Cambodia asks Indonesia to continue its role in solving Cambodian, Thai border conflict

   PHNOM PENH, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has asked Indonesia, the outgoing 2011 ASEAN chair, to continue its role on behalf of the ASEAN to be the mediator for Cambodian and Thai border dispute, the deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said Sunday afternoon.

   During a bilateral meeting with Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Bali, the Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked Indonesia to continue its role in the status of ASEAN to solve out border issues between Cambodia and Thailand in the framework of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), he told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport when accompanying Hun Sen from the ASEAN Summits and related Summits in Bali, Indonesia.

   As Cambodia has officially become the 2012 ASEAN chair, the country will not play as both footballer and referee at the same time in the negotiations of the border dispute with Thailand.

   “It’s essential to have Indonesia to act as mediator on this issue,” he said.

   He said that although there is no more armed clashes, Cambodia and Thailand border dispute has not yet been finished because the ICJ, on July 18, ordered Cambodia and Thailand to “immediately withdraw” their military personnel from the Provisional Demilitarized Zone (PDZ) of about 17 square kilometers on the disputed border near the 11^th century Preah Vihear temple and ordered both sides to allow ASEAN observers access to the PDZ to monitor ceasefire.

   “So far, troops have not been withdrawn from the PDZ due to at that time Thailand was busy with the general election; then, Thailand has suffered the worst from the floods,” he said.

   He added that Cambodia’s Minister of Defense Tea Banh  and his Thai counterpart Yuthasak Sasiprapha will hold the Cambodia-Thailand General Border Committee (GBC) soon after the floods to set the date for the troop pullout from the PDZ.

   “When the troop withdrawals from the PDZ, there must be the presence of Indonesian observers,” he reaffirmed.

   Cambodia and Thailand have had sporadic border conflict over territorial dispute near Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple since the UNESCO listed the temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

   Thailand claims the ownership of 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub next to the temple.

   However, the border tension has eased since the opposition Pheu Thai Party, led by ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's youngest sister Yingluck, won a landslide victory in Thailand's lower house election on July 3.

   The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.