, Battambang, Kampong Cham and Sihanouk Ville, as well as from 13 other provinces. The survey includes businesses from manufacturing, services and trade, according to Peoulida Ros from EIC, who added that 548 senior executives (president/manager, administration/accounting or owner) were interviewed.

Some 67% of respondents to the detailed personal interviews were female, and 96% of businesses represented employ fewer than 50 people.

Respondents had fairly good awareness in general of the presence of oil and mining enterprise in Cambodia (60%), but little awareness of gas development (23%). Moreover, most respondents listed the environment as a priority area of impact from oil, gas and mining, followed by Cambodian people, the general business environment and their own, specific business.

Meanwhile, respondents also represented a consensus on how to manage revenues derived from oil, gas and mining. Some 86% recommended that at least some revenue derived from oil, gas and mining should be reserved for Cambodia's future, and 81% of respondents endorsed the idea of establishing an independent committee to manage oil, gas and mining revenues. Nearly 50% of the respondents recommended the potential revenue from oil, gas and mining should be used to improve infrastructure in Cambodia which will benefit both business activities and the Cambodian public in general.

"We hope this survey will help the Royal Government of Cambodia make important decisions about the oil, gas and mining sectors as they work to create fair and equitable policy that will affect all Cambodians for the foreseeable future," said Sambath. "We also think the survey will prove a valuable benchmark for future research to determine how Cambodians feel about the effects these important sectors have on the quality of life in Cambodia for business people and for all Cambodians."

Complete results of the survey will be released to the public during the Feb. 15 conference.

U.S. demands immediate end to Egypt's emergency law

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 05:30 PM PST

President Barack Obama addresses the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, February 7, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Jim Young
Tue Feb 8, 2011
By Matt Spetalnick and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday set out four steps Cairo must take to end Egypt's crisis, telling its ally to stop harassing protesters and immediately repeal an emergency law allowing detention without charge.

The Obama administration appears worried President Hosni Mubarak's government will not make meaningful changes in the largest Arab nation, a strategic U.S. partner due to its peace treaty with Israel and control of the Suez Canal.

The steps, conveyed by Vice President Joe Biden to Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, appeared to rebuff the former intelligence chief who is negotiating with opposition figures seeking Mubarak's immediate departure after 30 years in power.

Suleiman was quoted on Sunday as suggesting Egypt was not ready for democracy and a government statement said the emergency law would be lifted "according to the security conditions" -- a phrase giving the authorities wide latitude.


As Egyptians staged one of their biggest anti-Mubarak protests yet, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs described Suleiman's comments about democracy as "unhelpful."

Mubarak, under pressure from more than two weeks of unprecedented demonstrations, has said he will not seek re-election in September but has refused to resign.

After Biden spoke to Suleiman by telephone on Tuesday, the White House issued a statement listing four steps the United States wants Egypt to take:

-- "Restraining the Ministry of Interior's conduct by immediately ending the arrests, harassment, beating, and detention of journalists, and political and civil society activists, and by allowing freedom of assembly and expression;

-- "immediately rescinding the emergency law;

-- "broadening participation in the national dialogue to include a wide range of opposition members; and,

-- "inviting the opposition as a partner in jointly developing a roadmap and timetable for transition."

'IRREVERSIBLE PROGRESS'

Biden stressed U.S. support "for an orderly transition in Egypt that is prompt, meaningful, peaceful, and legitimate" and urged "immediate, irreversible progress that responds to the aspirations of the Egyptian people," the statement said.

Even as Washington voiced its criticism, Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised Egypt's military for its restraint.

The armed forces -- long the backbone of Egypt's government -- have behaved in "an exemplary fashion" by standing largely on the sidelines during the uprising, he said.


"I would say that they have made a contribution to the evolution of democracy and what we're seeing in Egypt," Gates told a news conference.

The praise for the military, which gets about $1.3 billion in U.S. aid every year, appeared designed to buttress U.S. ties with a power broker whose role is expected to be key to whatever political order emerges in Egypt.

U.S. officials do not believe the military was responsible for widespread violence against protesters last week, including men on horseback who rode into Cairo's Tahrir Square brandishing whips, although the army failed to stop it.

The U.S. decision to support the transition effort under Suleiman and to stop short of calling for Mubarak's resignation has angered many demonstrators.

An influential group of U.S. analysts said Washington risked condoning "an inadequate and possibly fraudulent transition."

"The process that is unfolding now has many of the attributes of a smokescreen," the Working Group on Egypt, which includes a number of prominent think tank analysts and rights activists, said in letters this week to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa and Patricia Zengerle; writing by Andrew Quinn; editing by John O'Callaghan and Mohammad Zargham)

Politiktoons No. 141: The Democratic World

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 05:22 PM PST

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com
and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

On Thai - Cambodia, UN Moves for Monday Council Meeting, With ASEAN

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 03:55 PM PST

UN's Ban & Marty Natalegawa: UN replacement?
By Matthew Russell Lee
Inner City Press

UNITED NATIONS, February 8 -- A day after the UN Security Council did not act on Cambodia's request for a Council meeting, late Tuesday agreement emerged to hold the requested meeting on Monday, February 14.

To make clear that the UN is deferring to the regional group ASEAN, its mediator between Thailand and Cambodia Marty Natalegawa will be invited to come and speak.

Meanwhile Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Press on Tuesday that he had spoken with the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia. Some wonder why Ban isn't mediating, or even asked to mediate, under UN Charter Article 99.

Natalegawa was previously Indonesia's Permanent Representative to the UN, and some now mentioned him for higher, even the highest, UN position.

Footnote: also in Council consultations Tuesday, discussion was had of a Council trip to the Middle East. Watch this site.

On Thai - Cambodia, UNSC Defers to ASEAN's Natalegawa, UN Replacement?

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 03:48 PM PST

By Matthew Russell Lee
Inner City Press

UNITED NATIONS, February 8 -- Despite a request from Cambodia's prime minister Hun Sen for a UN Security Council meeting on the fighting with Thailand, the Council on Monday did not schedule a meeting, deferring instead to the mediation of Indonesia's foreign minister Marty Natalegawa, for ASEAN.

Inner City Press, which reported before the Council's consultations on the matter that two countries wanted to hold a meeting, is now told that in the consultations, Russia spoke in favor of having a meeting, saying this is what the Council is for.

