4/28/2011
(RTTNews) - The week-old clashes between security forces along the Thai-Cambodian border ended on Thursday after military commanders from both sides agreed to a ceasefire during a morning meeting.
Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan said it had also been agreed to re-open a border point near two disputed ancient Hindu temples to allow displaced people to return home and to their villages.
The ceasefire requires local commanders from both sides to meet regularly to avoid misunderstanding.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromyathe says the conflict had displaced 50,000 Thai citizens living near the border with Cambodia, while Cambodia said on Wednesday that more than 31,000 of its citizens had fled the border region.
Addressing a news conference after talks with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa in Jakarta on Thursday, Kasit said Thailand was committed to resolving the border dispute with Cambodia peacefully. He welcomed observers from Indonesia, as the current chair of ASEAN, to monitor the ceasefire.
Thailand Defense Minister canceled his planned trip to Cambodia for ceasefire talks on Wednesday in protest against comments in Cambodian media that the Thai government agreed to talks as it was losing the border clash.
Thai, Cambodian border forces have been engaged in renewed clashes since Friday over the ownership of a 4.6-square-kilometer territory around the Preah Vihear temple.
Fifteen soldiers have been killed and more than 60 wounded in exchange of fire and artillery at the disputed sites around the 11th-century Hindu temple forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes. The fighting ended after a brief morning clash on Thursday.
Cambodia and Thailand share an 800-kilometer land border. Their claims over the cliff-top Preah Vihear temple, which is on the Cambodian side of a vague boundary, has been a cause for a long-standing feud between the South East Asian neighbors.
Both sides built up military forces along the border when the shrine was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in July 2008, making it a regular flashpoint between the two nations.
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