April 25 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand renewed a call for one-on- one talks with Cambodia after three days of fighting along a disputed border killed at least 11 soldiers in some of the deadliest battles since tensions flared up in 2008.
“We need to end the border issue and we want Thailand and Cambodia to sit down and talk together,” Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban told reporters in Bangkok today. “If they don’t respond, we will try to control the situation, protect our sovereignty and find ways to talk.”
Battles that began April 22 have killed five Thais and six Cambodians, according to government officials and press reports, ending two months of peace since the United Nations Security Council urged a permanent cease-fire on Feb. 14. The hostilities occurred several hundred kilometers west of clashes earlier this year near the Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border.
The fighting has reignited tensions along the border that escalated in 2008 after Thailand opposed Cambodia’s efforts to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site. Fighting in February claimed at least 10 lives and displaced 30,000 people.
Thailand has refused to accept border observers from Indonesia, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa canceled planned trips today to Bangkok and Phnom Penh, the Bangkok Post reported, citing Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn.
‘Tell the World’
“It is the Thai government that has refused to accept the presence of neutral military observers, who could tell the world the truth about any military clashes,” Cambodia’s Cabinet said in a statement yesterday. Thailand’s call for bilateral talks “have produced nothing but a screen for repeated acts of Thai military aggression” since 2008, it said.
The renewed fighting comes as Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva prepares to call an election in early May. Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan accused Thailand’s military of provoking the clashes to boost its popularity in the event it stages another coup.
“The Thai military is moving against us so they can say they are protecting Thai land and earn credibility from their people,” he said by phone from Phnom Penh, the capital. Cambodia has accused Thailand of using cluster munitions and poisonous gas in the fighting.
‘Incredible’ Stories
“The Cambodians are really incredible to make up a story like that,” Veerachon Sukondhadhpatipak, the Thai army’s deputy spokesman, said by phone from Bangkok. “They are always making up stories to make us look bad.”
The three days of fighting has killed five Thai soldiers and injured 28, Thai Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit told reporters today. The battles have also killed six Cambodian troops, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, citing Suos Sothea, a commander with an artillery unit on the border.
The Southeast Asian neighbors have blamed each other for firing first in battles. Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said Thai troops were aiming to take over disputed temples, while Abhisit said Thailand wouldn’t invade its neighbors and was retaliating against Cambodian aggression.
“Our movements are in line with international rules,” Abhisit said yesterday in a weekly televised address. “In our retaliation, we attack only military points. Our retaliation will be appropriate with Cambodian attacks.”
Cluster Munitions
Cambodia accused Thailand of using cluster munitions during fighting in February, a charge verified by U.K.-based Cluster Munition Coalition, which is pushing for an international ban on the weapons that scatter ammunition over a large area upon detonation. Thailand and Cambodia aren’t among the 108 countries that have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled in a 9-3 vote that Cambodia had sovereignty over Preah Vihear. It didn’t rule on the land surrounding the temple, and the two countries have also yet to reconcile 10,422 square miles (26,993 square kilometers) of disputed waters in the Gulf of Thailand that may contain oil and gas reserves.
Thailand’s $264 billion economy is more than 26 times the size of Cambodia’s. The Cambodian army spent $191 million in 2009, compared with $4.9 billion for the military in Thailand, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
--With assistance from Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok. Editors: Tony Jordan, Patrick Harrington
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