As Russian Permanent Representative Vitaly Churkin left the Council on Monday, Inner City Press asked him about the Council having a meeting on Cambodia's request. We are not against it, he replied.

Inner City Press then asked the Council's president Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti if Hun Sen's public request that the UN establish a buffer zone around the Preah Vihear temple.

No, she answered, that request had not been made to the Council. Meanwhile, Thailand's prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said he will call UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday.


Natalegawa was previously Indonesia's permanent representative to the UN, and knows the system well. His successor on January 31 told Inner City Press that ASEAN led by Indonesia is trying to get Western sanctions on Myanmar lifted, while getting Myanmar to agree to an ASEAN envoy to that country.

Some expect Natalegawa to be able to keep the Thai - Cambodia issue off of the Council's formal agenda, by the withdrawal of Cambodia's request just as a similar request was withdrawn in 2008, when Viet Nam was president of the Council. But for now the fighting has continued.

A buzz at the UN this week concerns the open dissatisfaction with Ban by several countries, including veto-wielding Security Council member Russia. If Ban were denied a second term, as the US denied one to Boutros-Boutros Ghali, the next five or ten years would be seen as belonging to the Asia group, just as Kofi Annan replaced Boutros for the African group.

What higher profile and more adept replacement could there be from the Asia group, some say, than Natalegawa? Watch this site.

High farce at the Thai-Cambodian border

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 03:44 PM PST

Wednesday, February 09, 2011
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent

BANGKOK, Thailand – It's not so much High Noon as High Farce at the Thai-Cambodia border.

The current border spat would be almost laughable if it were not for the suffering it's inflicting on villagers on both sides of the disputed frontier, thousands of whom have been forced from their homes.

The conflict ostensibly is about the ownership of an 11th century temple called Preah Vihear, described by UNESCO as an "outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture."

But in reality it has more to do with the sorry state of Thai politics than an ancient Hindu relic.

Arguing over a 1962 decision

The area in dispute was quieter Tuesday after four days of skirmishes between the Thai and Cambodian armies that are reported to have killed several people and damaged the very temple they claim to hold so dear.


Both sides have blamed each other for starting the conflict.

The two countries have argued over their border for years, though the World Court was supposed to have put the temple dispute to rest in 1962 when it was awarded to Cambodia.

Thailand grudgingly accepted the ruling, but the two countries have continued to squabble over land surrounding the temple.

The spat would probably have remained low key had the issue not been embraced by Thailand's "yellow shirt" nationalist movement, whose more hard line members are demanding Thailand take the temple – and much else – by force.

'Yellow shirts' take center stage, again

The yellow shirts are formally known as the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), they are middle-class denizens looking to protect their own interests – a vocal minority in a country where most people are poor farmers.

They shot to prominence when they led street protests in 2008 that were instrumental to bringing down the then-Thai government (remember the occupation of Bangkok's airports?).

The current Thai administration of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva owes its existence to them, and there are strong links between the yellow shirts and members of his party (the foreign minister is a former yellow shirt supporter).

In 2008, the yellow shirts were backed by Thailand's royalist elite and the Bangkok middle class. More recently, its influence has waned and the movement has split. The border agitation is being led by a nastier rump, which is organizing fresh anti-government protests – in effect, turning on the government it helped create.

Even before the current flare-up, the yellow shirts sent their own supporters on provocative incursions across the border.

The prime minister, though now an object of their scorn, appears unwilling to stand up to them, though their border crusade seems to enjoy little popular support. Instead, he has been upping his own nationalist rhetoric.

This may be partly realpolitik. The red shirt opposition movement supposedly vanquished in an army crackdown last year is back on the streets with large protests, the size of which have shaken Abhisit and his army backers.

Elections are due later this year, and Abhisit may think wrapping himself in the flag is a useful electoral tactic.

Army may flex its muscles

The army itself is the real power in Thailand, its clout enhanced by last year's red shirt crackdown. Some 89 people died during the upheaval.

The royalist yellow shirts have had strong links to the army, which now has a new commander who isn't shy in his contempt for elected politicians.

It's significant that the Thai army began an artillery barrage last Friday just as Thailand's foreign minister was sitting down for talks in Cambodia.

There have been dark murmurings about the possibility of yet another military coup, a "coup to end coups," as one newspaper described it. That's dangerous mumbo-jumbo to most people, but the fact that some are taking it seriously is a sad reflection on Thailand's politics.

It's against this background that the border drama is being played out.

The yellow shirts are threatening to take their protests to the border Friday, though local Thai village leaders have made it known they are not welcome.

Cambodia waits it out

Meanwhile, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen appears to be enjoying himself. He is a veteran political street-fighter, always happy to pick a fight with his bigger neighbor.

He is now calling for outside intervention, apparently aware that the weight of international law appears to be with Cambodia.

Thailand has often been applauded for its deft and low key diplomacy. Not this time, and the kingdom risks being labeled as a petulant regional bully, its prime minister in thrall to yellow-shirted extremists and an unaccountable army.

Denouncing the Thai army aggression: Opinion by Khem Khieu

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 01:40 PM PST

Click on the article in Khmer to zoom in

There are reasons for rebellion

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 01:34 PM PST

Mohammed Bouazizi, suicide by immolation in Sidi Bouzid Tunisia
February 9, 2011
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
PACIFIC DAILY NEWS

It's the nature of politics, domestic and international, that in an interconnected world, what occurs in one area will sooner or later, directly or indirectly, affect other areas.

Having knowledge of what's happening and an understanding of how and why it is happening helps one forecast a future trend and avoid the unpleasant and the negative that lies ahead.

But many disregard the compelling desire of men and women to seek freedom, forget that there can be no lasting peace without the establishment of broad-based human rights. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights contained the warning -- that without the rule of law to protect human rights, man has no alternative but to rebel against oppression.

Since the declaration, many rebellions have occurred, many autocracies have fallen and some forms of democracy have emerged.

Quest for dignity

Columnist David Brooks wrote in the Jan. 31 New York Times about a "great mental tide" that has swept across the world: People who had accepted "certain fixed places in the social order," began to think they must no longer be ignored, and they march "for responsive government and democracy" -- themes echoed by protesters in Cairo today.


