Thai-Cambodia meeting on military stand off fails to reach agreement

SA KAEW: -- An eight-hour meeting between Thailand and Cambodia to solve military stand off near Preah Vihear Temple failed to reach any breakthrough on Monday.

Both countries will remain number of their troops and weapons there and will order their troops not to use forces in the area.

Supreme Commander Gen Boonsang Niempradit and Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Tea Banh who chaired the special meeting of the General Border Commission emerged at a press conference after nearly eight hours of meeting in Indochina Hotel in Sa Kaew's Aranyaprathet district.

The meeting was called as the military stand off near Preah Vihear Temple reached the six days. Both countries deployed troops and weapons to a plot of 4.6 square kilometre near the temple. The Thai side claimed that the areas are overlapping zones while Cambodia claimed it is in its territory.

Both Boonsang and Tea Banh cited legislation and legal technicalities as obstacles in reaching any agreement on the issue.

Gen Tea Banh told reporters that both sides tried to lower down the degree of tension during the meeting but failed due to the legislationa and legal technicalities.

Boonsang declined to answer when asked if the meeting was a failure. They said both troops will avoid using forces in the area. They will forward the outcome of the meeting to their prime ministers for consideration.

-- The Nation 2008-07-21

Thailand, Cambodia promises not to use force

ARANYAPRATHET: -- The meeting of the General Border Commission concluded Monday with both Thailand and Cambodia promising not to use force to settle their dispute over the borderline near Preah Vihear.

But the two sides failed to reach any agreement to pull back their forces accumulated along the disputed borderline.

-- The Nation 2008-07-21

Hope no one gets drunk and discharges his weapon.

Hope no one gets drunk and discharges his weapon.

Thought that only happened in Pattaya?

Most of them discharged in Pattaya are intentional! The biggest problem at the temple is that a lot of these soldiers are most likely only conscripts. I know there are some well trained troops, but I think both sides have a lot of poorly trained conscripts.

How we going to follow this new thread as well as the existing one? It would be more convenient imho to keep it as one thread