Border troops told to stay put

Border troops told to stay put

Charnchai awaits clarity on ICJ territorial ruling

SI SA KET - The commander of the Northeast-based 2nd Army Region has ordered his soldiers to stay in the Thai-Cambodian border area near the Preah Vihear temple.

Lt Gen Charnchai Puthong said on Monday he sent an urgent order to the soldiers in the Thai-Cambodian border area shortly after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its ruling on the vicinity around the temple.

"We must wait for the Foreign Affairs Ministry to clarify the outcome of the ICJ's ruling as to whether we have to withdraw our soldiers from the Thai border area or not.

"Therefore, at this stage, we are as yet unable to talk about a troop withdrawal," Lt Gen Charnchai said.

He said he also told Cambodia not to move its soldiers into the area where Thai soldiers are stationed.

"This matter [the troop withdrawal] should be discussed by the two governments. They must also interpret the outcome of the court ruling and agree with one another on how to do it," he said.

Asked if Thai troops will eventually have to leave the area where they are stationed, he said he was not so pessimistic about it and believed the outcome of the ruling was still fair to all sides.

As for troop withdrawals, he said the Thai army had complied with the ICJ's order last year which asked Thailand and Cambodia to withdraw their troops from a 17.3 sq km demilitarised zone near the temple.

The two countries had sent in border patrol police to replace their soldiers.

The demilitarised zone consists of 8.5 sq km of Thai territory and 8.8 sq km of Cambodian territory. The zone includes the temple and the 4.6 sq km disputed area.

An army source said the 2nd Region Army had sent about 4,000 soldiers into the Thai-Cambodian border area ahead of the ICJ's ruling.

The source said that according to the outcome of the ICJ's ruling, he believed Thai troops must leave the area given by the World Court to Cambodia. He said he believed the troop withdrawal could be carried out in the next year or so.

The ICJ ruled on Monday that an area around the temple on the Thai border belongs to Cambodia and that any Thai security forces there should leave.

The ICJ interpreted its 1962 ruling as saying that Cambodia had sovereignty over the whole of the promontory of the Preah Vihear temple. As a result, Thailand was under obligation to withdraw from that territory.

About 100 locals from Phum Srol village along the Thai-Cambodian border in tambon Sao Thongchai of Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district yesterday converged at a community hall to listen to the live broadcast from the ICJ.

Boonthung Jit-on, 75, said he and the other villagers respected the decision of the Thai army to safeguard the Thai-Cambodian border area in his village.

Mr Boonthung said most residents of Phum Srol village had evacuated for their own safety. "We only gave it [Cambodia] the temple. We won't give it everything," he said.

Thongkham Kanthawong, 77, said he and other villagers are ready to give moral support to the soldiers in protecting Thai territory.

Mr Thongkham said the new chapter of the Thai-Cambodian conflict resulted from Cambodia's attempts to list the Preah Vihear temple as a Unesco World Heritage site.

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