cambodia

ICJ: Thailand, Cambodia troops should withdraw from Preah Vihear

by Newley on July 18, 2011 · 0 comments

2011 07 18 preah vihear

There’s news today from the U.N.’s International Court of Justice on the Preah Vihear temple. The BBC says:

The UN’s highest court has ordered Thailand and Cambodia to withdraw troops from a disputed border region near an ancient temple complex.

And:

The court said both sides must allow access to observers from the regional bloc Asean.

The AP reports:

The court drew a “provisional demilitarized zone” around the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear temple that would push Thai troops back from positions they have long occupied and would see Cambodian armed forces leave the temple’s immediate vicinity.

Meanwhile, here is an ICJ press release (PDF) on the ruling.

How will the news affect Thailand’s domestic politics? (Or politics within Cambodia, for that matter?) That’s still unclear.

Before the ruling, the Bangkok Post reported that:

There will not be any immediate troop withdrawal from the disputed area around Preah Vihear temple, regardless of the decision due today from the International Court of Justice, Army Region 2 spokesman Prawit Hukaew said on Monday.

(Emphasis mine.)

For more on the issue, see the Preah Vihear tag.

(Image: Wikipedia.)

Tagged as: cambodia, preah_vihear, thailand_cambodia

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Thailand quits U.N. World Heritage Convention over Preah Vihear

by Newley on June 27, 2011 · 1 comment

The AP reported yesterday that:

Thailand’s prime minister on Sunday defended his country’s decision to quit the U.N.’s World Heritage Convention, saying its committee’s consideration of a Cambodian plan to manage a protected temple on Thailand’s border would increase tensions.

The UNESCO Web site has this statement yesterday from the Director General, who says:

Contrary to widely circulated media reports, the World Heritage Committee did not discuss the Management Plan of the Temple of Preah Vihear nor did it request for any reports to be submitted on its state of conservation. Moreover, it needs to be clarified that UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre never pushed for a discussion of the Management Plan by the Committee.

And:

The World Heritage Committee decision was adopted unanimously after Thailand staged a walkout. The request of Thailand to adjourn the debate was not supported by any other member of the World Heritage Committee.

Meanwhile, the official MCOT news agency says:

Thailand’s withdrawal from the World Heritage Convention and World Heritage Committee (WHC) is in accordance with his Cabinet’s resolution, because ambiguity in the Cambodian draft resolution is unacceptable, said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Sunday.

Before going to the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani for the Democrat Party’s election campaign, Mr Abhisit said that he spoke many times on Saturday regarding this issue with the head of Thai delegates to the WHC meeting in Paris, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti, and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.

The draft resolution proposed by Cambodia has ambiguous words which are unacceptable, therefore Thailand decided to pull out of the WHC, he said.

Tagged as: cambodia, preah_vihear

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NYT on status of Khmer Rouge tribunal

by Newley on June 16, 2011 · 0 comments

The New York Times has a story noting that:

As it prepares to open its most complex and significant case, a U.N.-backed Cambodian tribunal trying former Khmer Rouge leaders has been torn by conflict over what critics are calling interference by the Cambodian government and inaction by the United Nations.

Read the whole thing.

Tagged as: cambodia

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Thailand, Cambodia, and Preah Vihear: more links

by Newley on February 9, 2011 · 0 comments

Preah vihear

A few more items to pass along:

(Image: BBC News.)

Tagged as: cambodia, preah_vihear, thailand_cambodia

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More on Thailand, Cambodia, and Preah Vihear clashes

by Newley on February 7, 2011 · 0 comments

Preah vihear

AP: Thai, Cambodian clashes resume at disputed border

Economist blog post with background info and political implications: Shells fly around the temple

BBC: Cambodia nationalism fired by temple row with Thailand

MCOT: Fresh fighting on Thai-Cambodian border; 15,000 evacuated

(Image: Reuters/BBC.)

Tagged as: cambodia, preah_vihear

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NY Times and Reuters on Preah Vihear

by Newley on February 7, 2011 · 1 comment

Yesterday’s NYT: “Cambodia Asks U.N. to Act Amid Clashes With Thailand.”

Also see this Reuters Q&A from Feb. 4: “Preah Vihear temple and Thai-Cambodian tensions.”

Tagged as: cambodia, preah_vihear

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Clash on Thailand-Cambodia border

by Newley on February 4, 2011 · 0 comments

Bangkok Post:

Fighting on Cambodian border

Two or three Thai soldiers were wounded in an exchange of fire with Cambodian troops on Friday afternoon on the Thai-Cambodian border, and artillery rounds landed on Thai soil well inside the frontier, an informed military source said.

The clash started about 3.20pm near the disputed 4.6 square kilometre area around the Preah Vihear temple.

