Military changes around Preah Vihear
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Thailand and Cambodia will be making changes to their military presence around the Preah Vihear Temple.
“The adjustments will start on Wednesday,” Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Bahn said yesterday, after emerging from an hour-long meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra and Thai Defence Minister Sukampol Suwannathat.
According to Sukampol, the armed forces would be given freedom to decide what the adjustments on the Thai side should be.
“We are trying to avoid any clash [along the border],” he said.
Yingluck added that Thai-Cambodian ties were improving and that Thailand had already opened border checkpoints at Ubon Ratchathani and Sa Kaew.
“We have also discussed rail and road linkages,” Hun Sen said.
Separately, Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong told the press yesterday: “We will withdraw some 486 troops from the PDZ [Provisional Demilitarised Zone] next week to abide by the International Court of Justice [ICJ] order.”
On July 18 last year, the ICJ ordered Cambodia and Thailand to withdraw military personnel from the 17.3 square kilometre PDZ and refrain from any armed activity at that zone.
He said this pullout is a sign to show the world that Cambodia is willing to comply with the World Court’s order.
