Khmer men volunteering to defend Cambodian sovereignty

Friday, 10 October 2008
Thet Sambath The Phnom Penh Post
Oddar Meanchey Province

In Trapaing Prasat district, men young and old say ongoing tensions on the Thai border have persuaded them to enlist for service in the military
DRIVEN by ongoing hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand over disputed border lands, a growing number of Cambodian men are putting their lives on hold and enlisting for military service .

Loth Sokhean, a 19-year-old student from Anlong Veng district in Oddar Meanchey province, quit his studies to join Brigade 43 - a military unit mostly made up of former Khmer Rouge fighters - shortly after the standoff near Preah Vihear temple began in July.

He is currently stationed at Phnom Trop, about two or three kilometres from the temple, where the simmering tensions exploded in a hail of gunfire between troops from the two sides last week.

“I joined the RCAF voluntarily, not by force,” he told the Post. “I was angry when Thai soldiers invaded our temple.”

“I carried my father’s gun when I was a small child, and I have experience hiding from shelling in the battlefield with my father during the 1990s,” he said.

Other men - not all of them young - have felt compelled by the border tensions to become soldiers.

Nun Rom, 39, lives with his wife and three children near Dangrek mountain, which demarcates Cambodia’s border with Thailand.

I JOINED BECAUSE I SAW THAI SOLDIERS CONFISCATING CAMBODIAN LAND.

He served in the army from 1980 to 2003 and appealed to military commanders to allow him to return.

“I was accepted as a soldier after submitting my application,” he said. “I was told I would receive my identification card from the Ministry of Defence this month.”

Nun Rom said he was happy to be back in uniform and that he wanted to defend his country against any further incursion by Thai soldiers.

He added that some 280 men have joined the military from his home district of Trapaing Prasat.

Chheng Phea, 43, comes from the same village as Nun Rom and volunteered for service at about the same time.

“I joined because I saw Thai soldiers confiscating Cambodian land. If I didn’t become a soldier, how could I prevent this encroachment?” he said.

Chhim Sereyrath, the 24-year-old son of a former Khmer Rouge cadre, told the Post he is ready to serve the Kingdom as a soldier if he is needed.

“If the government needs me, I will do it, and I know my friends and many others feel the same way,” he said.

Chin Touch, 53, served as a Khmer Rouge medical officer from 1971 to 1980. She told the Post her sons would be prepared to volunteer in the event of a war with Thailand.

“I have three sons. They will serve if the government needs them,” she said. “If there is war, I will tell them to be soldiers.”

RCAF officials told the Post they have recruited new soldiers in Trapaing Prasat and Anlong Veng districts, as well as in several other provinces.

But Nuon Nov, deputy commander of Military Region 4, said he was not aware of recruitment efforts along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Admin: Of all the areas and regions around Cambodia, the NorthWestern regions are packed with former Khmer Rouge veteran fighters. It will be a hard place for Thailand to invade. Regardless of technology and superior arms, a place where people have been fighting and familiarizing for decades will be hard to control. Even if one assume the Thai army successfully took over Northwestern Cambodia, controlling it will be near impossible. The “guerrilla warfare” will not stop. There will be more casulty on the Thai side than ever before if war were to erupt.

War is the last resort. If the Thai chooses, because only they can decide to go to war or not, it will be the biggest tragedy ever in their history.

Thai internal affairs continue to worsen.

Friday, 10 October 2008
By Jonathan Head
BBC News, Bangkok

When doctors decide to violate their Hippocratic Oaths, and refuse to treat injured police officers, you know things are bad.

That is what’s happening in Thailand right now, so much so that the world financial meltdown, which will surely affect Thailand just as badly as any other export-dependent Asian economy, is scarcely being noticed.

The deadlock between the government, still led by close allies of one-time Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and its opponents, spearheaded by the well-funded People’s Alliance for Democracy protest movement, has been going on for months.

It is actually a continuation of a political crisis that began two years into Mr Thaksin’s second term of office, in early 2006, when the hugely profitable sale of his family’s business empire sparked mass demonstrations, which eventually led to the coup that forced him from power in September that year.

Events over the past three years have only hardened the positions of both sides.

Mr Thaksin’s supporters, most of them in the rural north and north-east, still see him as a champion who pushed through policies that made real improvements to their lives. They felt robbed by the coup, and insulted by the PAD protesters who say their votes for Mr Thaksin were bought.

