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UN to meet over temple row

Jul 24 2008

UN to meet over temple row

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By Agencies

Tensions remain high around the disputed Preah Vihear temple [AFP]
The United Nations Security Council is to convene a special session to try to prevent a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia from escalating into a military conflict, diplomats have said.

The special session will probably be held next week, after Cambodia appealed to the UN for help and warned that war appeared imminent.

"We are worried by the situation and by the potential tension due to the situation raising around the temple," Jean-Maurice Ripert, the French ambassador to the UN, told reporters on Wednesday.

"We are in charge of peace and security... So, if we can diffuse the tensions and if we can prevent any development that could be dramatic for the region and for peace and security, we will do it and we think we have to do it."

On Tuesday the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) declined a Cambodian request to help resolve the dispute after Thailand objected.

The conflict focuses on an area of land of just over 5 sq km surrounding the 11th century Khmer era Preah Vihear temple.

Preah Vihear temple

The 11th-century temple was built in the reign of King Suryvarman I, during the 600-year Khmer empire.

Built to honour the Hindu god Shiva, the temple has withstood decades of war.

In 1998, hundreds of Khmer Rouge guerrillas made their final surrender at the temple.

Unesco deemed the temple a World Heritage site for its location, rare architecture, religious function and carved stone ornaments.

Ownership of the temple itself was awarded to Cambodia by an international court in 1962, but the ownership of the surrounding land has remained in dispute.

The recent listing of the temple as a UN World Heritage site has revived nationalist tensions in Thailand and Cambodia.

In Thailand critics of the country's prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, say the government's backing of Cambodia's application for World Heritage status undercut Thailand's claim to land around the temple.

In Cambodia meanwhile, with elections due on July 27, the dispute has become a matter of national pride.

Riot police equipped with water canon have been deployed outside the Thai embassy in the Cambodian capital in case rising nationalist fervour leads to violence.

The two sides have between them deployed about 4,000 troops in the area surrounding the Preah Vihear temple.

Both countries have said they will not resort to force, but with nerves on edge diplomats fear that even the smallest misunderstanding could spark a deadly exchange.

On Monday talks between Thai and Cambodian defence officials in Bangkok broke down without any agreement.