Cambodia refuses to withdraw troops unless Thailand do too, minister

Cambodia will not withdraw its troops from the conflicted border area with Thailand before the latter does the same, Cambodia`s Defense Minister Tea Banh said.

The minister made the statement after attending a trilateral meeting with Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and his counterpart from Thailand General Prawit Wongsuwon on the sidelines of the 5th ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting in Jakarta on Wednesday.

"We will not withdraw the troops until Thailand pull back its military forces from the conflicted area. It`s our territory," Banh said.

However, the minister stated he and Minister Wongsuwon were determined to find the best solution to solve the border conflict.

The Thai-Cambodian border dispute began just a week after Cambodia`s Preah Vihear temple was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

The dispute turned into an armed conflict after Thailand laid claim to 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of shrubs next to the temple. The exchange of artillery fire that ensued killed and wounded many soldiers and civilians on both sides, and caused tens of thousands of the two countries` villagers nearby the disputed area to flee to safe shelters.

Concerned about the escalation in hostilities between Thailand and Cambodia, Indonesia and other ASEAN member states tried to persuade the two sides to solve their border problem through peaceful negotiations.

Recently, Indonesia as the ASEAN chair for 2011 proposed a new approach for the solution of the Thai-Cambodian border conflict called "the package solution" with the concept of asking both countries take synergic steps to support a peace process without having to discuss again about who must do what first.

"Here we no longer ask one country to take one step and then the other country will follow by taking the next step. Instead, we will identify a number of steps or measures that need to be taken and put them in little clusters and propose them to both Thailand and Cambodia," Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said.

The minister took as example Thailand may submit a formal diplomatic note agreeing to the Terms of Reference (TOR) about the deployment of Indonesian observers to the disputed border area. At the same time, both countries may announce that they will start convening their General Border Committee (GBC) and Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) soon and consider relocating their troops from along their disputed border area. 

Source: ANTARA