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Thursday, Oct 16, 2008
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Gunfire on Thai-Cambodia border

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: Prolonged tensions along a disputed stretch of the border between Thailand and Cambodia worsened on Wednesday, with troops briefly exchanging fire.

While an Army spokesman said in Bangkok that one Cambodian soldier was killed and four Thai soldiers injured, there was no official word from the other side.

Singapore urged both parties to exercise utmost restraint in the broader interests of the [Southeast Asian] region [and] to resolve their differences through further negotiations. Singapore recently handed over to Thailand the chairmanship of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations.

At the heart of this long-simmering border row is the sovereignty claims by both Thailand and Cambodia over a stretch of land near the Preah Vihear temple.

The two sides moved troops to the border following UNESCO's decision to designate the temple as a World Heritage Site in July. The temple was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962, but the issue of sovereignty over a land link to the site remained in dispute even thereafter.

In the run-up to Wednesday's clash, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen demanded Thailand withdraw its troops and warned the area might become a life-and-death battle zone if they failed to do so. And, Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, politically embattled at home, maintained his troops had not transgressed into Cambodia. Affirming preference for a peaceful resolution of the dispute, he also announced a special meeting of the Regional Border Committee, involving both sides, would be held on October 21. However, clashes broke out before that.

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