Mr Thaksin’s opponents still see him, even in exile, as a dangerous politician of overreaching ambition, a man who used his wealth to concentrate power in his hands, and who had a hidden republican agenda.

But emotions have never been as raw as they are now.

The violent clashes on Tuesday - the worst since 1992 - have prompted furious accusations from the PAD and its many sympathisers that the police used excessive force, and that the government was being deliberately provocative in sending them in to clear the protesters who had surrounded parliament.

Thai websites are running gruesome video clips showing horrific injuries. These, say the PAD, could not have been caused by just teargas; the police must have been firing other explosives as well, they say.

Media quiet

There is little doubt that the police were reckless in the way they moved against the protesters.

But there has been surprisingly little condemnation in the Thai media of the PAD’s own tactics: the construction of tyre-and-barbed-wire barricades to blockade MPs inside parliament, the use of guns by some PAD supporters against the police, video showing a PAD truck ploughing into a line of police then reversing over the injured body of one officer.
The protesters’ tactics have been subject to little scrutiny

There has been no attempt by the Thai papers to trace the source of the PAD’s very substantial funding, or of the obviously expert paramilitary training given to some its followers.

It is true there is little public affection for Thailand’s corrupt police force, and even less, in Bangkok, for the members of the new cabinet, who astonishingly seems even less convincing than their inept predecessors.

Fence

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who won some praise for his conciliatory statements after being appointed last month, has appeared weak and indecisive in his response to the violent events around parliament.

The fact that he had to climb over a fence to escape from the PAD protesters around the parliament building did not help his image much.

But there is something else afoot here.

Thais now have so little faith in their politicians and institutions that a substantial number are willing to overlook the PAD’s brazenly illegal activities.

“No one expects this government to last long. Nor has anyone come up with a scenario which would be substantially different”

Conspiracy theories and wild rumours abound, with each side willing to believe the most outlandish stories about its opponents. This is worrying, in what is normally one of the world’s more peaceful societies.

Most worrying is the absence of any obvious way out of the deadlock.

And there is one figure conspicuous by his silence.

In times past King Bhumibol Adulyadej has used his unrivalled moral authority to settle such crises. There are many Thais who wish he would intervene now.

But the 80-year-old monarch has said nothing. His only recent public statements have been an expression of concern over coastal erosion, and a reminder to a new crop of judges to be honest. So little is seen or heard of the king these days that it is impossible to guess what his thoughts are on this crisis.

But his silence makes the prospect of a royally endorsed government of national unity under an appointed prime minister - one possible solution touted by some - more remote.

A military coup seems unlikely too, although in Thailand it can never be ruled out.

Army stands back

There have been several occasions over the past few weeks when rumours of military intervention have swirled around Bangkok; Gen Anupong Paochinda, the army commander, has squashed them all.
Army chief Gen Anupong has seen his standing improve in the crisis

He argues persuasively that the military did not resolve the political rifts by intervening with its coup two years ago, and that it cannot solve the problem now. There are believed to be senior officers who think otherwise, but their views have not prevailed.

Besides, while Gen Anupong stays out of the fray, occasionally sending his men in, unarmed, to clean up where the police have lost control, his image and that of the army is further burnished. He has also been able to bargain for a hugely increased budget for the military. No government now would dare refuse him.

No one expects this government to last long, but no one has come up with a workable alternative.

Another election would almost certainly lead to little change. The People Power Party, the reincarnation of Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai, still commands sufficient loyalty in the rural north and north-east to beat the opposition Democrats. Even the Democrats admit this.

So Mr Somchai will soldier on in the job.

And however hard he tries, he remains hopelessly bound by his unappealing cabinet, and the fact that he is Mr Thaksin’s brother-in-law and is therefore widely assumed to be working to protect the exiled former prime minister and engineer his eventual return to Thailand.

note: Even if an election were to be held, the current governemt would still win since they have the strong support of the East and Northeastern part of Thailand. In other words, the PAD and opposition are trying to divert democracy. If you don’t have a majority of voters to support you, then you just have to work it out without using force and violence. Isn’t Thai a somewhat democratic country?

Khmer soldiers on high alert as Thai soldiers continue to trespass

06 October 2008
By Sav Yut
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the original article in Khmer

On Monday 06 October, the military situation in Prolean Entry (Eagle Field) located on Phnom Troap mountain, about 3-km from Preah Vihear temple, is becoming tense again because Cambodian soldiers are on high alert following the 10 AM explosion of two landmines at about 100-meter from their line. These explosions are believed to be Thai soldiers persevering in trespassing into Cambodian territories.

