Talks over temple hit dead end

The countries met twice for talks on Wednesday and Thursday at a special meeting organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in Paris but the talks failed to yield results.

Thailand was able to convince Unesco to postpone consideration by Unesco's World Heritage Committee (WHC) of the issue during the WHC meeting on June 19-29 until border demarcation work is completed. However, it failed to do the same with Cambodia.

Cambodia still insists on its right to table the management plan at the meeting.

The Thai delegation was headed by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti, while the Cambodian delegation was led by Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.

However, Thailand is still optimistic that the issue is not likely to be considered at the WHC meeting even though Cambodia will table it, according to the report by the state-funded ThaiPBS television station, which covered the meeting in Paris.

The report said Irina Bokova, director-general of Unesco, supported Thailand's stance as she is certain the countries' conflict will escalate if the meeting debates Cambodia's proposal.

Acting prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also said yesterday that Unesco backed Thailand's stance.

Mr Suwit admitted that a conclusion on whether to put off consideration of Cambodia's management plan for the disputed area around the Preah Vihear temple has not yet been reached, as Cambodia still wanted Thailand to correct some information that appeared in the document in which Thailand asked to have Cambodia's management plan postponed. But he did not go into detail about the corrections.

Mr Abhisit said the government will ask the WHC meeting next month to review all issues related to the world heritage listing of Preah Vihear.

He said yesterday that the previous Thai government left Thailand at a disadvantage as it let Cambodia unilaterally have the Preah Vihear temple listed.

His government is trying to get this disadvantage reversed by convincing the parties concerned that the unilateral listing cannot happen because Thailand and Cambodia still have their boundary dispute there.

Mr Abhisit said the government would tell the WHC that the issue had led only to clashes and the panel should review all of the relevant issues and try to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties.

Mr Abhisit said there should be no reason for further clashes between Thailand and Cambodia.

But if Cambodia shoots first, Thailand will have to defend itself and tell the world that Thailand was not causing the problem.

He also pointed out that Thailand would have to prepare a defence in other forums as Cambodia had filed a complaint about the Preah Vihear temple issue with the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Cambodia was claiming that bilateral negotiation mechanisms including their General Border Committee (GBC) could not function.

Mr Abhisit dismissed the claim and said bilateral mechanisms still worked and that Indonesia, the Asean chairman this year, could confirm as much.

He said Thailand would also tell the ICJ that bilateral mechanisms could still work and the court would not need to handle Thai-Cambodian issues.Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya last night led a delegation to the Hague in the Netherlands, where they will testify before the ICJ on Monday and Tuesday. Cambodian representatives will also testify.

The summons results from Cambodia's request for the court to explain its 1962 ruling on the ownership of the Preah Vihear temple and the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area around the temple, and to issue an injunction for Thai soldiers to leave the disputed areas.

The Foreign Ministry yesterday explained why Thailand must oppose Cambodia's request at the ICJ, saying national sovereignty was at stake.

It said that if Thailand let the court listen only to the Cambodian side, then the court might rule in favour of Cambodia, which would leave Thailand at a disadvantage.

It said that representatives of each country would have three hours to testify before the court on each day of the oral hearing session. The results of the hearing would be unveiled within three weeks.

After that, each country would have to send reports to the court over the next four to five months. The process of considering the matter normally takes two years.

Thai ambassador to the Hague Veerachai Palasai, who was former director-general of the Treaties and Legal Affairs Department, will lead the team to oppose Cambodia's request. Mr Veerachai used to be chief negotiator in talks over the disputed area when Cambodia asked Unesco's WHC to register it as a world heritage site three years ago.

Bangkok Post