Brooks presented some lessons learned: Those who tolerate autocrats for the sake of stability are ill informed; autocracies are more fragile than any other form of government; those who say speeches by outsiders have no influence on places like Egypt have it backward, as it's the climate of opinion that is the basis of the revolt; most countries that have experienced uprisings end up better off; though public hunger for dignity is unabated, the road from autocracy to democracy is rocky and perilous; outside powers must help democrats build governments that work.

He wrote: "Over the past decades, there has been a tide in the affairs of men and women. People in many places have risked their lives for recognition and respect. Governments may lag, and complications will arise, but still they will march. And, in the long run, we should be glad they do."

Revolution

It's hard to believe that an underprivileged 26-year-old Tunisian street vendor, who had pushed his wheelbarrow to sell produce since he was 10 in an unknown, poor agrarian area, sent an autocratic ruler of 23 years fleeing the country, and unleashed a tsunami of revolutionary fervor that keeps dictators near and far guessing.

He was Mohamed Bouazizi of Tunisia's hardscrabble town of Sidi Bouzid, about 200 miles south of the capital of Tunis. Bouazizi quit high school to work full-time to help his mother, uncle and six siblings.

On Dec. 17, 2010, something happened: Faida Hamdy, 45, an inspector, questioned Bouazizi over a permit. She confiscated his fruit, which Bouazizi wrestled to get back from Hamdy. She allegedly slapped him in the face in public, while two of her colleagues beat him and took away his electronic scale.

Embarrassed and angry, Bouazizi went to the municipal building to retrieve his wares. There, he was beaten again.

He then walked into the governor's office and asked to see the governor to lodge his complaint. He reportedly said he would set himself afire if refused. An audience was refused.

Bouazizi obtained some bottles of paint thinner, doused and lit himself on fire on the street in front of the governor's gated office. His self-immolation triggered small local riots that spread like wildfire to Tunisia's cities, including the capital.

Tunisians protested massively against the government for corruption, poor living conditions, high unemployment, repression.

Ten days later, President Ben Ali, ruler since 1987, fled Tunis for Saudi Arabia.

The Tunisian revolt emboldened young people in other countries, such as in Egypt today, to proclaim, "Yes, we can, too!"

Deeper problems

On the surface, Hamdy had done little more than humiliate a man, something that she may have done at other times. The subsequent "investigation" found she hadn't slapped the vendor. Her brother, Fawzy Hamdy, said he was thrilled to be among the first to join the protests in Sidi Bouzid, but also said he didn't believe his sister had slapped Bouazizi. "It's the lie that toppled a dictator," he said.

Sidi Bouzid is a poor town, ignored for years by Tunis. Tunisia's official unemployment rate is 14 percent, but Sidi Bouzid's is higher than 30 percent, with rampant corruption, nepotism and cronyism. Sidi Bouzid, like neighboring towns, is home to young, idle, jobless, underemployed and poor Tunisians, who roam the cafes, smoke and play the card game, "rami." Some intoxicate themselves with moonshine.

President Ben Ali rarely visited Sidi Bouzid. When he did, local officials busily paved roads, planted full-grown trees, painted the youth center and added skateboard ramps and ping pong tables reserved for "people with connections."

In the Jan. 30 Washington Post, Sudarsan Raghavan described Tunisia as the "personal treasure chest" of Ben Ali and wife, Leila Trabelsi, and their families. For example, Trabelsi was selling a Tunisian island and shutting down a highly regarded private school to promote her own. Ben Ali's son-in-law owned many luxury car dealerships and lucrative businesses. The Ben Ali and Trabelsi families controlled companies and real estate holdings, "sometimes taken by force."

As one reflects on that 1948 warning in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it seems entirely clear why Tunisia was ripe for revolt. It is remarkable only that it took so long.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam. Contact him at 
peangmeth@yahoo.com.

Sinatoons No. 15: Kampuchea Krom

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 01:25 PM PST

Sinatoons No. 16: The Cemetery

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 01:23 PM PST

 

Sam Rainsy: “Cambodia should end the bilateral talk mechanism with Thailand”

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 01:21 PM PST

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy (Photo: RFI)
08 Feb 2011
By Kuoch Kuntheara
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Soy

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who is currently in self-exile in France, is pushing the Cambodian government to use of international mechanism to resolve the border problems with Thailand, in particular, to lobby with the signatories of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia. Sam Rainsy claimed that it is time for Cambodia to end the bilateral talk mechanism with Thailand because in the past more than 2-year, there was no result at all.

Surakiart calls for more forward-thinking approach

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 01:11 PM PST

9/02/2011
Amornrat Mahitthirook and King-Oua Laohong
Bangkok Post
The [Thai] government also must ensure that the conflict is not taken to the United Nations or international tribunals such as the International Court of Justice.
Former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai is calling on the government to increase its diplomatic efforts to end the border conflict with Cambodia and to be more forward-thinking in its political strategies.

Mr Surakiart said yesterday the government must try to understand Cambodia's plan and anticipate its moves in order to take pre-emptive action.

"We need to have a firm grasp of what Cambodia thinks and how they will move so we can plan every possible course of action," he said.

The former minister in the Thaksin government said the government must send envoys to explain its position to the leaders of other Asean states and the UN Security Council. It also should try to restart bilateral peace talks with Cambodia.

Thai authorities are handling the border dispute on two fronts, he said.


The military is doing its duty of protecting the country's sovereignty and it needs full support, while the government, through the Foreign Affairs Ministry, is attempting to renew bilateral peace talks with Cambodia.

Mr Surakiart said it was time the leaders of the two countries met for talks to find a solution.

He also said the situation might require special mechanisms and informal negotiations. People who have cordial ties with Cambodian authorities must be called in to broker talks.

The government also must ensure that the conflict is not taken to the United Nations or international tribunals such as the International Court of Justice.

Although these bodies' rulings are not legally binding, they will impact on international relations, he said.

Phummarat Thaksadipong, a former director of the National Intelligence Agency, said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen wanted to exploit the border row for political gain.

The Cambodian premier wants to deflect attention from Cambodia's internal problems, such as its severe economic difficulties and, more importantly, the loss of vast areas of its northeastern territory to Vietnam, he said.

