Thailand sends in additional troops to the disputed area with Cambodia

Thailand sends in additional troops to the disputed area with Cambodia
21 June 2009
By Savyuth
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata


A Cambodian military source indicated that a new unit of Thai paratroopers was recently sent in to set camp in front of Cambodian border troops at about 15 kilometers east of Preah Vihear temple.

Several Cambodian and Thai army commanders posted along the disputed frontline near Preah Vihear temple met each other in a Thai army camp known as the Red House located in front of Preah Vihear temple in the morning of 21 June. They were looking for ways to diffuse the tense armed situation along several unsolved disputed border areas.

General Srey Doek, the commander of Cambodian Battalion 3 stationed near the disputed Preah Vihear border, said on Sunday afternoon that the meeting between Cambodian and Thai army officers was done to find a way to diffuse the tense military situation and to avoid a new armed confrontation.

General Srey Doek said: “The goal of the discussion was to try to diffuse the tense situation … politics, politics for a resolution, the army commanders are staying on their own.”

Srey Doek added that, as of Sunday 21 June, the situation between Thai and Khmer troops in the disputed border zone near Preah Vihear temple remains normal still.

According to an RCAF officer stationed at the Choam pass, Preah Vihear province, located about 15 km east of Preah Vihear temple, a unit of about 400 Thai paratroopers came to build huts and camp inside the Thai border for the past 3 days. They are stationed in front of Cambodian troops: “They have a small unit of about 400 men.”

In the Chak Chreng area, Cambodian troops indicated that Thai soldiers who came to camp there for more than one month already have not pulled out yet. Several Cambodian troops were sent in to this area, and they have issued a warning to Thai soldiers, telling them not to go out on patrol without informing Cambodian soldiers beforehand.

The border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia has dragged on for several months already, and the two governments that use to be compliant to each other and they have met to negotiate in the past, now, they are expressing strong reactions toward one another instead.

On Saturday 20 June, Hor Namhong, the Cambodian deputy-PM and minister of Foreign Affairs, lashed out at the Thai PM who said that the listing of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site was the cause of the border dispute.

Hor Namhong said: “It happened twice already, if they want to send their troops to Cambodia for the third time, we welcome them.”

Since Thailand sent in several hundreds of black-clad soldiers to Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak on 15 July 2008, several border disputes erupted one after another, and they all dragged on until now, almost one year already. Troops from both sides are still facing each others in a tense armed confrontation.