An armed Cambodian soldier posted at Prolean Entry immediately chased away a group of journalists who traveled there, for their own safety sake, because Khmer soldiers know that Thai troops are persevering in moving their troops into Cambodian territories in that area: “Today, there were 2 explosions already, they (Thai troops) used to sneak in like that, they sneaked in several times already. In the past, there were black-clad soldiers only, now they are joined by their paramilitary soldiers and their fighting troops. In the past few days, we are always on high alert, for example, in a 5-soldier guard, 2 sleep and the 3 others are on the lookout, then we switch with each other.”

According to report provided by Cambodian troops over telecommunication line, the landmine explosions severed both legs of a Thai soldier, and another Thai soldier got one leg severed. A Thai army helicopter came and took them out of the area. Nevertheless, there is no clarification from the Thai army regarding the actual number of Thai soldiers injured from the explosion.

An anonymous Cambodian army official belonging to Unit 43 overseeing this area, said that on Monday morning, Thai troops are still persevering to invade and occupy the Prolean Entry area, so that they can also move in to occupy the 05 January zone, and then they can cut road leading to the Preah Vihear temple.

The same Cambodian officer indicated: “Their goal is to occupy the 05 January zone, so they fought to take over the Prolean Entry zone. At the end, we heard over their communication line that their plan is to have their troops find a corridor bypassing us so that they can build a bridge, an access road so they can send in their troops. When they came in, they never leave, they never do. So now we push them out, we must be careful.”

An anonymous Cambodian official from the Council of Ministers considers the actions taken by Thai soldiers as provocation attempts, their attempts to trespass into Cambodian territories are clear violations of the negotiations concluded by ministers of Foreign Affairs from the two countries who agreed that there will not be any troops movement, nor will there be any firing either.

On 03 October, an armed clash took place between Cambodian and Thai troops at Prolean Entry in Phnom Troap mountain. The incident injured one Cambodian soldier and 2 Thai soldiers.

Khmer wounded soldier tell his side of the story

Tuesday, 07 October 2008
Written by Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post
Preah Vihear province

Thais suddenly opened fire while walking away, he says

WITH a mix of bravado and surprise, Cambodian soldier Chi Meng describes the few short minutes last Friday during which a simmering standoff with Thai soldiers over disputed territory on the two countries’ border erupted in violence.

Like they had numerous times before, he said, Thai troops had come to chat with the seven Cambodians deployed some two kilometres from Preah Vihear temple, an 11th-century ruin and flashpoint for the continuing faceoff between the two armies.

“I told them that we couldn’t negotiate the dispute here. I told them to leave the problem to the top levels of government to be solved,” said the 33-year-old former Khmer Rouge fighter who said he joined the military after the movement’s collapse in 1998.

The 16 Thai troopers turned away, he said, adding: “I didn’t really think too much about it because Thai soldiers usually come to talk to us.” But they suddenly swung on the Cambodians and opened fire.

“I would never have thought that the Thai soldiers had decided to fire on us after they had already turned away,” Chi Meng told the Post Monday.

“We weren’t paying attention and had to defend ourselves with a B-40 rocket and AK rifles,” he added.

The Thai government has insisted it was Cambodian soldiers who intruded on Thai territory and provoked the shoot-out that left two Thais and Chi Meng wounded.

“The Cambodian soldiers suddenly opened fire at the Thai rangers who were unarmed, prompting the Thai unit stationed nearby to return fire to protect the Thai personnel in self-defence,” a Thai foreign ministry statement released Sunday said.

But Both Chi Meng and Bang Chin, another Cambodian trooper involved in the clash, dispute the claim.

“The Thais were firing many bullets at us - they were aiming to kill us,” Chi Meng said, claiming that he shot one Thai soldier in the stomach and adding: “I watched him drop his gun and flee.”

I THINK THE THAI SOLDIERS WERE LUCKY THAT DAY.

Despite pleas for calm following the Friday fighting and the ensuing crisis talks between Cambodian and Thai military commanders in the area, two land mine blasts Monday that wounded Thai soldiers have put the front line back on edge, with some Cambodian soldiers convinced the Thais were preparing to mount an assault.

“From now on I won’t allow [a similar incident] to happen,” said Chi Meng. “I think the Thai soldiers were lucky that day. If we decide to attack, I don’t think many of them are going to keep their lives.”

P.S. Admin: If I missed alot, it’s because I had heart surgery this past week. I apologize if there were no updates.

