Cambodia to let 62 Vietnamese refugees stay longer

Dec 17, 2010

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia said Friday it will allow 62 Vietnamese refugees to stay in the country a few more weeks as a favor to the U.N. refugee agency but believes they no longer face any danger in Vietnam and can be sent back.

Cambodia previously gave the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees a New Year’s Day deadline to close a refugee compound in the Cambodian capital. But the country will now give the agency until Feb. 15 instead, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said.

“Vietnam is speeding up its economic growth. There is no war and no bombs, therefore Vietnam should not have any refugees,” Hor Namhong told reporters. “For the refugees who have not been granted asylum, they must be sent back to Vietnam. They cannot stay in Cambodia.”

The Foreign Ministry notified the UNHCR this month it planned to shut the housing compound Jan. 1 and send the residents home. Cambodia wants to close the compound in Phnom Penh to deter more arrivals.

The UNHCR pleaded for a little more time to help resettle the refugees.

“We’ll do them a favor. Prime Minister Hun Sen decided to postpone the deadline,” the foreign minister said.

Thousands of hill tribe people known as Montagnards fled to Cambodia since 2001, when Vietnam cracked down on protests against land confiscation and religious restrictions.

The current group is the last batch of asylum-seekers from 1,812 Vietnamese hill tribe people taken in by the UNHCR since 2006. The agency has resettled 999, mostly in the United States, and sent 751 home.

Many Montagnards sided with the United States during the Vietnam War, attend Protestant churches not recognized in Vietnam and are generally distrusted by the communist government.

Thais Seeking Return of Three Nationals: Report

Thursday, 16 December 2010
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Thailand is seeking the return of three nationals arrested in Cambodia and sentenced to 18 months in prison for illegal entry and unlawful possession of weapons earlier this year, the Bangkok Post reported Thursday.
However, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Cambodia has not yet received an official request.

The three suspects—Lan Sapsri, 53, Lim Puangpet, 39, and Sanong Wongcharoen, 36—all from Thailand’s Surin province, were arrested in August in Oddar Meanchey province.
They were sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $250 fine in Siem Reap provincial court last week.
The Post quoted Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as saying this week his foreign minister was looking into the arrests and seeking a way to bring them back.

Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said no such request had come through diplomatic channels. However, he said, Cambodia was seeking the return of four of its own nationals.
Both sides have traditionally seen a number of cross-border arrests. In August 2009, they agreed to send respective nationals back across the border to serve out their time in home prisons.

[Thai] PM warns Hun Sen to be discreet

The Bangkok Post
Published: 13/08/2010
Cambodia PM calls on UN chief Ban for help

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (pictured) has warned his Cambodian counterpart, Hun Sen, to be careful how he interprets information he receives through the media concerning the territorial dispute over the Preah Vihear temple.

Abhisit: Don’t argue via the media

Hun Sen was reported on the Cambodian Information Center website yesterday as saying he would ask the UN secretary-general to act as a coordinator on border issues with Thailand.

Mr Abhisit said Hun Sen should be careful about interpreting information on such sensitive issues through the media.

He said Thailand would explain the dispute to the global community.

“We want to solve these problems peacefully, without the use of force,” Mr Abhisit said.

However, Mr Abhisit said the government would push out the Cambodian communities who have settled in the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area surrounding the temple.

Hun Sen on Sunday wrote to the UN General Assembly and the Security Council to say Mr Abhisit had threatened to use military force against Cambodia to settle the border dispute.

Thailand late last month opposed a proposal before Unesco’s World Heritage Committee that it consider Cambodia’s management plan for the temple.

It argued the Cambodian plan encroached on Thailand’s territorial sovereignty by incorporating the surrounding area.

Hun Sen said yesterday he would ask UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to play the role of coordinator in border issues with Thailand.

Mr Ban would visit Cambodia on Oct27-28, Hun Sen said.

