UN Urges 'Permanent' Thai-Cambodia Ceasefire

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UN urges 'permanent' Thai-Cambodia ceasefire

by Pierre-Antoine Donnet

UNITED NATIONS, February 15, 2011 (AFP) - The UN Security Council called Monday for a "permanent ceasefire" between Thailand and Cambodia after a border dispute erupted into deadly clashes last week around a Hindu temple.

Council president Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil made the call after a closed door session with the foreign ministers of Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia, which has attempted to mediate the conflict.

"Members of the Security Council urge the parties to establish a permanent ceasefire and to implement it fully," she said.

Viotti said council members expressed "great concern" over the clashes and "called on the two sides to display maximum restraint and avoid any action that may aggravate the situation."

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong had gone into the meeting seeking a "permanent ceasefire" while Thailand, represented by Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, had insisted that the two neighbors settle the dispute among themselves.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegwa, who has tried to mediate the dispute, also participated in the Security Council session.

Viotti said the council supported the Indonesian mediation efforts.

"The idea is to work in synergy with the regional efforts -- and right now regional efforts are in full force -- and resolve the situation peacefully and through effective dialogue," she said.

The two Southeast Asian neighbors blame each other for the crisis, which left at least 10 dead, including seven Cambodians, in clashes with heavy weapons last week.

They are fighting over a border area that surrounds the Preah Vihear temple, an 11th century cliff-top ruin that belongs to Cambodia but whose designation as a World Heritage site touched off the ire of Thai nationalists.

While Cambodia won support for a permanent ceasefire, the council did not endorse its request to deploy UN peacekeepers into the contested area.

The Cambodian foreign minister accused Thailand of using internationally outlawed bombs and submunitions in the conflict.

"We deny all of that and we did not shoot first. It was a response," Kasit responded.

The Thai minister said there was no need for UN peacekeepers, and said that option had not been discussed in the Security Council session.

On Sunday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his foreign minister would insist that the crisis be settled on a bilateral basis without outside intervention.

Kasit said he had not met one-on-one with his Cambodian counterpart in New York, but that there would be an opportunity to do so during a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Jakarta on February 22.

"Obviously, this is a matter that will have to be resolved in final analysis bilaterally between the two sides but it does not mean there is not a space and a role for regional countries to play," Indonesia's foreign minister said.

Thailand has laid the blame for the crisis on UNESCO's decision to declare the temple ruins a World Heritage site even though the land around it is disputed.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, but both countries claim ownership of a 1.8-square-mile (4.6-square-kilometer) surrounding area.

"The war was not caused by the listing of the temple, but by Thailand's invasion of Cambodian territory," said Cambodian spokesman Koy Kuong. "They want not only the territory, but also the temple."

Spectacularly situated atop a 1,722-foot (525-meter) cliff, the temple is considered the finest example of ancient Khmer architecture outside of Cambodia's Angkor Wat.

Cambodia said a week ago that a wing of the temple had collapsed due to Thai artillery shelling.

But an AFP photographer who visited the site following four days of cross-border shelling in the area said Thursday that no major structural damage was visible, though shrapnel and artillery fire appeared to have scarred the temple.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-02-15

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DEADLY BORDER CLASHES

UN withholds involvement in temple conflict

New York - The UN Security Council Monday asked South-East Asian nations to work out a solution to the Thai-Cambodian conflict over the site of a centuries-old Hindu temple, in an apparent rebuff of demands for the UN to become directly involved.

The council gave support to 'active efforts' of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has scheduled a ministerial meeting later this month in Jakarta to seek a settlement, including a permanent ceasefire along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Some Security Council members had considered fresh Thai-Cambodian fighting near the 1,000-year-old Hindu Preah Vihear Temple a matter between the two countries and not an issue of international peace and security requiring its intervention. Both Thai and Cambodian foreign ministers, who appeared before the council in New York, agreed that ASEAN is the third party to mediate the conflict.

'The members of the UN Security Council expressed their grave concern about the recent armed clashes between Cambodia and Thailand,' Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the council president, said in a statement following the meeting.

Viotti said the council called on both sides to exercise 'maximum restraint and avoid any action that may aggravate the situation'.

'The members of the Security Council further urged the parties to establish a permanent ceasefire and to implement it fully and resolve the situation peacefully and through effective dialogue,' Viotti said.

She told reporters that the council meeting was aimed at supporting 'bilateral and regional mediation efforts' rather than involving the council in the conflict resolution.

'The idea is to work in synergy with regional efforts, and right now regional effort is in full force,' Viotti said.

She noted that Thai and Cambodian officials each showed maps to the council to defend their cases and the geographical circumstances that had led to the fighting.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters that the council meeting gave him 'much more optimism' than before he came to New York.

