Cambodian PM: No withdrawal of Preah Vihear temple case at ICJ

PHNOM PENH, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will not withdraw its request for the interpretation of the Court’s judgment of 1962 on the case concerning the temple of Preah Vihear temple, said the Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday.
   “For the temple case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Cambodia will not withdraw its complaint at any cost, even in this government’s mandate or next mandate, let’s the Court to proceed it,” he said during a graduation ceremony at the Royal School of Administration.
   The premier made the remarks after the Bangkok Post online newspaper reported that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on June 5 Cambodia should withdraw all border dispute cases from international bodies and return to talks with Thailand.
   “Cambodia should first show good will by withdrawing his country's request that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) interpret its 1962 ruling on Preah Vihear temple,” said Abhisit.
   He also insisted that a joint management plan for the disputed area near Preah Vihear temple must be made, and that Cambodia must also withdraw the temple from world heritage listing.
   Hun Sen said: “It’s impossible for the joint management plan for Preah Vihear temple with Thailand.”
   “Cambodia has never known and heard about the overland overlapping areas with Thailand; Cambodia does not know where the 4.6 square kilometer area is.”
   He reiterated that the dispute between Cambodia and Thailand on the border dispute near Preah Vihear temple has already reached in the hands of international bodies-the United Nations Security Council, the ASEAN and the Hague, “it is no way to return to bilateral talks as insisted by Thailand.”
   “Cambodia cannot withdraw its troops from its own territory in order to exchange with the deployment of a few Indonesian observers,” he said.
   Cambodian and Thai border has never been fully completed. The conflict occurred just a week after Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.
   Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers (1.8 square miles) of scrub next to the temple.
   Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulted in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides.
   The latest flare-up between the two countries’ troops occurred from April 22 until May 3 at the 13th century Ta Moan temple and Ta Krabei temple in Oddar Meanchey province, leaving 19 people on both sides killed and nearly 100,000 civilians fled homes for safe shelters.
   The two sides agreed to accept Indonesian observers to monitor a ceasefire on their respective border side on Feb 22 at the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Jakarta, but the deployment was always delayed because Thailand demanded that Cambodian soldiers and locals be withdrawn from the disputed area of 4.6 sq km near the temple first. (Nguon Sovan)