However, he insisted that bilateral border talks with Thailand would not resume until the Thai parliament approved border agreements reached by border committees in past years. Otherwise, the talks would be a waste of time, he said.

Hun Sen said he would also invite a third party, such as the UN or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to join the border talks.

“It is ridiculous for Thailand to accuse Cambodia of encroaching on the area or using force,” he said.

The International Court of Justice in the Hague found in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple and its surrounding area belonged to Cambodia, so there was no disputed border between Cambodia and Thailand, he said.

“I don’t know this area of 4.6 square kilometres [near the temple which Thailand insists is part of Si Sa Ket], so how can I ask my people and army to withdraw?” he said.

Hun Sen reiterated that Cambodia did not want to use force to resolve the border issue, but said “we will defend our territorial integrity”.

Meanwhile, the Thai Foreign Ministry has set up a new working group to oversee the issue.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya has appointed his secretary, Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, to head the working group.

Mr Chavanond said he would call a meeting of the group on Monday to prepare a response to Cambodia and the UN.

“This group will make decisions about the Foreign Ministry’s position on border problems with Cambodia,” he said. “It will help prevent public confusion and provide accurate and timely responses on the situation to the international community.”

Puea Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said yesterday he was confident the two sides would be able to settle their differences peacefully and the problem would not escalate into a war.

Troops from the two countries who are stationed along the border are close and have good ties. “They love each other,” Gen Chavalit said.

PM Abhisit urges Thais to support government on ancient temple

BANGKOK, August 1 (MCOT)- Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (pictured) on Sunday urged Thais to support his government in making a detailed study of the disputed Preah Vihear temple to show the UN cultural body.

Thanking the public for its display of love for Thai sovereignty which he said led UNESCO’s World Heritage Commission (WHC) to postpone adopting the Cambodian plan to manage Preah Vihear, Mr Abhisit said during his weekly TV and radio address that his government would work hard during the next year to protest Cambodian actions.

Mr Abhisit invited Thais to join in studying the issue with his government and convey their findings to UNESCO and heritage committee members.

The WHC agreed Thursday to postpone adopting the Khmer plan to manage the temple until next year when it meets in Bahrain after Thailand threatened to review its membership and many Thais rallied at the UNESCO Bangkok office.

Preah Vihear temple was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of
Justice in 1962. UNESCO named the temple a World Heritage site in 2008, after Cambodia applied for the status.

The ancient temple is located atop the Dangrek Mountains, about 150 miles north of the Cambodian capital. Reaching it by road is easiest from the Thai side of the border.

While expressing satisfaction with the postponement to next year, Mr Abhisit said confusions still exist which have led to allegations and disputes [among the public] in Thailand which could benefit Cambodia.

Mr Abhisit said his government would also organise a platform so that the issue could be discussed and would not affect Thai government’s efforts in dealing with the matter to protect Thai sovereignty.

Meanwhile, Samran Rodphet, New Politics Party executive committee member, told a news conference that the government should revoke the Thai-Cambodian Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2000 because it put Thailand at risk of losing territory and the prime minister should open a forum for all Thailand’s sectors to express their opinions.

The opposition Puea Thai Party also called for the government to designate the Preah Vihear problem as a national agenda concern and gather opinions from all sectors and to work truly for the benefit of the nation.

A border market in the northeastern province of Si Sa Ket was quiet on Sunday after rumours of possible tension which might lead to a border closure. However, the border situation remains normal. (MCOT online news)

Thai civil network demands Cambodian pushback from contested Preah Vihear zone

BANGKOK, July 30 (MCOT)– The “Thais Love Nation” network called on the government to push back Cambodian troops and residents from the area around the Preah Vihear temple and not to support the listing of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage SIte until the border demarcation is clarified inline with the natural watershed.

Chaiwat Sinsuwong and Karun Sai-ngam led their civil society group to gather atGovernment House Friday and submitted a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva through Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The protesters called on the government to revoke all agreements that put Thailand at a disadvantage with Cambodia after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee (WHC) on Thursday postponed discussing Cambodia’s management plan for the Preah Vihear temple to its meeting next year in Bahrain.