New Thai Prime Minister

Sompong, New Thai Foreign Minister

By D.Arul Rajoo

BANGKOK, Sept 23 (Bernama) — Justice Minister and veteran politician Sompong Amornwiwat is set to helm the Foreign Ministry in Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat’s Cabinet.

The deputy leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) told reporters today that Somchai had asked him to be foreign minister in the new Cabinet which is awaiting royal endorsement.

Sompong, 67, one of the front-runners to replace prime minister Samak Sundaravej after he was disqualified by the Constitution Court on Sept 9, said he woul d be ready to assume the post which was last held by former diplomat Tej Bunnag.

Sompong’s confirmation today also ruled out former prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh as speculated by the media or former ambassador to France Saroj Chavanaviraj who was nominated by Samak to replace Tej but was left out in the cold after Samak’s departure.

Thai officials said Sompong, who hailed from the northern city of Chiangmai, was favoured over other career diplomats due to the party’s close link with ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

“In the previous Thaksin government until he was ousted in the 2006 coup, his party was not concerned much with the foreign ministry. But now they need a politician in control as there are lot of issues about Thaksin, his exile abroad and his red (diplomatic passport),” said a government source.

Sompong’s immediate task would be to reduce the border tension with Cambodia, as well as taking charge of the country’s preparation to hold the Asean Summit in December.

Somchai, a brother-in-law of Thaksin, said the Cabinet line-up had been completed, including nominees from five other parties in the coalition government.

The former judge is expected to hold the Defence Minister post as well.

The new cabinet is expected to have several new faces, including for the coveted Finance Minister post where the current deputy finance minister, Suchart Thadathamrongvech is likely to replace PPP secretary-general Surapong Suebwonglee who declined reappointment due to an ongoing court case.

Suchart is the leader of the Puea Thai, a party formed recently with the aim of absorbing members of parliament from PPP in case the party is disqualified for alleged election fraud.

Rain and Floods hit the province of Preah Vihear

PHNOM PENH, WED: Heavy rains have caused floods in at least four of Cambodian Preah Vihear province’s seven districts, especially along the Stueng Sen River, national media reported Wednesday.

“At least four districts have been flooded by rain and the rising Stueng Sen River. Some places have been seriously damaged by this flood,” China’s Xinhua news agency quoted provincial Deputy Governor Long Sovann as saying in the Phnom Penh Post.

He said that Tbeng Meanchey, Rovieng, Chey Sen and Kulen districts have been particularly affected.

“I do not have any reports of people’s property being damaged, but we believe some rice and farm crops have been destroyed,” Long Sovann said, adding that officials are working hard to ascertain the extent of the damage.

While the water level is still lower than it was last year, some fear that the situation will worsen as the rain continues.

Mao Pov, police chief in Preah Vihear province, said that heavy rains have affected almost all districts and that the water level continues to rise.

“A provincial town located on a hill in Tbeng Meanchey district is currently surrounded by water. Farmers from nearby villagers have been forced to relocate to the small town to avoid the flood,” Mao Pov said, adding that the water level continues to rise.

A Letter via e-mail to Mr. Liow

Royal Kingdom of Cambodia

National Religion King

To: Prachathai
UN Scretary General
UN Disaster Management
UN Counter Terrorism

Dear Mr. Joseph Chinyong Liow
mailto:iscyliow@ntu.edu.sg
mailto: publications@eastwestcenterwashington.org

My name is Chan Born, living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, have read your Policy Studies 24 “Muslim Resistance in Southern Thailand and Southern Philippines”. It is very useful. I have one question and suggestions to your Center as follow:

Question:
• Does the Center Washington have a plan to study of Khmer Surin or/and Siemess living in Thailand?

Whereas:

• There are former 20 provinces of Kingdom of Khmer occupying legally by Thailand with around 20 millions habitants. Those Khmer were too the founders of Prah Vihea Temple of which military tension taking place surrounding the temple’s zone till today;
• The Thailand’s King is suggested to be 50% of Siames and other 50% to be Khmer blood but He has pretended himself to be the Thai‘s King for Symbol of country unity sine 1946;
• Thai’s Coup 1939 had changed the Constitution and moved the Country name from Siam to Thailand as today;
• There were Siames ‘s Coup in 1932, Thai’s Coup 1939…..and some other 10 Coup bloody and bloodless consequently. The last Coup was managed by Muslim in 2006. Thus, the religion, ideology and politics are the mains issues related to Thaization’s philosophy;
• The King Phumibol and the Queen administered 2 types of armed forces: one is Royal Bodies Guard and other is Paramilitary. Most of prime ministers included Taksin and Samak are the puppets of the Royal Bangkok Administration;
• The Kingdom of Patani was administrated by Ministry of Interior from 1930 but the role had moved to Ministry of National Defense for instance (Muslim Umbrella); and
• There will be soon a war between Cambodia and Thailand because of more and more troops’ invasion and deployment by Thailand along the borders.