Mr Phummarat added that the Thai government had not made preparations to deal with critical border situations, whereas Cambodia had spent a long time thoroughly working out plans to achieve its aims.

He did not think it was possible for the United Nations to intervene in the border dispute at Cambodia's request unless the conflict escalated into a large-scale war. The clashes along the border were still limited and had no impact on peace in the wider region.

Second Army chief Thawatchai Samutsakhon brushed aside calls for intervention by the UN.

"There is no need for the UN to step in to help," he said.

"The UN is overloaded with work."

Lt Gen Thawatchai yesterday visited residents who had fled their villages to escape fighting in Kantharalak district.

He said he had met senior Cambodian authorities for talks on easing tensions. He also confirmed there would be no more fighting between Thai and Cambodian troops.

[Thai] Soldier's death takes [Thai] fatalities to three

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 01:06 PM PST

9/02/2011
Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post

A Thai soldier who was seriously wounded in fighting between Thailand and Cambodia on Sunday has died from his injuries.

The death brings the number of Thais killed to three - two soldiers and a civilian - since the border clashes flared up on Friday last week in Si Sa Ket province. Thirty-four people were reported as injured.

Sgt Thanakorn Boonperm died at Khai Sapphasit Prasong Hospital in Ubon Ratchathani province. He was among 14 Thai soldiers injured during a clash in the Phu Makhua area of Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket on Sunday. The Si Sa Ket native suffered gunshot wounds to the head and stomach.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon and army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha will attend his bathing ceremony and visit soldiers deployed to secure areas near the Preah Vihear temple in Si Sa Ket today.


Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul has ordered governors of three provinces bordering Cambodia to set up shelters for residents affected by the fighting.

The minister issued the order during a meeting yesterday in Surin with the governors of Surin, Buri Ram and Sa Kaeo provinces. He said authorities in border districts of the three provinces must build shelters if the clashes resume.

Mr Chavarat visited Karb Choeng district in Surin and handed out bags of essentials to people sheltering at Karb Choeng Withaya School.

Authorities in Karb Choeng have warned residents in tambons Darn, Khok Takhian and Khoo Tan to prepare for evacuation. They will be moved to a camp in Khok Sa-ard village in tambon Khoo Khan.

About 7,000 people have moved to the camp since Feb 7. They will be allowed to return home when tensions ease.

The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department has supplied mobile drinking water facilities, lighting units, tents, bags of basic necessities and blankets to the Kantharalak district office and Ban Tha Sawang School in tambon Non Samran, which now functions as an emergency shelter.

Department chief Wibul Sa-nguanpong said 17 houses were damaged and over 16,600 people, including eight monks, were evacuated to 40 shelters in 11 districts during the clashes along the border from Friday to Sunday.

The Chong Jom border pass in Karb Choeng was reopened yesterday after an end to shooting between Thai and Cambodian soldiers on Monday night. Troops from the two sides manning the border at Ta Muan Thom and Ta Kwai temples in Phanom Dong Rak district of Surin relaxed and crossed the frontier to greet each other.

About 400 shops on the Thai side of the border pass remain closed. Traders have removed products from their stores. Some returned to the shops yesterday and said they would monitor the situation for a few days before deciding whether to reopen for business.

Hun Xen tried to divert attention from land concessions to Vietnam by attacking Thailand: Thai Gen. Charan Kullavanijaya

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 01:03 PM PST

Charan: All border disputes stem from conflicts of interest
Why history has made border demarcation efforts so difficult

9/02/2011
Bangkok Post
"Hun Sen has come under fire from his critics over his decision to grant long-term concessions over the use of land in the northeast of Cambodia bordering Vietnam. This put Cambodia at a disadvantage. As a result, he has had to divert public attention away from that issue by attacking Thailand."
The recent conviction in Phnom Penh of Thai Patriots Network coordinator Veera Somkwamkid and his secretary, Ratree Pipatanapaiboon, on charges of espionage bodes ill for solving the long-running border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.

Gen Charan Kullavanijaya, former secretary-general of the National Security Council and chairman of the National Defence Alumni Think Tank, shares his views on the border conflict with KING-OUA LAOHONG.

Why does Thailand have more border disputes with Cambodia than any other country?

Thailand has had border disputes with Malaysia, Laos and Burma, but they were settled through negotiations. The border demarcation with Malaysia went well. In the case of Cambodia, there would be no problem if the two countries could agree on their common interests.


I don't know whether the Thaksin Shinawatra government reached any kind of agreement with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Perhaps this is why the Cambodian leader was upset when there was a change of government in Thailand. I believe that all disputes arise from conflicts of interest.

There are still problems with overlapping areas along the Thai-Cambodian border that have stymied demarcation efforts. What is your view on that?

Thailand and Cambodia share a 798-kilometre-long border. The two countries started demarcating the border line in 1909. There are 73 border markers, the first of which is at the Chong Sa-ngam checkpoint in Si Sa Ket's Phu Sing district. The 73rd post sits on the border at Hat Lek village in Trat's Khlong Yai district. During the colonial period, powerful countries that colonised our neighbours tried to put pressure on Thailand because they wanted to get at our natural resources. They tried to take advantage of us by means of border demarcation.

It is noticeable that France used watershed boundaries to demarcate the border line between Thailand and Cambodia, but it used the Mekong River bank to demarcate the border line between Thailand and Laos.

During the time of the communist threat and internal fighting among the three warring factions in Cambodia, the border line between Thailand and Cambodia was altered. One faction backed by Vietnamese troops drove the other factions to areas bordering Thailand. The factions then moved the border line into Cambodian territory and created quasi-Thai territory where they set up safe pockets for their supporters to take refuge. But there was no telling exactly where the border lay.

Later, some selfish businessmen and investors wanting to cut down trees in the border area moved some demarcation posts deeper into Thai soil to create the impression the area belonged to Cambodia so they could fell trees easily.

After the trees were removed, they did not move the markers back.

Do residents and officials working along the border know which areas belong to Thailand and which to Cambodia?

If we study history, we will see that border markers have often been moved. Troops from the two countries have agreed to demarcate the border line. However, what they agreed is not formal demarcation. For example, Thai border patrol police and Cambodian troops earlier reached an agreement on the border line in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district. But the arrest of seven Thais in the disputed area became a government-to-government issue and suddenly bilateral talks no longer made sense, because national pride got in the way.