They gave the government a seven day deadline to act on their demand and said they will come back to hear the government’s answer.

Mr Chavanond said the Thai government was adamant that the border demarcation under the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cambodia must be completed before the endorsement of the management plan for the area around Preah Vihear.

He said it was not certain that the border demarcation will be finished in one year.

The issue has to be considered by Parliament and bilateral talks between Thailand and Cambodia will be arranged later.

He said the postponement of management plan consideration by the WHC would not have an impact on Thai-Cambodian relations.

One year from now, Thailand will clarify the issue to the WHC members to understand that Thailand does not want to have conflict but it asks only for fairness and opportunity to explain the matter to all sides, he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Culture Somsuda Leeyawanit, one of 21 WHC members, said from Brasilia where the WHC is meeting that all Thai related parties including foreign affairs, culture, natural resources, and environment ministries and security agencies discuss the issue seriously on returning to Thailand.

Mrs Somsuda said an operations office may be set up to consider the issue thoroughly, such as whether the map Cambodian used is correct or how Cambodia’s move affects Thailand.

She said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti will lead the Thai working team as he has been monitoring the issue from the beginning.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded the temple and the land it occupies to Cambodia.

The site of the historic structure, on the disputed Thai-Cambodian border has long been a point of contention between the two neighbours.

On July 7, 2008, Preah Vihear temple was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Under the terms of the listing, Cambodia is required to submit a management plan for WHC approval. (MCOT online news)

1962 World Court Identified Thai Border: Official

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
18 February 2010

Thai officials should seek clarification from the International Court of Justice if they believe a 1962 judgment does not explain the boundaries between the two countries, Cambodia’s top border negotiator said.

Thai officials have been quoted in the media saying the 1962 judgment of the court awarded Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia, but did not address adjacent land.

However, Var Kimhong (pictured), head of the Cambodian Border Committee, said the court used a map that was agreed on by both sides at the time to reach its decision—that the 11-th Century Hindu temple belonged to Cambodia and thatThai forces would have to vacate it.

In its judgment, the court cited a map from a French survey conducted in the early 1900s, which delineated the frontier between Cambodia, then under French protection, and Thailand, then called Siam. The border was to follow the watershed of the Dangrek mountains, except where it circumvented Preah Vihear temple, which sits on a high escarpment overlooking the Cambodian plains.

Thailand has since claimed it does not recognized the survey map and subsequent 1904 and 1909 border agreements and has laid claim to a small strip of land west of Preah Vihear temple, land that is also claimed by Cambodia.

The 4.6-kilometer area is now in the middle of a longstanding military standoff that has left eight soldiers dead and created a tense build-up of forces between the neighbors. The dispute was sparked by the addition of Preah Vihear temple to Unesco’s World Heritage list, under Cambodian jurisdiction, in July 2008.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said recently he may seek an international solution if the two sides cannot diffuse the situation alone. Multiple rounds of bilateral talks have so far failed.

Meanwhile, Thailand should submit evidence or arguments over the disputed area rather than act outside the World Court decision, Var Kimhong said.

He blamed internal politics in Thailand, which has been shaken by instability in recent years, as the cause behind the intractability of the dispute.

Thai officials have said they believe the problem will be solved at an upcoming Unesco meeting in Brazil in July.

Quotes from Hun Sen’s speech at Ta Moan area

Monday, February 08, 2010
DAP news
Translated from Khmer by Socheata for Ki-Media

Hun Sen making a speech when he visited Preah Vihear temple on Saturday 6th Feb.

