BANGKOK, May 24 (TNA) -- Cambodia has agreed to register only the ancient Preah Vihear temple ruins themselves as a UNESCO World Heritage site, leaving the surrounding area disputed by Thailand and Cambodia unresolved, and to prepare a new map showing the ruins for consideration by UNESCO and Thailand, Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said Saturday.
Mr. Noppadon, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officials met in Paris for 10 hours on Thursday. The Thai foreign minister told a press conference that the meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere.
The Cambodian government agreed to limit its registration of the Preah Vihear temple only as a World Heritage site, and would submit new map of temple premises to the Thai government and UNESCO for consideration on June 6.
Thailand supports Cambodia in registering the ancient temple ruins as a World Heritage site, Mr. Noppadon said, indicating that he would forward the outcome of the meeting to Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and related government agencies as soon as possible .
Agreements reached at the meeting were contained in a joint communiqué and must be approved first by both the Thai and Cambodian governments, he said.
The revised map, prepared by the Phnom Penh government and submitted when it applied for registering Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site last year, must be studied again whether it was appropriate, said Mr. Noppadon.
Thailand earlier held that the dispute over the disputed 4.6 sq. km. area adjoining the temple ruins has yet to be settled.
Historically, Thailand and Cambodia have both laid claim to the temple, which sits astride the border in Thailand's Si Sa Ket, but easy access is only through Thailand.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia.
Mr. Noppadon, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officials met in Paris for 10 hours on Thursday. The Thai foreign minister told a press conference that the meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere.
The Cambodian government agreed to limit its registration of the Preah Vihear temple only as a World Heritage site, and would submit new map of temple premises to the Thai government and UNESCO for consideration on June 6.
Thailand supports Cambodia in registering the ancient temple ruins as a World Heritage site, Mr. Noppadon said, indicating that he would forward the outcome of the meeting to Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and related government agencies as soon as possible .
Agreements reached at the meeting were contained in a joint communiqué and must be approved first by both the Thai and Cambodian governments, he said.
The revised map, prepared by the Phnom Penh government and submitted when it applied for registering Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site last year, must be studied again whether it was appropriate, said Mr. Noppadon.
Thailand earlier held that the dispute over the disputed 4.6 sq. km. area adjoining the temple ruins has yet to be settled.
Historically, Thailand and Cambodia have both laid claim to the temple, which sits astride the border in Thailand's Si Sa Ket, but easy access is only through Thailand.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia.
24-May-2008
By Bangkok Post:
Thailand and Cambodia have broken a deadlock in their dispute over Preah Vihear after Phnom Penh agreed to only nominate the famous Hindu-style temple, and not territory around it, to Unesco as a world heritage candidate.
The decision, reached during a Unesco-brokered meeting in Paris on Thursday, puts an end to a dispute involving the 4.6-square-kilometre border area near the temple over which sovereignty has not been settled.
Cambodia's previous proposal submitted to Unesco included disputed land between Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district and Preah Vihear province as areas to be listed as a World Heritage Site.
Thailand protested because it was worried that if Unesco approved the proposal, the entire area on which sovereignty was not yet settled would be implicitly recognised as Cambodian soil.
Unesco - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation - rejected the Cambodian proposal and called for the two countries to settle the issue first before it would consider whether the temple should be given world heritage status.
Cambodia agreed to the changes in exchange for Thailand's backing of the new proposal, said Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama, who led the Thai delegation in talks with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and his team.
Unesco assistant director-general for culture Francoise Riviere represented the UN agency.
Mr Noppadon called the outcome of the Paris meeting a ''success and an important step forward'' after the talks were held in an amiable atmosphere.
Asked why the Cambodian government had changed its stance, he said both governments had a cordial working relationship.
The next step is for Cambodia to draw up a new map, proposing only Preah Vihear be named a World Heritage Site, and send it to Thailand and Unesco by June 6, as promised by Mr Sok An, he said.
A Foreign Ministry official said the new map was an important step, ensuring Thailand that Cambodia will not include an area awaiting clear demarcation.
If the ministry agrees to the new map, it will forward it to the National Security Council and then to cabinet for approval. Cambodia will then send it to Unesco to apply for heritage listing. The UN agency will make a decision in late June.
Mr Noppadon promised Thailand would not delay seeking cabinet approval if the ministry agrees to the new map.