Why does Hun Sen seem to take an aggressive stance, particularly in Mr Veera's case?

Mr Veera had entered the disputed border area twice [before] and was caught there twice. He was released both times because of help from Thai border patrol police. He then entered the same location a third time and was arrested.

I don't know why he kept entering the area. When he and the other Thais were caught, pressure mounted on the government to declare the area Thai territory. In fact, no one can say that. I myself cannot point to exactly where the border line is.

The Cambodian leader has to take an aggressive stance towards Thailand because he is facing political pressure in his own country. Hun Sen has come under fire from his critics over his decision to grant long-term concessions over the use of land in the northeast of Cambodia bordering Vietnam. This put Cambodia at a disadvantage. As a result, he has had to divert public attention away from that issue by attacking Thailand.

How can Thailand solve the dispute, and in particular border demarcation?

Negotiations are the best solution. Both governments must hold talks and let the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission demarcate the border.

[Thai] Govt spurns help from the UN

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 12:55 PM PST

FMs agree to bilateral talks in a third country

9/02/2011
Thanida Tansubhapol and Achara
Bangkok Post

Thailand has rejected United Nations intervention in the Cambodian border dispute, saying it is not a failed state and therefore can handle the issue itself through bilateral talks.

Foreign Ministry officials yesterday reaffirmed the country's belief in a bilateral approach and rejected calls by Phnom Penh to involve outside agencies.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva meanwhile telephoned UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon last night to clarify the facts about the clashes.

Details of their conversation were not released, but earlier he said he would tell Mr Ban that Thailand had not attacked Cambodia or its civilians.


Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said he spoke with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong yesterday and they agreed to holds talks in a third country.

After being approached by Phnom Penh, the UN Security Council said it would be willing to hold a meeting to discuss the conflict.

"Members of the council expressed great concern at the aggravation of the tension on the border," said Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the Brazilian ambassador who is president of the Security Council for February.

"They called for a ceasefire and urged the parties to resolve the situation peacefully," she said of the fighting which has claimed eight lives and displaced thousands.

"They expressed their willingness to hold a Security Council meeting," she was quoted as saying by Agence France Presse.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said in Bangkok yesterday he had received clear messages from Thailand and Cambodia that both countries would find a peaceful solution to the problem.

Mr Natalegawa met with Mr Kasit for 40 minutes yesterday to discuss the conflict on the last leg of his two-nation tour to Cambodia and Thailand to help end the conflict.

Mr Natalegawa said Indonesia, as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, was encouraging Bangkok and Phnom Penh to solve all of their border problems through bilateral mechanisms.

He said he believed there was space for Asean and its members to support the bilateral efforts of the two countries to resolve the conflict.

"Any engagement by Asean and by any individual country is not to replace the bilateral approach. On the contrary, it is to support it," he said.

Mr Kasit said Mr Natalegawa asked how Asean could support the two countries in restoring peace and prosperity to the grouping.

He said he had also talked with Hor Namhong on the telephone yesterday afternoon and they agreed to hold talks in a third country to find a solution to the border row.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdee said Thailand and Cambodia would try to settle the dispute when they meet later this month at the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC).

A ministry source said Thailand opposed Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's demand for the Security Council to intervene. "If the UNSC really wants to intervene in the two countries' border problems, the international body should obtain a consensus from both countries first," he said.

The source said Thailand could not agree to the UNSC's idea of holding talks with its members, as it was not a failed state and the border problem could be solved bilaterally.

He said Cambodia was using the UN card to encourage intervention from the international community.

Hun Sen said in his letter to the UNSC on Sunday that Thai soldiers had launched a full-scale offensive against Cambodian troops despite a truce agreement following clashes on Friday and Saturday.

Thailand responded to the letter by sending a protest note to the UNSC accusing Phnom Penh of provoking the border dispute that led to clashes over the past four days.

The border fighting between Thai and Cambodian soldiers ended on Monday.

Cambodian ambassador to Thailand You Ay said the JBC was the correct venue to discuss bilateral issues under normal circumstances.

She suggested during a seminar on Thai-Cambodian relations in Bangkok yesterday that the International Court of Justice would be a more appropriate forum to sort out the conflict.

The ICJ ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear temple was in Cambodian territory and Thailand was obliged to withdraw its troops around the temple, she said.

My Rights, My Responsibility (ICCPR) Series

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 08:00 AM PST

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Ratified, acceded by UN General Assembly in December 1966, entry into force March 1976. Cambodia ratified the ICCPR (thus, a part of Cambodia's body of laws) and is obligated to submit regular reports to the United Nations.

PART IV
Article 31

1. The [Human Rights] Committee may not include more than one national of the same State.

2. In the election of the Committee, consideration shall be given to equitable geographical distribution of membership and to the representation of the different forms of civilization and of the principal legal systems.

My Rights, My Responsibility (Constitution) Series

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:55 AM PST

Constitution of Cambodia (Sept. 1993)

CHAPTER V: ECONOMY

Article 56

The Kingdom of Cambodia shall adopt the market economy system. The preparation and process of this economic system shall be determined by the law.

Asean urge Thailand and Cambodia to solve dispute bilaterally

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:54 AM PST

Tuesday, February 08, 2011
The Nation, Antara, Jakarta Post

Asean has urged Thailand and Cambodia to solve current border disputes on bilateral basis and through talks.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa conveyed the message when he held talks with his Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya during a Bangkok meeting on Tuesday.

Negotiations were key to prevent further fighting between Thailand and Cambodia.

Indonesia is currently chairs the Asean was in Phnom Penh on Monday before travelling to Bangkok today for meetings with Kasit. Indonesia is trying to mediate with both countries which are at loggerheads following fierce and fatal cross-border fightings.

Thailand has insisted that Cambodia started the attacks.


Natalegawa was quoted by Thai News Agency as saying that the problem bilaterally is very complex and there is no way for Aseanto push its own interests.

"Both countries need to settle the problem on their own and through talks and negotiations," he said.

Asean could help by create a situation conducive for problem solving, he said.

Natelegawa said after meeting with Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong in Phnom Penh on Monday he hoped a ceasefire negotiated Saturday, which has been broken twice since, could be better respected.

