Diplomatic efforts have failed to end a week-long military standoff between Cambodia and Thailand over a border dispute that is raising tensions in the region, officials said yesterday.
With more than 500 Thai troops facing off against at least 1,000 Cambodian soldiers over a tiny area of land near an ancient temple, the two sides cannot even agree on whether to seek a mediator or UN help to end the crisis.
Crisis talks among Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Singapore failed to make any headway, diplomats there said, one day after senior Cambodian and Thai defense officials ended eight hours of negotiations with no resolution.
PHOTO: AFP
The troops are deployed around a small Buddhist pagoda in about 5km² of disputed territory near an ancient Hindu temple that belongs to Cambodia but has sparked decades of tensions.
Cambodia’s foreign ministry said yesterday that “in order to avoid armed confrontation,” the country would ask for “an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to find a solution to the problem.”
“We need a third party to solve this problem,” Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.
Thailand however does not want foreign mediators involved in the dispute, the head of the armed forces said, General Boonsrang Niumpradit.
“The dispute should be discussed between the two countries,” Boonsrang said, who led the talks with Cambodia on Monday. “Better that than elevating it to ASEAN or the UN.”
However, foreign ministers from ASEAN held an unscheduled lunch meeting on the dispute during their annual talks in Singapore.
“Cambodia wants it resolved through ASEAN but the Thai side wants it resolved bilaterally,” one diplomat said.
When asked if any progress had been made towards a resolution he replied: “Nothing.”
Despite Thai objections to regional involvement, the US ambassador to Cambodia, Joseph Mussomeli, told reporters that ASEAN should play a role in ending the dispute.
“We have suggested that the troops should not stay close to each other. I’m not aware of what the solution will be, but it should be done in the ASEAN context,” Mussomeli said.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that the 11th century Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia. But the easiest entrance lies in Thailand, and a section of the surrounding land remains in dispute.
The UN cultural body UNESCO earlier this month granted World Heritage status to the temple perched on a jungle mountaintop, sparking an outcry from nationalist groups in Thailand.
Cambodia maintains that Thai troops are trespassing on its territory, and has sent a letter to the UN to draw attention to what it says is an illegal incursion. Thailand insists the land around the temple is theirs.
The situation boiled over after three Thai protesters were arrested last week for jumping a fence to reach the temple, prompting armed troops to head to the border.
BLOODSHED: North Koreans take extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and sometimes execute their own forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian and North Korean forces sustained heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that about 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August last year. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy quoted a report from Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border. “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka,
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
REVELRY ON HOLD: Students marched in Belgrade amid New Year’s events, saying that ‘there is nothing to celebrate’ after the train station tragedy killed 15 Thousands of students marched in Belgrade and two other Serbian cities during a New Year’s Eve protest that went into yesterday, demanding accountability over the fatal collapse of a train station roof in November. The incident in the city of Novi Sad occurred on Nov. 1 at a newly renovated train facility, killing 14 people — aged six to 74 — at the scene, while a 15th person died in hospital weeks later. Public outrage over the tragedy has sparked nationwide protests, with many blaming the deaths on corruption and inadequate oversight of construction projects. In Belgrade, university students marched through the capital
RSS