He denied rumours of a disagreement between the ministry and the armed forces over Preah Vihear, adding that Niphat Thonglek, director-general of the Border Affairs Department under the Supreme Command, did not join his Paris delegation because he had been in Russia with the National Defence College of Thailand.
Lt-Gen Niphat previously intended to go to Paris as part of the Thai team.
A senior armed forces spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday about the Preah Vihear compromise.
But department deputy director-general Maj-Gen Supot Thammarongrak said on Friday that the armed forces would be satisfied if Phnom Penh included only Preah Vihear in the proposal to Unesco.
Adul Wichiencharoen, chairman of the National Committee on the Convention for the Protection of World Culture and Natural Heritage, was not impressed with the outcome of the Paris meeting.
Mr Adul said it was ''bad news'' for Thailand because the country would gain no benefit from seeing Preah Vihear temple become a World Heritage Site.
The border near Preah Vihear which has not been demarcated will be settled by the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission, the Foreign Ministry said.
The decision, reached during a Unesco-brokered meeting in Paris on Thursday, puts an end to a dispute involving the 4.6-square-kilometre border area near the temple over which sovereignty has not been settled.
Cambodia's previous proposal submitted to Unesco included disputed land between Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district and Preah Vihear province as areas to be listed as a World Heritage Site.
Thailand protested because it was worried that if Unesco approved the proposal, the entire area on which sovereignty was not yet settled would be implicitly recognised as Cambodian soil.
Unesco - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation - rejected the Cambodian proposal and called for the two countries to settle the issue first before it would consider whether the temple should be given world heritage status.
Cambodia agreed to the changes in exchange for Thailand's backing of the new proposal, said Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama, who led the Thai delegation in talks with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and his team.
Unesco assistant director-general for culture Francoise Riviere represented the UN agency.
Mr Noppadon called the outcome of the Paris meeting a ''success and an important step forward'' after the talks were held in an amiable atmosphere.
Asked why the Cambodian government had changed its stance, he said both governments had a cordial working relationship.
The next step is for Cambodia to draw up a new map, proposing only Preah Vihear be named a World Heritage Site, and send it to Thailand and Unesco by June 6, as promised by Mr Sok An, he said.
A Foreign Ministry official said the new map was an important step, ensuring Thailand that Cambodia will not include an area awaiting clear demarcation.
If the ministry agrees to the new map, it will forward it to the National Security Council and then to cabinet for approval. Cambodia will then send it to Unesco to apply for heritage listing. The UN agency will make a decision in late June.
Mr Noppadon promised Thailand would not delay seeking cabinet approval if the ministry agrees to the new map.
He denied rumours of a disagreement between the ministry and the armed forces over Preah Vihear, adding that Niphat Thonglek, director-general of the Border Affairs Department under the Supreme Command, did not join his Paris delegation because he had been in Russia with the National Defence College of Thailand.
Lt-Gen Niphat previously intended to go to Paris as part of the Thai team.
A senior armed forces spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday about the Preah Vihear compromise.
But department deputy director-general Maj-Gen Supot Thammarongrak said on Friday that the armed forces would be satisfied if Phnom Penh included only Preah Vihear in the proposal to Unesco.
Adul Wichiencharoen, chairman of the National Committee on the Convention for the Protection of World Culture and Natural Heritage, was not impressed with the outcome of the Paris meeting.
Mr Adul said it was ''bad news'' for Thailand because the country would gain no benefit from seeing Preah Vihear temple become a World Heritage Site.
The border near Preah Vihear which has not been demarcated will be settled by the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission, the Foreign Ministry said.
Thursday, 22 May 2008
By Philippa Fogarty
BBC News, Bangkok
The view from the top of Preah Vihear temple is well worth the steamy, uphill trek to get there.
Stone steps and paths lead visitors through a series of ancient entranceways to the carved sanctuary high in the Dangrek mountain range.
Look one way and a Thai flag flies on a distant rocky outcrop. Turn the other way and the cliffs fall sharply down to the blue-green Cambodian jungle below.
At the top, the only sound is of cicadas and dragonflies. Lower down, in a market with a frontier feel to it, vendors sell gems and rare animal parts.
Things were good these days, one vendor said. The temple was open and visitors were coming. "The war is over," he smiled.
But the temple has not always been so accessible, or so peaceful.
