Their presence around Preah Vihear is against MoU, Abhisit says; Premier to raise issue at UN General Assembly meeting next month
Thailand wants Cambodian people removed from "over-lapping" areas claimed by both countries near Preah Vihear Temple on the border as their presence was contrary to a bilateral memorandum of understanding signed in 2000, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.
"The problem took place because Cambodia intruded into Thai territory so we have the right to protect our sovereignty, but we will act in a peaceful way in accordance with the UN principle," the PM said.
He said this matter was mentioned in a letter of clarification he had just sent to the United Nations.
"There might be an argument on the boundary line but the encroachment is obviously a violation of the MoU," Abhisit told reporters.
The MoU on land boundary demarcation prohibits both sides from making any change to the boundary environment before demarcation is done.
Thailand has been at loggerheads with Cambodia over Preah Vihear and the land around it since Bangkok moved to oppose the historic Hindu temple being listed as a World Heritage site.
Both sides have accused each other of encroaching on areas adjacent to the temple since the boundary line is unclear. They refer to "boundaries" in accordance with different historical documents.
Thailand has claimed the boundary line is located at a watershed on the Dangrek mountain, as mentioned in Siam-Franco treaties, while Cambodia has referred to a French-made map to claim the area belongs to it.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a letter to the United Nations on Sunday the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear was situated on territory under Cambodian sovereignty.
He claimed the presence of Thai troops at Keo Sikkharakiri Svara Temple, 300 metres from Preah Vihear could be considered an invasion of Cambodian territory.
Abhisit, in his letter to the UN to counter Hun Sen, said it was Cambodia who encroached on Thai territory because Phnom Penh built a road to Keo Sikkharakiri Svara and a community in the area which Thailand claims.
Hun Sen accused Abhisit of threatening to use force to settle the border conflict but Abhisit said in his letter to the UN Security Council and General Assembly that the Cambodian leader had wrong information from inaccurate news reports. Abhisit said a sentence quoted by Hun Sen to the UN was only a part of a discussion he had with the nationalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) on Saturday.
The prime minister needed to explain his stance to the PAD as the group has pressed the government to revoke the 2000 MoU and use military force to evict Cambodians from the "over-lapping" area.
The PAD repeated its demand yesterday, saying diplomatic ways of protesting over the encroachment did not work because Cambodians were still on the disputed land.
Abhisit will raise the issue of conflict over the temple when he attends the UN General Assembly meeting in New York late next month, Acting Government Spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.
The Thai premier will tell the UN that Unesco and the World Heritage Committee brought the problem to the region by putting Preah Vihear on its World Heritage list, which had angered Thai people, he said.
The border in the Preah Vihear area had not been demarcated as the joint boundary committee (JBC) set up by both sides had made little progress in its work.
Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said he would push for a meeting of the boundary committee as soon as possible.
The Parliament would next week read three agreed records of the last JBC meeting in a bid to enable the committee to conduct a further meeting, he said.