Cambodia, Thailand agree more temple talks

By Ek Madra

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia accused Thailand on Thursday of sending more troops to their joint border as a smoldering dispute over a 900-year-old temple showed no signs of easing.
"Thailand has continued to increase its military build-up," government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told a news conference in Phnom Penh, labeling Bangkok the aggressor in a spat that has sparked fears of a military clash.

"The situation is not easing," Kanharith said, adding that Cambodia had 800 soldiers along the border compared with around 3,000 Thai troops.

The Thai Foreign Ministry said Bangkok had only 400 men facing as many as 1,700 Cambodian soldiers. Both sides have moved artillery into the area, occupied by remnants of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge guerrilla army in the 1980s and 1990s.

At the heart of the dispute is a 1.8 square mile stretch of scrubland around the Preah Vihear temple on a jungle-clad escarpment that forms a natural boundary between the southeast Asian countries.

The temple itself is claimed by both countries but was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a ruling that has rankled in Thailand ever since.

France and Vietnam said on Wednesday the United Nations Security Council would hold a special meeting in response to a Cambodian request for it to take up the issue, although it was not clear if it would lead to formal Council involvement.

Thailand said it wanted the issue to be resolved on a bilateral basis, and it played down Phnom Penh's claims of rising tensions ahead of a general election on Sunday in Cambodia, where nationalism is a frequently played political card.

France and Vietnam said on Wednesday the United Nations Security Council would hold a special meeting in response to a Cambodian request for it to take up the issue, although it is not clear if it will lead to formal Council involvement.

But Thailand said it had the support of China, Russia, the United States, Vietnam and Indonesia against the need for Security Council intervention.

Even if it did step into the imbroglio, it is not clear what the U.N. could do other than issue a statement telling Bangkok and Phnom Penh to sort out the kafuffle.

The chairman of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) said on Thursday there was no need to involve the U.N. in what should be a bilateral matter.

"It should not have to go to the U.N. Security Council," George Yeo, who is also Singapore's foreign minister, told reporters at an ASEAN meeting on Thursday.

"We should not let a small issue -- that was a non-issue in the past -- become a big issue."

Politics has played a key role in fuelling the fracas on both sides of the border.

Nationalism frequently rears its head in Cambodia, especially around election time, and there is a general election in the country on Sunday.

But analysts say domestic Thai politics are mainly to blame for the eruption of the dispute, which stems from Cambodia's successful bid to have the ruins listed as a World Heritage site, a source of pride for Cambodia but an outrage for many Thais. Continued...

Bangkok's initial support for the heritage listing was seized on by anti-government groups who whipped up a nationalist fervor in their attempt to unseat the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. His foreign minister resigned over the issue.