Bullet holes scar one stone wall, while to the side of another stands a rusting artillery gun. Further down, both Cambodian and Thai guards maintain a low-key presence.
These are reminders that bitter battles have dominated Preah Vihear's recent history - and that one of them is still being fought today.
Court ruling
Preah Vihear was built mainly in the 11th and 12th centuries when the Khmer empire was at its height, its construction ordered by the kings that commissioned the temples of Angkor.
According to Sanskrit inscriptions, it was called Sri Sikharisvara, meaningGlorious Lord of the Mountain - a dedication to the Hindu god Shiva.
It sits on a mountain-top promontory, facing north towards Thailand. The main access comes from the Thai side, because of the sheer cliffs behind it.
Cambodian ownership of the temple was first formally established in boundary settlements between its colonial ruler, France, and Siam, as Thailand was then known, a century ago.
A joint commission in 1904 set the border between the two countries atop the Dangrek mountain range - but its subsequent map, in 1907, put Preah Vihear in Cambodia.
In 1954, shortly after Cambodia achieved independence, Thai forces occupied the temple. In response, Cambodia took its case to the international courts.
Thai authorities argued that as the border was supposed to follow the watershed line of the mountains, the temple was theirs. They had not challenged the map, they said, because their access to the site gave them de facto control over it.
But the court ruled against Thailand and in 1962, the Thai troops withdrew.
More trouble was in store for Preah Vihear as conflict engulfed Cambodia.
With its hill-top location, it was the last place to fall to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. Four years later, when a Vietnamese invasion swept the Maoist regime from power, it was one of the strongholds to which the Khmer Rouge retreated.
Years of fighting followed. Government forces managed to reopen the temple briefly in 1992, but Khmer Rouge guerrillas soon seized it back. Scores of fighters holed up in reinforced bunkers and held the complex for six more years.
But the Khmer Rouge was on its last legs, its leaders dead or defected.
In December 1998 the commander of the last group of fighters met negotiators at the temple to agree a historic surrender - one that ended three long decades of civil war.
Unesco row
Preah Vihear could finally be reopened. Landmines were cleared and paths made safe.
Visitors began to return, market traders set up stalls and there was talk of much-needed restoration work.
But the sovereignty row lingered on. In late 2001, Thai troops blocked access for a more than a year in a row over polluted water at the site.
Since then, it has stayed open, but the issue remains extremely sensitive - as Cambodia's application to have Preah Vihear listed as the country's second Unesco World Heritage site has shown.
"Becoming a Unesco World Heritage Site would bring international recognition to the Preah Vihear temple, especially the recognition of its universal value," says Ty Yao, president of Cambodia's National Authority for Preah Vihear.
The added prestige would bring technical assistance from Unesco and other donors, he says, while the listing would formalise Cambodia's obligations in terms of managing and maintaining the site.
It could also be a boon to the tourism industry, Cambodia's second biggest foreign currency earner, particularly given work to improve access from inside Cambodia.
But there is a problem. Although the international courts settled the row over the temple itself, the surrounding land remains the subject of overlapping territorial claims.
Thailand says it would not object if Cambodia applied to list the temple area only. But it says Cambodia has, in its submission to Unesco, included disputed territory within the listed zone.
It wants both countries to jointly manage the disputed areas until the border is agreed - and last month, sent a formal protest to Cambodia accusing it of deploying troops and mine clearers in a mutually-claimed area.
Senior officials from the two countries are due to meet at Unesco headquarters in Paris today in a bid to iron out the dispute.
"We would like to reach a win-win agreement," The Bangkok Post quoted Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama as saying ahead of the meeting. "We will try to be more flexible."
Preah Vihear is not about to fall down - it has already survived a great deal.
It is a staggeringly beautiful reminder of the area's turbulent past. Perhaps soon it will be known only for this beauty, rather than for the battles fought over it for so many decades.
By Philippa Fogarty
BBC News, Bangkok
The view from the top of Preah Vihear temple is well worth the steamy, uphill trek to get there.
Stone steps and paths lead visitors through a series of ancient entranceways to the carved sanctuary high in the Dangrek mountain range.
Look one way and a Thai flag flies on a distant rocky outcrop. Turn the other way and the cliffs fall sharply down to the blue-green Cambodian jungle below.
At the top, the only sound is of cicadas and dragonflies. Lower down, in a market with a frontier feel to it, vendors sell gems and rare animal parts.
