Situation in the disputed borders near Preah Vihear on 26th November, 2008

The military situation in the Preah Vihear areas has been on high alert, despite calm, because of occasional accidental gun fires.

A Khmer military officer from Intervention Force of Division 12 said on 26th November that the situation until now remain calm but on high alert and a few days ago the Cambodian troops have warned the Thai troops when they were drunk and fired shots (into the air), but the Thai side explained that the gun fires were accidental.

The officer said: “Today, there is no change. The night before yesterday, 20 of us slept on the mountain. They got drunk and they fired shots, but they explained that the gun shots were accidental. We warned them. Both sides are on high alert but we still talk to each other.”

Members of parliament have urged the government to resolve the border disputes as soon as possible in order to save defence budget.

Mr Son Chhay said: “We cannot delay this dispute because we will lose in two fronts. First, the longer the dispute is delayed, the more rights the Thai have the claims to our territories. Secondly, we have to spend more time and money to defend the areas that can drain our military budget.”

Mr. Son Chhay said that he has requested the government to put the Khmer-Thai disputes on the agenda of the ASEAN Meeting in Chiangmai in December. And on Tuesday he has written to a letter requesting PM Hun Sen to explain to the parliament of the reasons why the government refused to lodge a complaint to the United Nations regarding Cambodian border disputes with Thailand.

Mr. Khieu Kanharith, spokesman for the government, said that the government has made great efforts to resolve the disputes and he has dismissed the ideas that urged the government to lodge a complaint to the United Nations.

Mr. Kanharith said: “If they want to help solving the disputes, just tell us how we can do it? We have made numerous complaints to them (the UN) and they just told us to be patient by trying to resolve the disputes bilaterally. If we ask them to come to lecture us, we already knew the answers. So why should we ask them? The persons who said like this (urge to lodge a complaint) does not understand foreign affairs and don’t know anything.”

Please note that the meeting held between Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers in Siem Reap on the 12th of November did not yield any substantial results because of the Thai insistence on the use of the word “Phra Viharn” to call the temple name and due to the Thai side refusing to commit to a troop withdrawal because they have to wait for an approval from the Thai parliament.