Fighting was continuing, the source said. Heavy weapon rounds had landed on the Thai side of the border,

Lt-Gen Tawatchai Samutsakhon, 2nd Army commander, said it was Cambodian troops who started the fire.

Many artillery shells landed at Huay Thip village in tambon Rung of Si Sa Ket’s Kanthararak district, north of the Preah Vihear temple and about 1km from Phu Makhua mountain, which is part of the disputed area.

Two or three Thai soldiers were reported wounded. Casualties on the Cambodian side were not known.

Previous posts with more info:

Fighting on Thai-Cambodia border (April 2009)
Conflict on Thailand-Cambodia Border (Oct. 2008)

Tagged as: cambodia, preah_vihear

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WSJ on mobile banking in Cambodia

by Newley on September 15, 2010 · 0 comments

From today’s WSJ: Mobile Service Targets Cambodia’s ‘Unbanked’:

How do you roll out a banking service in a place where most people don’t have bank accounts?

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. tackled that question in developing WING, a banking and payment system it launched in Cambodia early last year.

Tagged as: cambodia, mobile_phones

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Thaksin, Cambodia, and Thailand — update

by Newley on November 12, 2009 · 2 comments

Reuters has a summary of the latest developments in the Thaksin-Cambodia-Thailand saga:

Thai Crisis Deepens as Thaksin Finds Cambodian Base

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Emboldened by a rousing welcome in Cambodia, fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra is rallying supporters from just over the border, upping the ante in Thailand’s political crisis.

After accusing Thailand’s rulers of “false patriotism” in a speech in Phnom Penh on Thursday, Thaksin huddled with more than 20 supporters and leaders of his red-shirted, anti-government protest movement who traveled from Thailand.

That number will swell on Friday when about 100 supporters plan to gather in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap, about 150 km (90 miles) from the Thai border, according to Puea Thai, an incarnation of Thaksin’s disbanded Thai Rak Thai party.

The prospect of the billionaire — who the Thai government sees as a criminal — running a political campaign from across the border rattled investors, sending Thai stock prices tumbling nearly 3 percent on concern of more instability in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy.

Royalists aligned with the military, who wear the king’s traditional color of yellow, plan a demonstration of their own on Sunday in Bangkok to denounce Thaksin and Cambodia, threatening to deepen the political and diplomatic impasse.

(Emphasis mine.)

Worth reading the whole thing.

Previous Thaksin-Cambodia-Thailand posts are here and here and here.

Tagged as: cambodia, thaksin

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Thailand, Cambodia, and Thaksin

by Newley on November 6, 2009 · 0 comments

First this:

AFP: “Cambodia makes Thailand’s Thaksin adviser: government”

Cambodia said Wednesday it had appointed fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra economic adviser to premier Hun Sen in a move that adds to tensions between the countries.

The appointment was announced on state television almost two weeks after Hun Sen first riled Thailand by offering safe haven to Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and is living abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption.

And then this:

New York Times: “Thailand Recalls Its Ambassador to Cambodia”

The Thai government announced Thursday that it was recalling its ambassador to Cambodia to protest Cambodia’s appointment of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as Thailand’s prime minister, to a high-profile position. The moves put new strains on already tense relations between the countries.

Mr. Thaksin was removed in a coup in September 2006 and now helps lead the Thai opposition movement from abroad.

The Thai Foreign Ministry said the appointment of Mr. Thaksin as economic adviser to Cambodia’s prime minister represented a “failure to respect Thailand’s judicial system.”

“The Royal Thai Government cannot stand idly by and has to take into consideration the sentiment of its people,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The Thai government appears particularly dismayed at the idea that Mr. Thaksin, who now spends much of his time in Dubai, might be able to galvanize his supporters from just across the border. Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister, has offered Mr. Thaksin a residence in Cambodia.

And now this:

Reuters: “Thailand, Cambodia recall envoys over Thaksin spat”

Thailand and Cambodia recalled their ambassadors from each others’ countries on Thursday, deepening a diplomatic row after Cambodia made fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra an economic adviser.

The tit-for-tat spat threatens to worsen a political crisis in Thailand by giving Thaksin and his red-shirted anti-government supporters an ally just across the border, causing a diplomatic embarrassment for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

It also suggests deepening enmity between leaders of the two countries after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen soured the start of an Asian summit hosted by Abhisit last month by turning up and offering Thaksin the job of adviser.

(Emphasis mine.)

Watch this space…

UPDATE (Fri., 3:30 p.m. local time): A development from AFP: “Thailand threatens to seal Cambodian border.”

Thailand threatened Friday to seal the border with Cambodia in a spiralling diplomatic row over Phnom Penh’s naming of fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser.

The warning came a day after the two countries recalled their respective ambassadors due to the dispute over the appointment of Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption.

Tagged as: cambodia, Thai politics, thaksin

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