Things were good these days, one vendor said. The temple was open and visitors were coming. "The war is over," he smiled.
But the temple has not always been so accessible, or so peaceful.
Bullet holes scar one stone wall, while to the side of another stands a rusting artillery gun. Further down, both Cambodian and Thai guards maintain a low-key presence.
These are reminders that bitter battles have dominated Preah Vihear's recent history - and that one of them is still being fought today.
Court ruling
Preah Vihear was built mainly in the 11th and 12th centuries when the Khmer empire was at its height, its construction ordered by the kings that commissioned the temples of Angkor.
According to Sanskrit inscriptions, it was called Sri Sikharisvara, meaningGlorious Lord of the Mountain - a dedication to the Hindu god Shiva.
It sits on a mountain-top promontory, facing north towards Thailand. The main access comes from the Thai side, because of the sheer cliffs behind it.
Cambodian ownership of the temple was first formally established in boundary settlements between its colonial ruler, France, and Siam, as Thailand was then known, a century ago.
A joint commission in 1904 set the border between the two countries atop the Dangrek mountain range - but its subsequent map, in 1907, put Preah Vihear in Cambodia.
In 1954, shortly after Cambodia achieved independence, Thai forces occupied the temple. In response, Cambodia took its case to the international courts.
Thai authorities argued that as the border was supposed to follow the watershed line of the mountains, the temple was theirs. They had not challenged the map, they said, because their access to the site gave them de facto control over it.
But the court ruled against Thailand and in 1962, the Thai troops withdrew.
More trouble was in store for Preah Vihear as conflict engulfed Cambodia.
With its hill-top location, it was the last place to fall to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. Four years later, when a Vietnamese invasion swept the Maoist regime from power, it was one of the strongholds to which the Khmer Rouge retreated.
Years of fighting followed. Government forces managed to reopen the temple briefly in 1992, but Khmer Rouge guerrillas soon seized it back. Scores of fighters holed up in reinforced bunkers and held the complex for six more years.
But the Khmer Rouge was on its last legs, its leaders dead or defected.
In December 1998 the commander of the last group of fighters met negotiators at the temple to agree a historic surrender - one that ended three long decades of civil war.
Unesco row
Preah Vihear could finally be reopened. Landmines were cleared and paths made safe.
Visitors began to return, market traders set up stalls and there was talk of much-needed restoration work.
But the sovereignty row lingered on. In late 2001, Thai troops blocked access for a more than a year in a row over polluted water at the site.
Since then, it has stayed open, but the issue remains extremely sensitive - as Cambodia's application to have Preah Vihear listed as the country's second Unesco World Heritage site has shown.
"Becoming a Unesco World Heritage Site would bring international recognition to the Preah Vihear temple, especially the recognition of its universal value," says Ty Yao, president of Cambodia's National Authority for Preah Vihear.
The added prestige would bring technical assistance from Unesco and other donors, he says, while the listing would formalise Cambodia's obligations in terms of managing and maintaining the site.
It could also be a boon to the tourism industry, Cambodia's second biggest foreign currency earner, particularly given work to improve access from inside Cambodia.
But there is a problem. Although the international courts settled the row over the temple itself, the surrounding land remains the subject of overlapping territorial claims.
Thailand says it would not object if Cambodia applied to list the temple area only. But it says Cambodia has, in its submission to Unesco, included disputed territory within the listed zone.
It wants both countries to jointly manage the disputed areas until the border is agreed - and last month, sent a formal protest to Cambodia accusing it of deploying troops and mine clearers in a mutually-claimed area.
Senior officials from the two countries are due to meet at Unesco headquarters in Paris today in a bid to iron out the dispute.
"We would like to reach a win-win agreement," The Bangkok Post quoted Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama as saying ahead of the meeting. "We will try to be more flexible."
Preah Vihear is not about to fall down - it has already survived a great deal.
It is a staggeringly beautiful reminder of the area's turbulent past. Perhaps soon it will be known only for this beauty, rather than for the battles fought over it for so many decades.
1 comment:
Preah Vihear is hot spot in bilateral relations between Cambodia and Thailand. Cambodia has been under siege and threat from her neigbors (Vietnama and Thailand) since 14th century after the collapse of Khmer Empire. When could we free from the influences from Vietnam and Thailand? The young Cambodians are the future of Cambodia!
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