He stressed that dialogue and negotiation were the only way to resolve the differences between the two nations, both members of Asean.

'On the eve of an ASEAN community by 2015, the guns must be silent in South-East Asia,' Natalegawa said. 'There is no more place for use of force and military means in resolving problems or challenges among ASEAN countries.'

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said earlier that Indonesia is the Asean chair this year, so it has a moral responsibility to become part of the solution.

Anger is energy that needs direction

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:51 AM PST

ANGER is the executive power of human decency. If you do not get angry and stay angry when a bad thing happens, you lose a piece of your humanity... You can be angry still, and you can have your anger without hate... Anger minus malice gives hope... Malice is misery that needs healing. ANGER is the ENERGY that needs direction. After malice, let anger do its reforming work. Forgiving and anger can be partners in a good cause.

- Lewis B. Smedes in Forgive and Forget


Source: Facebook posting of Theary C. Seng

Pause in Fighting Over Temple Between Thailand and Cambodia

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:50 AM PST

February 8, 2011
By SETH MYDANS
The New York Times

PREAH VIHEAR, CAMBODIA — Thai and Cambodian soldiers watched each other across a narrow, forested ravine Tuesday during a pause in some of the fiercest fighting in years in a lingering border dispute.

On one side stood the ancient cliff-top temple that is the focus of their dispute, where a few nicks and chips from artillery fire added new blemishes to some of its collapsing walls and pillars.

The Cambodian soldiers who occupy the 11th-century temple stand almost within shouting distance of a lookout post flying a Thai flag at the highest point across the ravine.

From Friday through Monday morning, the two sides exchanged artillery and rifle fire that by various reports took at least seven lives and left dozens of soldiers and civilians wounded.


It was the most sustained engagement since the current dispute began, in July 2008, after Unesco designated the temple a World Heritage site under the management of Cambodia.

Troops on both sides remained on alert Tuesday, and their governments remained hostile in a confrontation that has drawn pleas for peace from the United Nations and other Southeast Asian countries.

"I don't know what is going to happen," said a Cambodian intelligence officer in a shed near the front lines. "But if they come, we'll fight."

Across the surrounding hillside, cracked boulders, broken trees and a wide swath of blackened ground were evidence of a heavy barrage of artillery and the fires it caused.

Like other officers and soldiers in both armies, the officer, Capt. Sam San, 45, said the other side had fired first.

"We shouted at them, 'Don't enter Cambodia, or we'll fight."' But, he said, they came anyway, into an area the Thais consider their own.

The temple, which is known as Preah Vihear in Cambodia and as Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand, looks out from the edge of a steep escarpment over a wide area of northern Cambodia. At its front entrance, away from the cliff, is Thailand, and, until the fighting, most visitors entered from the more accessible Thai side.

After the engagement last weekend, the portion of the temple closest to Thailand showed the marks of the fighting, with chips and chunks cut out of a column and of a wall of the fourth gopura, or entrance building, along the temple's causeway.

A trail of blood through a carved stone doorway traced the last steps of a Cambodian soldier who was killed.

At the fifth and last gopura, chips from the walls were scattered on the ground, along with the tail fins of a rocket. There was no sign of the collapse that the Cambodian government had claimed.

Troops sat perched on the tumbled stones of the ruin, and a sniper rifle was concealed under a rock. A large placard nearby reads: "Cambodian National Commission for UNESCO."

Three yellow packets of dried noodles lay at the foot of a chipped wall. A soldier said they were an offering to the soul of a photographer who had sold pictures to tourists and been killed in the shelling.

A young monk walked down an empty causeway, his bright orange robe glimmering against the gray stone.

"The ground was shaking, and the bunker almost fell in on us," said the monk, Lon Seng Ly, 19, who lived with five other monks at a small contemporary temple halfway down the cliff on the Cambodian side.

"We had to lie down," he said, describing the days of bombardment. "The sound almost blew out my ears."

His temple, Keo Sikha Kiri Svarak, is part way down the winding road to the Cambodian countryside in an area that is also claimed by Thailand. Its loss would cut Cambodia's access to Preah Vihear.

One apparent catalyst for the latest round of violence was Thailand's demand that Cambodia remove its flag from beside the temple.

The temple, which is constructed of wood planks, and the rocks that surround it on the mountainside were riddled with the marks of shrapnel. Rifle fire had defaced a temple inscription and chipped a statue of Buddha.

Perched on top of the monks' bunker, reinforcing it with new sandbags, a Cambodian soldier pointed across the ravine at the Thai flag and said, "That's Thailand." Then he pointed to the Cambodian flag that still flies above a temple archway and said, "This is Cambodia."

Uneasy calm at border

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:42 AM PST

A Thai soldier captured during fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border is released into the custody of Thai officials at the Ministry of Defence in Phnom Penh today. (Photo by: Pha Lina)
Tuesday, 08 February 2011
Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

Preah Vihear province - Cambodian and Thai troops close to Preah Vihear temple remained on high alert today, following four days of clashes that left at least eight dead.

Soldiers on the Cambodian side of the border held fire but dug into positions, bracing for more fighting in the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area surrounding the 11th-century Khmer temple.

Dom Sophal, 55, a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldier based behind Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvara, a pagoda about 300 metres from Preah Vihear, said that the situation had calmed since Monday afternoon, though Cambodian troops remained in their positions and ready to defend their territory.

"We cannot say what is going on," Dom Sophal said while sitting in a shelter close to the front lines.


"[Fighting] can happen any time but it depends on the Thai side."

Starting on Friday morning, troops from both sides exchanged artillery, tank and rocket fire in a series of skirmishes which came to a close on Monday morning.

The two sides have each blamed the other for starting the fighting, the deadliest clashes that have occurred since tensions broke out on the border in July 2008, following UNESCO's listing of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site.

"It was the largest fighting I have ever met before," said another RCAF soldier, Sam Song.

"However, our soldiers controlled the situation during the clashes."

The way up to the temple was blocked today to tourists and civilians, though military authorities allowed some journalists access to the area around the cliff-top temple.

Felled trees, small craters and blackened remnants of fires told a story of fierce fighting around the temple, which sustained damage from grenades fired from over the border.

"Things are calm, but it's still very tense," said RCAF Lieutenant Tek Saran.