With the above facts, my motivations regarded to this question (state independent like “Timor” country) are:
• What are the positions of Khmer Surin people (Kingdom of Srey Ayuthia)?
• What are the positions of Muslim at the former Kingdom of Patani?
• What are the positions of Siamess people (People Alliance for Democracy)?
• What are the positions of Thai Citizens ( Bangkok Metropolitans and Kings)?
• What are the positions of USA and China National Defense Ministries?

Dear Sir, Madame, I have expressed my interesting the above topic. I have expecting that your Center would have the advantage as well as the US government. I really appreciated if any related study project taken place in Cambodia where i could joint with you.

With best regards

Phnom Penh, Cambodia
September 14, 2008
Boeun Chan Born, freelance researcher
E-mail: chanborn@yahoo.com

The French (Cambodia) and Siam Treaty in 1904 and 1907 delegated back some provinces to Cambodia. This is the idea of Thai Coup!. 1932 Siemss organized Coup. 1939 Thai Organized coup. You are Thai blood. I suggested you note that the TRT party managed by Thaksin and Samak and King Phoumibol already destroyed.

Cambodia Ambassador to Thailand sends a protest, but lying Thais insist Ta Krabey resides in Thailand.

19 Sept 2008
By Alain Ney
Cambodge Soir Hedbo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

By reaffirming Cambodia’s sovereignty on the Ta Krabey temple, in spite of the military and diplomatic annexation attempts by Thailand, Ung Sean condemns Thailand’s intrusion.

Cambodia’s tit-for-tat response to Thailand: “Based on geographic maps, the Ta Krabey temple, also known as Ta Kwai in Thailand, is located inside the territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia.” It was through this small correction, expressed in diplomatic language that the Cambodian Ambassador in Thailand sent in a letter to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “This act constitutes a violation of the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Cambodia,” Ung Sean wrote also.

However, on 16 September, the permanent secretary of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a note to the Cambodian Ambassador, in which he accused Cambodia of “violating Thailand’s territory” by sending in troops on the spot because, according to the Thai official, the temple is located inside the Thai province of Surin.

In the wake of the Preah Vihear dispute, Thai soldiers have multiplied their incursions in Cambodia’s territories, under the pretext that the border was not well defined.

Ung Sean recalled that, on 10 September, at 6:00 PM, about 100 Thai soldiers entered and occupied the Ta Krabey temple in spite of the repeated protests made by local Cambodian authorities. Thai soldiers moved out of the temple the following day.

The tense atmosphere endured since the listing of Preah Vihear temple by UNESCO last July. With the current crisis in Thailand, the border resolution is dragging on.

Stand off at another temple, and another temple, etc.

SURIN, Sept 13 (TNA) — Fully-armed Thai and Cambodian soldiers are again in confrontation — this time at a different temple ruin on another mountain in Surin province — but still marking the ill-defined border between the neighbouring countries.

A combined Thai Army force of local para-military rangers and regular troops from the Suranaree Task Force were dispatched to another ancient ruin, this time the Tawai temple sitting atop the Phnom Dong Rak mountain range in Thailand’s northeastern province of Surin along the Cambodian border.

The Thai military force was dispatched following reports that some 150 armed Khmer troops led by Col. Neak Pung, commander of the Cambodian army’s Task Force 42 assigned to defend the mountain, had several days ago tried to enter the ancient temple, which is claimed by both countries.

The Tawai ruins is located about 12 kilometres east of Ta Muen Thom, another ruin contested by both countries which sparked tension in early August.

Before the situation turns worse, Maj-Gen. Kanok Netrakawesana, chief of the Suranaree Task Force, opted to negotiate with the Khmer troops.

Both sides later agreed to withdraw their men from the Tawai temple compound but are still maintaining positions at the border.

The Tawai temple is attracting attention as the third disputed area between the two countries, after Thailand and Cambodia had engaged in disputes over the better-known Preah Vihear and the Ta Muen Thom ruins, which lies either in Thailand’s Surin province or in Cambodia’s northern Uddor Meanchey province.

