Talks fail to resolve temple dispute
Updated
High-level talks between Cambodian and Thailand aimed at resolving a dispute over an ancient temple have failed to produce a result.
The defence ministers of both countries met in Thailand and spent eight hours discussing the ownership of Preah Viheah temple, located on their shared border, but left without resolution. Meanwhile at the temple, hundreds of Thai and Cambodian soldiers mixed without incident, but remained heavily armed and on alert.
Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Professor Hang Soth from the Preah Viheah Authority; Sem Sokhoy, tour guide
(sounds of icoms in jungle)
COCHRANE: For almost a week Cambodian and Thai soldiers have been camped side by side in the jungle along a controversial border marked with razor wire and littered with landmines from decades of past conflicts. Mostly the atmosphere has been friendly, with troops chatting and posing together for photos, but there is also a sense that fighting could break out if the diplomatic dispute over the nearby temple escalates. A recent decision to list Preah Vihea temple as a World Heritage site has renewed a decades-old debate over who owns it. On two occasions, guns have been drawn when Thai soldiers entered a modern Buddhist temple just below the ruins of the 900-year old Preah Viheah, but no shots were fired.
Professor Hang Soth is the director general of the National Authority for Preah Viheah. He said the movement of Thai troops across Cambodia's border broke several agreements, including a 1962 decision at The Hague and a recent decision to recognize the temple as a World Heritage site. However, he said the Cambodian side would remain patient.
SOTH: No matter how long it takes, Cambodian government still calm, still use any new way to find peace, never want to make the conflict and no want to have fighting with each other.
COCHRANE: The dispute has stokes nationalism on both sides, with protests on the Thai side of the border by groups linked to the opposition party and a telethon-style fundraising concert in Phnom Penh. As the talks continued on Monday, a group of young tour guides arrived by truck from Siem Reap to distribute food and other gifts to the soldiers, carrying a large Cambodian flag past several small Thai camps along the border.
Sem Sokhoy was one of the tour guides.
SOKHOY: Because some people, their heart is Cambodian, so people whose heart is Cambodian want to take care the land of Cambodia from invaders.
COCHRANE: And what did you bring today?
SOKHOY: Today I brought many kinds of soy sauce, fish sauce, rice medicine, many many things from the people in Siem Reap.
COCHRANE: Professor Hang Soth from the Preah Viheah Authority said that the dispute will only help Cambodia's incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen to be reelected when the country goes to the polls on Sunday.
SOTH: Hun Sen becomes higher and higher because of this situation.
COCHRANE: While the relations between troops appear friendly and government officials are talking up a peaceful solution, both sides have brought in heavy weaponry and hundreds of troops. Professor Hang Soth says he will stay near the temple even if fighting does break out.
SOTH: He's not worry, because he's made a commitment [to] live in his culture, also die in his culture.
COCHRANE: Liam Cochrane for Radio Australia at Preah Viheah temple near the Cambodian-Thai border.