"We don't know when this situation will become normal again."

A handful of young, saffron-robed monks walked around the moss-covered stone temple today, where they sought refuge from artillery shells that rained down on either side of the disputed frontier over the previous four days.

"In the last few days I've been running for cover," said Seng Ly, a 19-year-old monk.

"The Thais are Buddhists too – why did they attack our temple? I'm really afraid."

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said on Monday that five Cambodians had died and 45 others were injured in the skirmishes.

Thai officials said two on their side were killed and 34 injured as of Monday.

The Bangkok Post reported today, however, that another Thai soldier had died at a hospital in Ubon Ratchathani province from serious injuries sustained during the skirmish.

Sergeant Thanakorn Poonperm, 30, was admitted to the hospital after being wounded on Sunday night, the paper reported.

Nearly 3,000 Cambodian families living around the battle zone have also been evacuated to Kulen district after shelling resumed on Monday, and will return to their home village once hostilities have ceased, said Han Chheang, an officer of Caritas Cambodia who brought rice and other supplies to evacuees.

"They are in need right now," he said.

In Oddar Meanchey province's Anlong Veng town, about 15 kilometres from the Thai-Cambodia frontier, residents were braced for further clashes.

Shops and businesses were shuttered and truckloads of infantry soldiers rumbled towards the border, some stacked with boxes of instant noodles.

Many soldiers were permanently based at Preah Vihear, several accompanied by their children who stayed behind as thousands fled in a exodus of villagers carrying only a few personal belongings.

"My father is a soldier, so I stayed here," said Oun Ya, 13. "I'm not scared."

Oun Ya's friend, Ol Pros, 15, said he had never been to school and had spent most of his life in Preah Vihear.

His future, he said, was already decided.

"When I grow up, I'm going be a soldier," Ol Pros said as men in camouflage outfits, Kalashnikov rifles strung over their shoulders, piled up sandbags and dug trenches.

"I have to wait until I'm 18. Then I'll join the army."

On the Thai side of the border, villages such as Ban Sangam in Sisaket province, about seven kilometres from the border, were eerily quiet, aside from the occasional sound of military trucks.

Provincial governor Somsak Suvarnsujarit said 16,654 people had been evacuated.

"There is still a lot of uncertainty and we will only let people move back into villages when there is a clear sign from the army that situation has returned to normal," he said.

Thai Interior Minister Chavarat Chanvirakul today instructed governors of provinces close to the Cambodian border to set up "war rooms" to monitor the situation and aid Thai villagers affected by the fighting, according to Thai state media.

Return home

Also today, a Thai soldier captured by the Cambodian military at Preah Vihear temple was handed over to Thai officials at the Ministry of Defence.

Nim Sowath, the chief of Defence Minister Tea Banh's cabinet, said Songkran Tongchompoo, 22, was captured by Cambodian soldiers during the fighting over the weekend.

"We yesterday received an official letter from Thailand's defence ministry signed by Minister Prawit Wongsuwan on Monday, requesting Cambodia release the captured Thai soldier. This reflects that they accept they invaded," he told reporters. "Now we have decided to give him back to Thailand."

Prasas Prasasvinitchai, Thailand's ambassador to Cambodia, thanked the Cambodian government "for returning Songkran Tongchompoo to Thailand so quickly".

The handover was also attended by a representative of the International Committee of Red Cross. 

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY THET SAMBATH AND REUTERS

Thailand, Cambodia trade shots, charges over ancient temple

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:27 AM PST

February 8, 2011
By the CNN Wires Staff
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • A Thai official tells state-run media that seven are hurt Sunday in clashes with Cambodia
  • The dispute centers around an ancient temple in Cambodia, along the Thai border
  • Heads of the U.N. and ASEAN have urged Thai and Cambodia to resolve it via talks
(CNN) -- Fighting flared for a third straight day Sunday along the Thai-Cambodian border over a disputed ancient temple despite a reported ceasefire and international efforts to soothe tensions.
A Cambodian official, who was not named, said 10 of its soldiers and civilians were killed or injured in Friday and Saturday fighting, state-run Cambodian news outlet AKP reported. 
At least seven people -- two villagers and five soldiers -- were wounded after a new gunfight broke out shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday evening, Thai Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd told his nation's state-run MCOT media outlet.

The skirmish came a day after the two sides agreed to a ceasefire, according to the official Thai report.

Earlier, Thai Army Lt. Gen. Thawatchai Samutsakorn told MCOT that the situation along the border was returning to normal Sunday.


Several shops in the Kantharalak district reopened earlier Sunday, and some villagers had gone back to their homes -- though the later report noted that residents were evacuated again to temporary bunkers. Twenty schools planned to remain shuttered through at least Wednesday on the government's orders.

The clashes stem from a longstanding conflict related to the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. The building sits on a cliff in Cambodian territory, but the most accessible entrance to the site is on the Thai side.

Gunfire erupted Friday near the site, followed by more skirmishes Saturday. A Thai Army spokesman said one soldier was killed Saturday, and four others were injured. Earlier, the country's health minister told the MCOT news agency that one Thai villager was killed by artillery shells fired by Cambodian troops.

A Cambodian official, who was not named, said 10 of its soldiers and civilians were killed or injured in Friday and Saturday fighting, state-run Cambodian news outlet AKP reported. The official said Cambodian authorities had also captured five Thai troops, including four on Friday.

The United Nations weighed in on the dispute Sunday, with a statement from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's press office saying he is "deeply concerned" by the clashes. The world body's leader urged discussion over military confrontations, in "a spirit of dialogue and good neighborly relations."

"The Secretary-General appeals to both sides to put in place effective arrangements for cessation of hostilities and to exercise maximum restraint," the U.N. statement said. "The United Nations remains at their disposal to assist in these peaceful efforts."

On Saturday, Cambodia had formally complained in a letter to the U.N. about what it described as "intense shelling" with mortar rounds Saturday morning following an alleged armed incursion by Thai troops on Friday, according to state-run AKP news.

In the letter, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen pointed to the "explosive situation at the border," alleging that 300 Thai troops on Friday "entered Cambodian territory and attacked Cambodian troops at three locations" about 500 meters (a third of a mile) from the temple. The letter also alludes to similar "acts of aggression" in 2008 and 2009 by Thai forces.

