Ministers meet in Indonesia over Thai-Cambodian dispute (1st Lead)

Feb 22, 2011, 8:10 GMT

Jakarta - Foreign ministers from the Association of the South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) met Tuesday in Indonesia to try to solve a deadly 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 Thai-Cambodian border.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, chairman of the meeting, said both sides in the dispute agreed to avoid another armed confrontation.

'There's a determination that this issue will be solved through negotiations,' Natalegawa said before the meeting. 'I think that's the road the two countries are taking.

But he warned that the conflict would not be resolved overnight.

'Don't expect this to be an event in which an instant solution will be found,' he said.

'But we would like to make it absolutely clear to all ASEAN member states that the option of conflict, the option of the use of force, is not meant to be on the table.'

The conflict over the Preah Vihear temple has claimed 10 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 a 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.

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 Bangkok's objections.

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