Thai, Cambodia armies to meet after border battle
By Chor Sokunthea 29 minutes ago
PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (Reuters) - Thai and Cambodian military commanders prepared for talks across their disputed border on Thursday after the most serious clash in years left two Cambodian soldiers dead and 10 Thais in Cambodian hands.
Despite Wednesday's 40-minute exchange of rocket and gun fire, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said a scheduled meeting to resolve arguments over the jungle frontier would go ahead, suggesting escalation was not inevitable.
"It is a good sign that we can start to solve this conflict," he told reporters in Phnom Penh
after an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen about the fighting near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple. "We consider this an incident between soldiers and not an invasion by Thailand
," Hor Namhong said. The talks were due to begin at 11 a.m. at a location near the disputed temple, known to Thais as Khao Phra Viharn.
Thai regional army commander Wiboonsak Neeparn told Reuters the meeting would focus on the cause of Wednesday's clash and how to ratchet down tensions on the border, where both sides have rushed reinforcements.
There has been no word on the exchange of 10 Thai prisoners, whose existence Bangkok is officially denying.
Hor Namhong said the group, who were photographed by a Reuters photographer under Cambodian guard, would be properly treated and returned to Thailand if Bangkok requested.
Bangkok has urged its citizens to leave Cambodia
, mindful of the 2003 torching of its embassy and Thai businesses in Phnom Penh by a nationalist mob incensed by a row over Angkor Wat, another ancient temple. "Thai businessmen who have no need to be in Cambodia now, please rush back to Thailand," Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat told reporters, adding that the military had an evacuation plan ready if needed.
In 2003, Thai commandos flew into Phnom Penh airport
in the middle of the night to help evacuate 600 Thais during the riots. Security was beefed up outside the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, with 20 military police armed with assault rifles standing guard.
Both sides accused each other of firing first in the clash, which comes amid huge political instability in Bangkok
, with protesters in a long-running street campaign urging the army to launch a coup against the elected government. "The Thai military are very much under pressure to protect the national sovereignty and territory," Panitan Wattanayagorn, a military analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University
said.
Deadly fighting erupts at Thai-Cambodian border
By SOPHENG CHEANG
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 15, 2008; 4:36 PM
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Escalating tensions between Thailand and Cambodia over a disputed border near a historic temple erupted Wednesday in a deadly gunbattle, prompting officials to quickly declare that they would resolve the dispute through talks, not bullets.
Two Cambodian troops were killed, the first deaths in a 4-month standoff that began when UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, approved Cambodia's bid to have Preah Vihear temple named a World Heritage Site. Thailand feared its claims over nearby land would be undermined.
In recent days, as the dispute fueled nationalism in both countries, officials appeared to be preparing for a major confrontation.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen issued an ultimatum to Thailand on Tuesday to pull back its soldiers from the disputed territory, calling it "a life-and-death battle zone." Thailand moved reinforcements up to the border area.
Thailand also put jet fighters on alert at bases nationwide and C-130 transport planes on standby that could evacuate Thais living in the border area, Thai air force official Group Capt. Montol Satchukorn said.
Thai army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkumnerd said Wednesday that Cambodian soldiers approached a Thai base, refused to leave the area and fired in the air.
"We believe they were meant to be warning shots. The Thai troops fired back in self defense," he said
The fighting Wednesday afternoon lasted for about an hour, with each side accusing the other of firing the first shot.
In a protest handed to the senior Cambodian diplomat in Bangkok, Thailand's Foreign Ministry said Thai soldiers were peacefully patrolling their own territory along the border when Cambodian soldiers shot at them with rocket propelled grenades and submachine guns.
Cambodia's Foreign Ministry accused Thai troops of launching "heavy armed attacks" at three different locations to push back Cambodians from positions inside Cambodian territory. The battle killed at least two Cambodian soldiers and wounded three.
Five Thai soldiers were wounded, Col. Sansern said.
Cambodia's foreign minister said 10 Thai soldiers had surrendered, were being well-treated, and would be returned to Thailand. Lt. Gen. Viboonsak Neepan, the Thai Army commander for the region, denied any of his soldiers had been captured.
After the gunbattle, officials in Thailand and Cambodia tried to lower tensions.
Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said Thailand had no interest in seeing the conflict escalate, and Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said military officials from both sides would meet Thursday in Thailand to discuss the clash.
"Cambodia is a good neighbor. We will use peaceful means. If there is violence, we have to negotiate," Somchai said.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. "would urge restraint on both sides to refrain from any use of violence." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also urged restraint and called on the two sides to quickly resolve the dispute.
Thailand's more than 300,000-strong military uses modern American equipment and dwarfs Cambodia's 125,000 less well-equipped troops. Cambodian forces however are well versed in guerrilla warfare after fighting an intense civil war against the communist Khmer Rouge.
Wednesday's fighting was the latest flare-up in a longtime dispute over a stretch of jungle near the 11th century temple. The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.
The dispute in recent months has become fodder in domestic politics in both countries.
A wave of nationalism fueled by the dispute bolstered Hun Sen's landslide re-election, and anti-government protesters in Thailand have used it to try to discredit the ruling Thai government and push it to aggressively pursue claims on the land.
"The issue surrounding Preah Vihear temple was over decades ago until it was fanned by nationalist rhetoric for domestic political purposes. The two situations are closely linked," said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a Thai historian who has written extensively on the dispute.
Both sides sent hundreds of troops to the area after UNESCO's July action, but most soldiers were withdrawn a month later. The conflict flared again in recent weeks, including a brief gunfight this month that wounded one Cambodian and two Thai soldiers.
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