Hun Sen gave a speech at 9:22AM on Monday 08 Feb 2010. The following are some of the quotes from his speech:

- I am angry with only a few people, I am not angry with the entire Siem people, and [I am angry] with the dumb newspapers The Nation and Bangkok Post
- Excrement is Thailand is very expensive, because the Thai people gave it as a gift to the prime minister. Even with that, he does not resign from his position still
- You are a true power thief, if you don’t believe me, hold an election and you will lose.
- If my wife wears army uniform, why does it bother Abhisit? Among all of the Siem PMs, nobody is as bad as Ah Neung [derogatory for this guy].
- If you don’t tell the truth about Siem troops’ invasion in Cambodia on 15 July, let the magic objects break your neck, may you be shot, be hit by a car, may you be shocked by electricity or [may you be shot] by misfired guns.
- Not only did Thailand actually invaded [Cambodia], it also invaded and cheated on history by changing the name of Preah Vihear temple to Prah Vihan.
- I said that if the Siamese troops did not invade Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak Pagoda, let me be destroyed, know me well, Suthep [Thaugsuban]!
- Hun Sen also scolded The Nation newspaper, saying that if you are so dumb, don’t be a newspaper that provides false information about this visit.
- As long as you do not withdraw your troops from Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak Pagoda, I still call them invading troops.
- People criticize you so much, you still wouldn’t resign. My [general] stars, the king gave them to me, not the Siamese king.
- I said this much to you, are you hurt or not? If you reply back, I will add some more.
- I sent a letter to all the Siamese people, saying that there has never been any time where the Siamese society is in such discordance as it is under Abhisit Vejjajiva’s time, and also foreign relationships are extremely bad.
- You ordered the yellow shirts to help set up the coup d’état and to administer the airport.
- I ordered the Council of Ministers, as well as the [Press] and Quick Reaction Unit to properly record my voice and translate it into English.
- Will Abhisit swear on having all his family members be killed and having them [perish] in a plane crash, if [he still claims] that Siamese troops did not invade Cambodia?
- Not only am I a soldier, I even set up the soldiers.
- My [army] registration number is 000002. I am not wearing fake insignia, I am telling you Abhisit.
- Ah Nis [derogatory for “this guy”] is crazy, he is all confused, he deserves to be scolded at. This guy has no family honor.
- Why does it bother you if I wear army uniform my entire life?
- Whatever type of army uniform, there is nothing to bother Abhisit.
- I wear the general stars granted to me by the king, I am not wearing Abhisit’s stars in the sky that belong to Abhisit.
- This is not the first time that Hun Sen dons an army uniform. I was originally a soldier. You’d better know Hun Sen clearly.
- In the past 20 speeches, I did not attack you back, but you always attack me. Therefore, I will attack you back. And, if tomorrow you attack me back, I will reply back to you.

Hun Sen visits Preah Vihear

The Phnom Penh Post
By Vong Sokheng and James O’toole

Preah Vihear Province
PRIME Minister Hun Sen, dressed in full military fatigues, made an official visit to Preah Vihear temple on Saturday, during which he accused neighbouring Thailand of planning to invade Cambodia and called on troops to defend the Kingdom’s borders.

Joined by his wife, Bun Rany – who also donned camouflage gear – Hun Sen briefly toured Preah Vihear temple under heavy security, also inspecting weaponry and troops stationed near the contested border with Thailand.

“The border issues with Thailand have to be resolved through negotiation, but we will use force when Thai troops are invading Cambodia. The tanks and weapons are not here for exhibition only – they are here to fight against the enemy and invaders,” Hun Sen said. Thai officials, he added, “still keep it in their mind to invade Cambodia and do not know when they will stop”.

The border area, where a total of seven soldiers from both sides have been killed since July 2008, remains a potential flash point, with the opposing forces opening fire on one another last month in a series of skirmishes in which no one was hurt. Around the temple and central to the dispute is a 4.6-square-kilometre piece of land that each side claims as its own.

“Where is the 4.6 kilometers squared of land [claimed by Thailand]? It is a claim by Thai invaders,” Hun Sen said.

The premier picked up on similar themes in a speech on Sunday in the Mom Bey area of Preah Vihear province, promising not to back down in his ongoing war of words with Thai leaders.

