Group says bilateral talks must find answer
THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL & ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Visiting senators yesterday view the disputed border area from the Pha Mor E-Daeng cliff lookout in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province. Access to the peak has been closed by the military, which has a command post there. |
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) yesterday shot down a call by Cambodia for the regional grouping to intervene and help end its dispute with Thailand over their overlapping border area.
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, the current chairman of Asean, told Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong in a letter of the need to end the tension through bilateral talks.
The letter dated yesterday was a reply to Hor Namhong's proposal sent from Phnom Penh on Monday asking the 10-member bloc to set up a contact group to mediate the problem. The letter said Thai military forces were building up at the border.
Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos were named by the Cambodian government to form an ad hoc panel.
But Mr Yeo argued the two countries should give the bilateral process a chance to end their spat.
''The proposal for an Asean Contact Group found favour with a number of foreign ministers, but there was also a general view that the bilateral process should be allowed to continue, and there is still no consensus for the formation of such a group,'' the letter said.
The Cambodian call for Asean intervention follows a complaint to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Thai troops had intruded on its soil near the Preah Vihear temple.
The Thai government countered that the area belonged to Thailand.
Both referred to the disputed 4.6-square-kilometre area between Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket province and Cambodia's Preah Vihear province.
Cambodia cited a map drawn in 1908 as the basis of its claim to ownership of the contested area. The map was used by the International Court of Justice when it ruled in 1962 that Thailand should hand the temple to Cambodia.
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said yesterday the international court did not decide the borderline between the two countries in that area.
The first meeting, led by Supreme Commander Gen Boonsrang Niempradit and Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh on Monday in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district, could not find a solution to the row. But both promised military restraint and that no more troops would be sent to the area.
They agreed to hold another meeting of the General Border Committee next month after the Cambodian general election on Sunday.
The Cambodian Foreign Ministry said yesterday that ''in order to avoid armed confrontation'', Phnom Penh would ask for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to find a solution.
''We need a third party to solve this problem,'' Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP.
But Asean members were fretting about taking the issue to the council, saying it could harm attempts to resolve the problem, according to Mr Yeo.
''They [Asean foreign ministers] also emphasised to me that if the parties concerned are too quick to resort to the UN Security Council, this would do harm to Asean's standing and may actually make the resolution of this issue more difficult,'' he said in the letter.
Although the Security Council has not made any move since the Cambodian complaint, the Foreign Ministry had officials ready to send to the UN to help Thai diplomats if the council wants explanations from Thailand, a senior ministry official said.
Thai ambassador to the UN Don Pramudwinai on Monday handed a letter to Vietnam, current chairman of the Security Council, and 14 other members confirming Thailand's intention to resolve the dispute through bilateral talks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern yesterday over the rising tension, calling on both sides to peacefully resolve the situation.
In Singapore, Cambodian Deputy Foreign Minister Kao Kim Hourn took the border issue to talks with China, Japan and South Korea, which hold meetings with Asean, prompting Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Bunditkul to clarify the matters with those countries.
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