Thailand en Cambodja zijn sinds vorige week vrijdag in hevige vuurgevechten gewikkeld rondom de Preah Vihear tempel. Hoewel de tempel door internationaal recht aan Cambodja is toegekend, speelt er al jaren een grensconflict in dit gebied. Bij de gevechten zijn al zeker acht mensen omgekomen en duizenden inwoners, Thai en Cambodjanen, zijn op de vlucht geslagen. Volgens de Cambodjaanse premier is er inmiddels geen sprake meer van een conflict, maar is het oorlog.
UN court orders Thai and Cambodian troop withdrawal
THE HAGUE, July 18, 2011 (AFP) - The UN’s highest court on Monday ordered Thailand and Cambodia to immediately withdraw their troops from a disputed area around an ancient temple on the border between the two Asian neighbours.
“Both parties should immediately withdraw their military personnel currently present in the provisional demilitarised zone and refrain from any military presence within that zone,” said the order, read by International Court of Justice president Judge Hisashi Owada at a sitting in The Hague.
Cambodia in late April launched a bitter legal battle before the ICJ in which it asked for an interpretation of a 1962 ICJ ruling around the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple.
It also asked the court, while judges were pondering the request, to approve provisional measures including an immediate Thai troop withdrawal and a ban on all Thai military activity there.
Although Thailand do not dispute Cambodia’s ownership of the temple, secured by the 1962 ruling, both Phnom Penh and Bangkok claim the 4.6-square-kilometre (1.8-square-mile) area surrounding the Khmer complex.
It might not be necessary for Indonesian observers to be sent to the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple if Thailand and Cambodia can reach agreement on solving their problems, Defence Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa said on Tuesday.
Gen Yutthasak said this idea had been proposed by Cambodia.
If the two countries agreed on this, the International Court of Justice would be notified that it was not necessary for Indonesian observers to be sent into the disputed area and the border problem would be settled through bilateral mechanisms, he said.
The ICJ ruled on July 18 that Thailand and Cambodia should withdraw their soldiers from the disputed area and allow observers from Asean access to the area pending its consideration of a Cambodian petition concerning ownership of the disputed area. The court award the temple itself to Cambodia in 1962.
The ICJ also set up a "provisional demilitarised zone’’ around Preah Vihear temple.
Defence Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa
Gen Yutthasak said Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Tea Banh had sent a letter inviting him to attend the long-stalled 8th General Border Committee (GBC) in Phnom Penh.
The Thai-Cambodian GBC is co-chaired by the defence ministers of the two countries.
Responding to the invitation, the defence minister said he would call a meeting of agencies concerned on Aug 17 for a briefing.
After that he would assign Lt-Gen Wissanu Sriyaphan, chief of the Border Affairs Department of the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters and Thai secretary for GBC meetings, to coordinate with Cambodia on a preparatory meeting to work out a schedule for the GBC meeting as soon as possible.
In the meantime, there would be a Regional Border Committee (RBC) meeting in Nakhon Ratchasima province co-chaired by Lt-GenTawatchai Samutsakhon, the Army Region 2 commander, and Lt-Gen Chea Mon of Cambodia to work out the framework of the GBC meeting.
Gen Yutthasak said at the GBC meeting he would see if there would be any agreement that would require parliamentary approval.
Asked when the withdrawal of troops would begin, Gen Yutthasak said he expected this would be soon after the GBC meeting.
On a request from a number of senators that he talk to Gen Tea Banh about helping Thai Patriots Network coordinator Veera Somkwamkid and his secretary Ratree Pipatanapaiboon, who are each serving a jail term in Phnom Penh after being found guilty of illegal entry and spying, Gen Yutthasak said this matter could be taken for consideration later.
He said he did not want to apply any pressure on Cambodia.
Cabinet secretary-general Ampon Kitti-ampon said the cabinet today assigned Foreign Minister Surapong Towijakchaikul to revise Thailand’s withdrawal from Unesco’s World Heritage Convention.
In June, the Abhisit Vejjajiva government decided to withdraw Thailand’s membership of the WHC to protest against its decision to consider Cambodia’s Preah Vihear management plan for the disputed area.
Mr Surapong will also look into the implication of the ICJ’s verdict ordering both countries to withdraw troops from a provisional demilitarised zone, Mr Ampon said.
The foreign minister will discuss the border issue with relevant state agencies to determine the government’s stance before submitting a proposal to the cabinet, he added.