Cambodian-Thai talks see deal but no timeframe on troop drawdown

Dec 22, 2011, 4:07 GMT

Phnom Penh - Cambodia and Thailand agreed to withdraw troops from a contested border area but had not fixed a timetable to do so, media reports said Thursday.

The neighbours agreed to implement a July ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague that ordered them to remove troops from an area near the 11th-century temple of Preah Vihear and allow Indonesian observers to monitor a ceasefire, the Phnom Penh Post newspaper said.

'Therefore, there should be no obstacle,' Cambodian Minister of Defence Tea Banh said at a meeting Wednesday in Phnom Penh, 'and I would like to confirm that the process will work with the participation of Indonesian, Cambodian and Thai observers.'

Tea Banh said a joint working group immediately would start working out the details of the troop withdrawal.

Thai Minister of Defence Yuthasak Sasiprapha said the two sides would draw down their forces 'as soon as possible' once Bangkok had approved the agreement.

Cambodia and Thailand have engaged in a number of deadly border clashes in recent years, most notably near Preah Vihear, which the International Court of Justice awarded to Cambodia in 1962.

Both sides claim a block of adjacent land near the temple that was not decided by the court ruling.

In September, Thailand's newly elected Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra agreed with her Cambodian counterpart, Hun Sen, to remove troops from the disputed zone.

The fighting, which took place under the previous Thai government, caused consternation at the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations group, of which both countries are members.

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