Thai troops have pulled back from a hotly disputed border area after an ultimatum from Cambodia, military officials said yesterday, calming fears of armed conflict between the neighbors.
The Cambodian officials said some 80 Thai troops began to withdraw from the area near the ancient Khmer Preah Vihear temple shortly after commanders from both sides held talks during the morning.
It followed an ultimatum from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who warned that the soldiers had to pull back by midday or it could become a battle zone.
“They withdrew from the area around 10:20am and went back to their headquarters, which is around 1km away,” Cambodian Brigadier General Yim Pim said.
“There is no more confrontation now. The situation is eased now, but we [are] still on high alert,” he said.
Thai officials at the disputed border refused to confirm whether they had withdrawn.
However, its foreign ministry issued a statement saying Hun Sen’s ultimatum ran “counter to the spirit of neighborliness” and flouted a regional treaty on cooperation.
If Cambodia resorted to force, “Thailand will have to exercise its right of self-defense,” the foreign ministry said, adding it was investigating whether Phnom Penh had violated an international treaty by laying new landmines during the spat.
Speaking at an economic forum in Phnom Penh before the reported withdrawal, Hun Sen maintained his tough rhetoric.
“I have ordered all military commanders to take responsibility for the area. The area is a life and death battle zone,” he said. “Ants can hurt elephants. They [Thais] should not have done this.”
The International Court of Justice ruled back in 1962 that the Preah Vihear Temple belongs to Cambodia, but surrounding land remains in dispute.
Tensions between the neighbors first flared in July after the temple was awarded world heritage status by the UN cultural body UNESCO.
They escalated into a military confrontation, with up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops facing off for six weeks, although both sides in August agreed to reduce troop numbers.
Each country accuses the other of violating its territory.
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