“If the Thais keep up verbal attacks on Cambodia, then tomorrow I will keep up with verbal attacks on Thailand,” he said.

Despite his harsh remarks, however, Hun Sen received Thai Lieutenant General Veerawit Kajornrith and several colleagues who joined in a Buddhist ceremony on Saturday at the temple to pray for peace in the area.

“We are neighbouring countries, so we cannot be enemies forever,” Hun Sen told Veerawit, urging frequent talks between Thai and Cambodian commanders to avoid further armed confrontations. Veerawit thanked the prime minister for the welcome and assured him that the respective forces “often talk, and have tried to avoid all problems”.

In addition to his trip to the temple, Hun Sen attended the opening of a nearby school and distributed gifts and supplies to local villagers. He also visited the site near the temple of a market that was destroyed by Thai rocket fire last April. There he said it was up to Thailand to decide whether to pay compensation for the incident.

Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said Sunday that Bangkok was unconcerned by Hun Sen’s trip, though he asserted his country’s claim to both the land surrounding Preah Vihear temple and to Oddar Meanchey province’s Tamone Thom temple, which Hun Sen reportedly plans to visit today.

“We have a normal procedure to receive the official visitors within our own area … so that should be the same as any other visit,” Panitan said.
Panitan declined to comment on Hun Sen’s invasion accusations, but said that should the Cambodian premier choose to visit Tamone Thom, a Thai delegation would be there to welcome him.

“I think when authorities are talking to a domestic audience, we will not comment on that, but our position is clear: Tamone Thom temple is on Thai territory,” he said.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said there was “no need for the Thai side to send anybody to welcome [Hun Sen] and his delegation”, and that Tamone Thom has long belonged to Cambodia.

“If [Thai officials] come as guests, the cabinet delegation led by Prime Minister Hun Sen may welcome them,” Koy Kuong said.

In a statement released on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected Thai claims to both Tamone Thom and the land surrounding Preah Vihear.

“It is very surprising and beyond comprehension that Thailand would consider sending a high-level official to welcome Samdech Techo Hun Sen, who is on a tour in the territory of Cambodia,” the statement read.

Also on Friday, Svay Sitha, chairman of the Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers, wrote to Internet search engine Google to protest against maps appearing on the company’s mapping Web site that show Preah Vihear temple partially inside Thai territory.

Svay Sitha called the maps “devoid of truth and reality, and professionally irresponsible, if not pretentious”. He asked the company to take down the maps in question and replace them with an “internationally recognised map” that places Preah Vihear exclusively in Cambodia.

Last month, attempting to prove the legality of opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s uprooting of border posts in Svay Rieng province on the Vietnamese frontier in October, the Sam Rainsy Party released information based in part on Google-hosted maps of the Cambodian-Vietnamese border. These maps, the party argued, prove conclusively that the posts uprooted by Sam Rainsy had been placed on Cambodian territory.

Sam Rainsy, currently abroad, was sentenced in absentia to two years in jail in connection with the incident.

Google, in the terms of service for its mapping programme, says it “[makes] no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of any content or the products”.

Kasit: P.Penh must follow the law

Published: 19/11/2009
The Bangkok Post

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya insisted on Thursday that Cambodia must comply with the law after Phnom Penh banned Thai nationals from working at Cambodian Air Traffic Services (CATS), which is operated by Thailand’s Samart Corporation.

The Cambodian government has ordered the air traffic control company to replace all Thai workers with Cambodians and has seized all the company’s equipment.

Mr Kasit said any action against the company and its employees must be strictly according to the law, and comply with Cambodia’s investment and internal regulations.

“As for Thailand, we’ll wait for reports from the Thai embassy to Phnom Pehn. We hope that we’ll receive factual information from Cambodia and the [Samart] company,” he said.

“If the Cambodian action does not follow the terms of the bilateral agreement between our two countries, we’ll have to find other ways to continue.”

