Thai, Cambodian Clashes Resume Amid Call for U.N. to End Fighting
Cambodia called for U.N. peacekeepers to help end the fighting along its tense border with Thailand, where artillery fire echoed for a fourth day Monday near an 11th century temple classified as a World Heritage Site.
The crumbling stone temple, several hundred feet (meters) from Thailand's eastern border with Cambodia, has fueled nationalism on both sides of the disputed frontier for decades and conflict over it has sparked sporadic, brief battles in recent years. However, sustained fighting has been rare.
A one-hour clash Monday morning stopped after both sides agreed to an unofficial cease-fire. Fighting has erupted daily since Friday, leaving at least five dead.
Cambodian officials say a Thai artillery barrage Sunday collapsed part of "a wing" at the Preah Vihear temple, a U.N. World Heritage site, but Thai officials have dismissed that account as propaganda. The extent of damage was unknown because it remained too dangerous to approach the temple, Cambodian authorities said.
Both sides blame the other for instigating each day's clashes, which have shattered a series of cease-fire agreements.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned that the fighting poses a threat to regional stability. He said the latest clash was sparked after Thai soldiers crossed the border in search of a slain comrade, and Cambodians opened fire to repel them. He spoke Monday during a university graduation ceremony in the capital, Phnom Penh, reiterating calls from a day earlier for U.N. intervention to halt the fighting.
"We need the United Nations to send forces here and create a buffer zone to guarantee that there is no more fighting," Hun Sen said, adding that the situation kept deteriorating and the two sides were no longer listening to each other.
Hun Sen has sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council calling for an emergency meeting to help end the fighting.
Thailand's Foreign Ministry sent its own letter to the Security Council on Monday to formally protest the "repeated and unprovoked armed attacks by Cambodian troops." In the past Thailand has ruled out foreign involvement in its dispute with Cambodia.
Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan said skirmishes began again early Monday after halting around midnight. There was no immediate comment from Thai authorities, but an Associated Press reporter in the area said the sound of gunfire and artillery could be heard.
Late Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply concerned" by the fighting and urged both sides "to exercise maximum restraint," his spokesperson said in a statement.
Singapore's Foreign Ministry voiced its concern in a statement Monday and called for the two neighbors to negotiate for their own sake and "the broader interests of ASEAN."(AP)
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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