UN Security Council to Meet over Cambodia-Thailand Border Tensions

By Soy Sophea

The United Nations (UN) Security Council met July 24 for an emergency meeting at the UN’s headquarters based in New York to address the military standoff between Cambodian and Thai forces around the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda near Preah Vihear temple.

The meeting was scheduled after Cambodia asked UNESCO, the UN and the UN Security Council and Southeast Asian neighbors to mediate in the crisis.

“To date, the diplomatic efforts of the Royal Government of Cambodia to persuade the State Party of Thailand to withdraw its troops and return to the situation prior to July 15, 2008, have been to no avail,” Prime Minister Hun Sen stated in his letter to Koichiro Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO, dated July 21.

According to the Premier’s letter, the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda, where Thai troops have been stationed since the start of the incursion, is approximately 300 meters west of the Temple and 700 meters from the border as delineated in the Dangrek Map produced by the Commission of Delimitation of the Boundary between Indochina and Siam and subsequently endorsed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The Premier said, “This unwarranted act of aggression…might directly or indirectly damage the cultural and natural heritage of a site situated on the territory of other State Parties.”

“The Royal Government of Cambodia would like to request the UNESCO to take urgent action for the protection of this World Heritage site,” the Premier stated. “You may also want to ask the UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council to take measures that would lead to a peaceful resolution and avoid any armed confrontation.”

Khieu Kanharith, Cambodian government spokesman, confirmed Thursday during a press conference at the Ministry of Information that the world body’s UN Security Council had a meeting on July 24.

“The meeting will look through and evaluate the military situation on the border before they take action,” the Spokesman said. He said that regarding this military standoff, Cambodia has made every effort in terms of international law to deal with the Thai incursion.

He said that, “Cambodia believes that UNESCO will take positive action with regard to the standoff.”

"In order to avoid armed confrontation, the Royal Government of Cambodia has decided to request an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to find a solution to the problem in accordance with international laws," he said.
“I hope that we will get only recommendation from the meeting,” he said. He also expected the result of the meeting to be that the UN Security Council might encourage both sides to restart bilateral negotiations over the disputed territory.
“However, we will use all means to resolve this military standoff; we will try our best to avoid armed confrontation between the two sides,” he said. “Both Cambodian and Thai Prime Ministers have agreed in principal not use weapons to resolve the problem. We will maintain peaceful and friendly behavior as a means to resolve this dispute.”

The tensions began after UNESCO early this month awarded World Heritage status to the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple. This was awarded to Cambodia by the ICJ in 1962.
In addition, a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, issued July 21 read, “Cambodia understands very well Thai intensions to threaten Cambodian sovereignty in violation of the principles and spirit of the United Nations Charter, the Jugement of the International Court of Justice of 1962, the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Paris, 16 November 1972) and the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflicts (The Hague, 14 May 1954).”
“Thai soldiers have been positioned among Khmer monks, nuns, friars as well as border policemen and military personnel tasked with protecting our beloved motherland, thereby causing a volatile and tense situation, that could lead to a confrontation more dangerous than on any other parts along the Cambodian-Thai border where Thailand has dispatched troops and heavy weapons,” the statement continued. “In the face of Thai occupation of Cambodian territory at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda and Thai military threats, Cambodia has sought all possible means with the best intention to find a peaceful settlement, but to no avail.”
Cambodia also asked ASEAN to form an Inter-Ministerial Group of foreign ministers from Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos to "find a peaceful solution to the current crisis and to avoid a military confrontation between two ASEAN members".
Hor Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, held a meeting on July 22 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation with all foreign representatives in Cambodia to inform them of the military standoff.