The Foreign Ministry had sent the Consular Affairs Department deputy director-general to see the mother of Thai engineer Siwarak Chutiphong, who was arrested by the Cambodian government last week on spying charges.

Mr Kasit said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had promised Mr Siwarak’s mother that he will visit her detained son.

He said the government had to wait for Cambodia’s confirmation of a time for the meeting with Mr Siwarak. The ministry had also hired a lawyer to liaise with the company about the problem.

“There are, however, no problems in Thai-Cambodian relations,” he insisted.

Thai minister hopes to recover Cambodian temple

Sun Chanthol, a former Funcinpec minister, defected to join the CPP following Funcinpec’s demise. He is now a minister without portfolio in Hun Xen’s regime. What The Nation failed to mention is that Samart’s Siam Cement plant is a joint venture with Cambodia‘s Khaou Chuly group and Khaou Chuly happens to be Sun Chanthol’s father-in-law. (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)
By CHRIS BLAKE
Associated Press

Thailand hopes some day to prove its claim to a historic border temple awarded to Cambodia by the World Court almost half a century ago, its justice minister says.

Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga expressed his opinion on the controversy over the 11th century Preah Vihear temple as Thailand’s relations with its neighbor have become badly strained.

The temple sits on a cliff in a disputed zone between Thailand and Cambodia. It has been a source of tension and fueled nationalist sentiments on both sides of the border for decades.

On Wednesday, Cambodian villagers stabbed straw effigies of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, saying his policies caused border tensions that hurt their livelihoods.

The Thai government is carrying out delicate diplomatic maneuvering with Cambodia to try to obtain the release of a Thai citizen accused of spying. Relations with Cambodia have worsened lately because it hosted a visit by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a 2006 military coup and is now a fugitive from justice.

Pirapan on Tuesday led foreign journalists on a tour to the northeastern province of Sri Saket, adjacent to the Cambodian area where the temple is located.

Thai nationalists consider the 1962 ruling on the temple an injustice. Last year, Thai-Cambodian relations soured when Bangkok first backed, then opposedCambodia ‘s bid to have the temple declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. Some Thais believe the designation undermines their claims to a small area of surrounding land, despite denials by UNESCO.

Since then, both countries have beefed up their forces at the border, leading to several skirmishes that left at least seven soldiers dead.

“We respect the court ruling but hope to one day have the evidence to prove the temple itself is ours,” Pirapan told The Associated Press.

Pirapan incorrectly claimed that the court ruled only that the temple itself belonged to Cambodia, but not the land it stands on.

The official summary of the court’s judgment says it “found that the Temple of Preah Vihear was situated in territory under the sovereignty ofCambodia.”

Asked why Thailand was willing to fight over the disputed land near the temple, Pirapan responded: “because it’s ours. Even if it is only one square inch, it is ours.”

On the Cambodian side of the border, villagers Wednesday vented their anger by beating and stabbing straw effigies with signs carrying Abhisit’s name.

“Abhisit is the man who created a war with us and makes our villagers lose their houses and property in the fighting,” Try Piseth, one of the villagers who took part, said by phone.

The temple is easier to reach from the Thai side of the border, and a market has sprouted up on the Cambodian side that serves many Thai customers. But because of the unrest, the Thai army has blocked access to the temple much of the time in recent months so no one can visit the market from the Thai side.

Cambodia this month named Thaksin an adviser on economic affairs. The appointment, and a subsequent visit by Thaksin, set off a diplomatic row in which the two countries recalled their ambassadors. A Thai court last year sentenced Thaksin in absentia to two years in prison on a corruption charge.

Relations were strained further when Cambodia rejected a formal request from Bangkok to extradite Thaksin. The situation worsened when Cambodia expelled a Thai diplomat and arrested a Thai man on spying charges for allegedly passing secret information on Thaksin’s flight schedule to the Thai Embassy.

Associated Press writer Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh contributed to this report.