ASEAN ministers meet in Indonesia to discuss Thai-Cambodian row

Feb 22, 2011, 3:42 GMT

Jakarta - Foreign ministers from the Association of the South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) were to meet Tuesday in Indonesia to try to solve a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.

The informal meeting followed a call by the United Nations Security Council earlier this month for the bloc to meet to find a solution to the conflict over an 11-century Hindu temple on the border between Thailand and Cambodia.

ASEAN said the Security Council's call was unprecedented and 'a sign that the UN has faith in ASEAN to help its member states find amicable regional solutions to bilateral problems.'

'We have reasons to be optimistic,' ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said in a statement on the eve of the meeting, which was initiated by Indonesia as the current chair of 10-member ASEAN.

Surin's optimism was shared by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who would chair the meeting.

'There is a strong desire to settle differences through peaceful means as agreed by all ASEAN Member States under the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.'

The conflict over the Preah Vihear temple has claimed nine lives this month and displaced at least 25,000 people.

Thailand has sought to block Cambodian efforts to get the Security Council involved and keep the issue bilateral.

Thailand, however, agreed to have observers monitor a proposed permanent ceasefire in the disputed area, according to the online edition of Thailand's The Nation newspaper.

In move described by The Nation as a dramatic change of stance, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Sunday he would ask Indonesia to dispatch observers to 'embed' with Thai soldiers in disputed areas.

Cambodia proposed last week that it would ask ASEAN to send observers to ensure peace at the border and persuade Thailand to sign a permanent ceasefire pact.

Thailand has blamed the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for exacerbating the dispute with its 2008 decision to list Preah Vihear as a heritage site despite objections from Thailand.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia but stopped short of determining the border demarcation in the contested area.

Both countries claim a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land near the temple, which has been included under Cambodia's management plan for the World Heritage Committee.

Thailand wants UNESCO to delay any decision on the master plan at an upcoming meeting in Bahrain until the dispute is settled.

It is urging Cambodia to resume bilateral talks under the Joint Border Committee set up in 2000 to negotiate disputes over border demarcation.

Phnom Penh said it would not resume those talks, which have failed to solve the Preah Vihear conflict over the past decade.

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