Besides the human toll, the letter claimed that the temple itself had suffered damage in the shelling and firefights.

"Facing this flagrant aggression, Cambodian troops had no option but to retaliate in self-defense in order to safeguard Cambodia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the letter states.

The recent Thai military actions violate the 1991 Paris Peace Accord, U.N. Charter and a 1962 judgment from the International Court of Justice, the letter claims.

Thai Prime Minister Abhist Vejjajiva denied that his nation's troops had attacked Cambodian forces, telling reporters they only acted in self-defense to protect their homeland's own sovereignty, according to MCOT. That report indicated Thailand, too, had sent a letter to the United Nations about the situation.

On Sunday, the Thai leader tried to downplay the need for outside intervention to resolve the dispute, including an offer from ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan -- Thailand's former foreign minister and now head of the southeast Asian alliance -- to mediate.

The United States urged Thailand and Cambodia on Friday to show "maximum restraint." Events were being closely monitored, according to State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, and both sides were called on to "take all necessary steps to reduce tensions and avoid further conflict."

Conflict over the Preah Vihear site has taken place periodically for years. In 1962, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that the site was in Cambodia, adding that the structure was "an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture."

But Thailand says that the 1.8 square-mile (4.6 square-kilometer) area around Preah Vihear was never fully demarcated, and blames a map drawn at the beginning of the 20th century during the French occupation of Cambodia.

In July 2008, the United Nations approved Cambodia's application to have the temple listed as a World Heritage Site -- meaning the U.N. believes the place has outstanding universal value.

Are Thailand and Cambodia About to Go to War?

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:22 AM PST

February 8, 2011
Mark Leon Goldberg
UN Dispatch

Check out this harrowing clip from France 24.


Cambodia is asking for UN peacekeepers, which is certainly an option that the Security Council ought to consider. On the ground, peacekeepers can help give both sides some breathing space as they work out a political solution to this crisis. It would also raise the diplomatic stakes of the crisis in the sense that the Security Council have to take ownership over the dispute. Not only would the Security Council have to approve a mission, but every six months it would meet on the issue to renew the mission's mandate.

What do you think? Is UN peacekeeping a viable option for this long simmering conflict?

UNESCO to send mission to Preah Vihear

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 07:18 AM PST

Source: UNESCO

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today reiterated her call for calm and restraint around the Temple of Preah Vihear, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2008. A border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand caused several deaths and damage to the site in recent days. "I intend to send a mission to the area as soon as possible to assess the state of the temple," she said. "World Heritage sites are the heritage of all humanity and the international community has a special responsibility to safeguard them. This requires a collective effort that must be undertaken in a spirit of consultation and dialogue. Heritage should unite people and serve as an instrument of dialogue and mutual understanding and not of conflict."

The Temple of Preah Vihear, dedicated to Shiva, is composed of a series of sanctuaries linked by a system of pavements and staircases over an 800-metre-long axis; it dates back to the first half of the 11th century AD. The site is exceptional for the quality of its carved stone ornamentation and its architecture, adapted to the natural environment and the religious function of the temple.

Security Council ready to meet

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 06:54 AM PST

A Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldier sits at the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple yesterday following four days of fighting with Thai troops stationed along the contentious border. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Tuesday, 08 February 2011
Thomas Miller and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

The United Nations Security Council says it is willing to hold a meeting on the recent round of hostilities between Thailand and Cambodia following Prime Minister Hun Sen's call for UN peacekeepers to be deployed at the border.

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the Brazilian ambassador who is now serving president of the Security Council, told journalists in New York on Monday that members of the council had "expressed great concern at the aggravation of tension on the border", the AFP news agency reported.

"They called for a ceasefire and urged the parties to resolve the situation peacefully," she said.

"They expressed their willingness to hold a Security Council meeting."

There was no indication of when such a meeting might be held.

Regional governments and world powers including the United States and China have appealed for restraint in a conflict that has left at least eight people dead, including five Cambodians, and has displaced thousands of people on both sides of the border.


Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, whose country holds the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, visited Thai and Cambodian officials this week and said the regional bloc stands ready to "help create a climate conducive for resolution of the problem".

Thai officials have consistently rejected third party mediation, saying the dispute can be resolved by the Joint Border Committee, the bilateral body through which the two countries are working to demarcate their shared border.

Tensions near Preah Vihear temple have been heightened since 2008, when it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site for Cambodia over Thai objections.

At least seven people had been killed in skirmishes between the two sides in the area in the past two and a half years prior to the most recent round of clashes.

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An wrote on Monday to UNESCO director general Irina Bokova decrying "significant damages" to the temple as a result of Thai attacks and requesting that the body hold a meeting to address the issue.

"The objective [of the meeting] will be to organise the protection of the Temple of Preah Vihear which is in grave danger of total destruction by Thai armed forces," Sok An wrote.

Bokova issued a statement on Sunday expressing "distress" at the clashes and calling for both sides to agree to a ceasefire for the sake of the temple's preservation. UNESCO officials in Phnom Penh did not respond to requests for comment today.

Thai Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd rejected the Cambodian government's reports of damage to the temple as "propaganda", the Bangkok Post said today.

Any damage sustained by the site, he added, had resulted from Cambodian troops using it as "a heavy arms base to fire at Thai soldiers stationed in areas in Thai territory that were at lower elevation".

Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs angrily rejected these comments in a statement today, labelling them "slanderous" and denying that Cambodian troops had operated from within the temple walls.

"There has never been and there will never be Cambodian soldiers at the TEMPLE OF PREAH VIHEAR," the statement read.

Armed Cambodian troops could be seen milling about the temple today, however.

The temple's staircases and exterior appeared to have been damaged by bullet and artillery fire, while vegetation in the surrounding area had been charred by explosions.

Following a series of skirmishes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers along the border in October 2008, UNESCO said in a 2009 report that the damage to the temple "appears relatively minor".

"However, the continuous presence of troops around the property entails a risk of possible further incidents and hampers the implementation of the recommendations made by the Committee for the strengthening of the protection and management of the World Heritage property," UNESCO said in the report.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA

 

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Zona Cerebral | WP Premium Adsense Ready Blogger Template | Original WP Premium theme by WP Remix
Copyright 2008. R.Bhavesh. All rights reserved