Home | World and National News
Home
| World and National News
Security Council to convene on Thai-Cambodian dispute
Associated Press
Jul 24, 2008
UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council will convene a special session to try to prevent a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia from escalating into a military confrontation. Diplomats said yesterday the session probably would be held next week after Cambodia appealed to the United Nations for help. The Association of South East Asian Nations, or ASEAN, declined a Cambodian request to help resolve the dispute after Thailand objected.
The conflict focuses on an area that both nations claim as their own and that is fewer than 2 square miles around the Preah Vihear temple, which an international court awarded to Cambodia in 1962.
Earlier yesterday, Thailand accused Cambodia of eyeing even more of its land, and leaflets appeared in the Cambodian capital calling for a boycott of Thai goods.
On Tuesday, Cambodia asked the Security Council to intervene, warning that the two sides were at "an imminent state of war." Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said he had no choice but to appeal to the United Nations after discussions with Thailand on Monday failed to produce a breakthrough.
In a countermove yesterday, Thailand's ambassador to the United Nations, Don Pramudwinai, said Cambodia was bringing the quarrel before the Security Council because "the Cambodian target is not only Preah Vihear but the entire common border."
Don told Bangkok's Business Radio that Cambodia was trying to force Thailand to accept a French colonial map as the document that demarcates the border, stretches of which are disputed.
He said the Security Council would decide today on whether to hold an emergency session over the dispute.
Copyright 2008
Powered By Zebra Mobile