IN THE MEAN TIME:

Cambodian military said that more than 100 Thai soldiers have seized control of the Kingdom’s Ta Krabey temple and are refusing to leave, despite the best efforts of some 50 Cambodian soldiers who remain at the site, local media reported Friday.

The Cambodian soldiers, who have controlled the small temple for years, tried to defend the site by shooting in the air but that the Thai soldiers still marched in, Ho Bunthy, deputy commander of Border Military Unit 402, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.

“They dared to enter because they know Cambodian soldiers got the orders not to use violence and shoot,” Ho Bunthy said.

THEN

Cambodian military officials in Oddor Meanchey province said that hundreds of Cambodian troops had been sent to the Khmer-Thai border at Ta Krabey temple in Kork Kpous commune, Ampil district to prevent Thai troops from being re-occupied the temple which is located in Cambodian territory.

Commander of Battalion 422 of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, Mr. Pol Then, has said on Thursday the 11th that hundreds of Cambodian troops had been transported since Wednesday night to the Ta Krabey temple in between Thmor Daun district which Thai troops had been trying to occupy. And the military confrontation had been very tense.

The same military official said that up until Thursday, Thai and Cambodia troops are still besieging each other in many layers.

Mr. Pol Then said: “Many of my soldiers have been sent there since last night and two more truckloads of troops are being sent to reinforce us. A moment ago the situation has been eased because we agreed to negotiate on the temple building. Now they don’t know how to withdraw. Yesterday we were inside the temple and they came to encircle us from behind the temple. So we sent the troops to encircle them as well, but they sent the troops to encircle us in a second layer.”

According to Cambodian military sources, up until Thursday afternoon there were about 140 Thai soldiers in the area and that they have already occupied the temple. Cambodian military sources said that at about 8pm Wednesday night about 12 Thai soldiers have forced their way in to occupy the Ta Krabey temple to open the way for other troops to move in.

According to a military official based at O’Smach who spoke on condition of anonymity said that a Cambodian soldier has fired a single shot in the air to stop them from moving in to occupy the temple but the Thai troops were not deterred.

The same military official said: “They moved in at night time and our troops tried to push them back by firing into the air but they still moving in.”

Governor of Ampil district, Mr. Chap Phat, said that Ta Krabey temple is located about 6km east of Thmor Daun district and that area is uninhabited.

Mr. Chap Phat said that district officials are trying to go to the areas to assess the situation but were unable to get there because they were unable to cross the many rivers which were flooded due to heavy rains.

Mr. Chap Phat said: “This morning I tried to go there but the floods have cut the roads so we cannot cross the rivers. The area is uninhabited.”

At Ta Moan Thom temple which were located nearby, there were reports that the Cambodian side has sent more troops to the area, while Thailand has sent more troops to the area also which their troops have already re-occupied the temple more than a week ago.

PM Hun Sen prepare for the ICJ or UNSC. Is this true or just another false hope?

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 12 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday that a nearly two-month border dispute with Thailand will likely be to be brought to the International Court of justice in The Hague or once again be returned to the United Nations Security Council.

“We should be well-prepared and get documentation ready because it is unlikely that we can avoid the court, or, if it is worse, then we have to return to the U.N. Security Council,” Hun Sen said at the opening of his weekly Cabinet meeting.

The premier said Cambodia has used “utmost restraint” in the face of “daring aggression” by Thai troops into Cambodian territory.

He added that incursions have been at many place along the some 800- kilometer border with Thailand.

Cambodia and Thailand were to discuss full troop withdrawals from a disputed border point last month, but the Thai side requested a postponement due to internal tension in Thailand.

Cambodia made an appeal to the U.N. Security Council on July 22 to meet urgently on Cambodia’s military standoff with Thailand, but it withdrew its appeal two days later after Thailand had agreed to hold immediate talks on the issue.

The border dispute and military standoff stems from incidents almost two months ago when Cambodia detained three Thai ultranationalist activists who the authorities allege illegally crossed into Cambodia near the World Heritage-listed Preah Vihear Temple.

Since then, Thailand and Cambodia have been building up their forces near the temple and tensions have escalated.

On Aug. 16, several hundred troops from both sides who had been deployed to the area since July 15 were drawn back from immediate confrontation, but they remain close by.

But the military standoff has spread to at least three more points along the border.

The dispute appears difficult to resolve because the two sides use different maps of the border areas.