Fighting resumes along Thai-Cambodian border, spreads to new area

April 28, 2011

ting-resumes-along-Thai-Cambodian-border-spreads-to-new-area

Apr 28, 2011, 2:51 GMT

Hundreds of civilians fled O'Smach town late Wednesday, the Phnom Penh Post

newspaper reported Thursday.

Phay Siphan said Bangkok had not replied to the proposal by Cambodian Prime

Minister Hun Sen that the nations' two leaders meet at the May 7-8 regional

summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta.

'We don't hear anything,' he said. 'Thailand's response has been fighting with

us.'

Fighting between the two ASEAN members broke out on Friday and has left at least

13 soldiers and one Thai civilian dead, and about 60 people wounded on both

sides.

Overnight the European Union said the clashes were 'very worrying.'

Late Wednesday Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi suggested

Bangkok would like to resolve the conflict before the ASEAN summit.

The Bangkok Post newspaper reported that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva

had said talks could start once Cambodia stopped shooting at Thailand.

Each side has blamed the other for the fighting.

On Wednesday, Thailand pulled out of ceasefire talks scheduled to take place in

Phnom Penh after Cambodian media reported that Bangkok had only agreed to talks

because it was losing.

Indonesia, as the current chair of ASEAN, has tried unsuccessfully to mediate

between the two nations, and proposed putting observers along the contested

border. The plan was welcomed by Cambodia, but rejected by Thailand.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya was scheduled to meet his Indonesian

counterpart Marty Natalegawa in Jakarta on Thursday to discuss the issue

further.

Cambodia said Wednesday that more than 31,000 of its citizens had fled the

border region, while Thailand said a similar number of its civilians had been

evacuated from their villages.

Thailand has blamed UNESCO for escalating the tensions with its decision in 2008

to list the 11th-century temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site,

despite Thai claims that a 4.6-square-kilometre area near the temple is still

the subject of a five-decade border demarcation dispute.

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