He said both Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong had 'loudly and clearly' voiced support for dialogue and a peaceful resolution during the closed-door meeting.

Natalegawa said there was 'clear support' by council members and the two parties for dialogue, a permanent ceasefire and the ASEAN role in the conflict. He said currently the ceasefire is holding.

'The issue here is to extract a clear commitment from Thailand and Cambodia for a peaceful resolution,' Natalegawa said, indicating that the ASEAN meeting would put pressure on the two countries to accept a resolution. He said Kasit and Hor had 'professed peaceful intent' before the council and that Jakarta should 'flesh it out'.

Kasit told reporters at UN headquarters that his country and Cambodia have 'so much in common' that they should resolve the conflict and move on. Thailand has provided development assistance to Cambodia and will continue to do so, he said.

'We did not shoot first - we responded,' Kasit said.

He denied that Thai troops had used cluster bombs against Cambodia.

But Hor Namhong accused Thailand of 'aggression,' saying that military experts had evidence that cluster munitions were used, in violation of an international convention banning the practise.

Hor, who last week sent a letter demanding Security Council intervention in the fighting, said after the meeting that ASEAN will be the third-party mediator in the conflict.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization designated the Preah Vihear Temple a World Heritage site in 2008. The bone of contention remains the 4.6-square-km plot of land near the site, which is claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, but said nothing about the land. UNESCO's decision to give international status to the temple in 2008 fuelled the dispute between the two countries.

-- The Nation 2011-02-15

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From Thaiintelligentnews

http://<URL Automatically Removed>/2011/02/15/breaking-thai-cambodia-conflict-uns-security-council-say-what-bilateral-or-multi-lateral/

Blog Note: If one follows the Thai press, like all of them-it is obviously pro-Thai to the maximum-as they say “The Truth is the first thing that gets killed in war.”

So the Thai press, like the Bangkok Post-says it right there that “UN calls for bilateral talks” meaning between Thailand and Cambodia. But then BBC, a global level media outfit, just reported that the UN Security Council told ASEAN to mediate the Thai and Cambodia talks.

So what is it, bilateral like the Thai press says or is it ASEAN mediation being multilateral?

And what now? Cambodia said it will not talk bilateral with Thailand and Thailand says it will only talk with Cambodia bilaterally.

To top it off, the Thai prime minister, Abhisit, said earlier, quote: “No outside mediation needed.”

And an ASEAN meeting is coming up.

Thai Intel guess it is time for some “Creative Spinning” at the next ASEAN meeting.

The following is from BBC:

The UN Security Council has urged a permanent ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand after deadly clashes in their disputed border area this month.

Four days of fighting left eight dead, displaced thousands and caused some damage to the World Heritage-listed Preah Vihear temple.

The council also backed mediation efforts by Asean, the regional grouping of south-east Asian nations.

The council’s president said there was “great concern” over the clashes.

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti was speaking after after closed-door talks with the foreign ministers of Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Thailand opposes UN mediation, saying it can settled by the two states.

But Cambodia has described itself as being at war with Thailand and has suggested the UN send peacekeepers to the disputed area.

The council, Ms Viotti said, “called on the two sides to display maximum restraint and avoid any action that may aggravate the situation”.

Indonesia, as the current president of Asean, has been leading mediation efforts.

In recent days the guns have fallen quiet, but the situation at the border between the two countries remains extremely tense, the BBC”s Rachel Harvey reports.

The two heavily armed militaries are ranged against each other across a 4.6-sq km (1130 acres) stretch of disputed land

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Statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand

Statement by His Excellency Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, at the United Nations Security Council, New York, 14 February 2011

February 15, 2011, 9:47 am

Madam President,

I would like to extend to you, on behalf of my delegation, our sincere congratulations on your assumption of the Presidency of the Security Council for the month of February 2011. I also wish to extend my good will to all friends in the Security Council.

Allow me to extend my delegation’s greetings to His Excellency Hor Namhong, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Cambodia, whom I have known well as an ASEAN colleague and have been working closely with for several years. My delegation’s greetings also go to my dear colleague His Excellency Marty Natalegawa, the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, who is presently the ASEAN Chair.

Madam President,

It is with a heavy heart that I have come here today to speak about Thailand and Cambodia, our neighbour and a fellow member of the ASEAN family. It is a sad irony that only in the morning of 4 February in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I had a very productive and cordial meeting with my Cambodian counterpart during the Thailand – Cambodia Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JC). I left that meeting believing in the bright future of our relations. It is also sad that two members of the ASEAN family have to come here to talk about their bilateral problem, despite the fact that ASEAN made a decision that such matter should best be addressed directly between the parties concerned. [MORE...}

Full Statemen and Source: http://www.mfa.go.th/web/35.php?id=26562

-- MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS