Cambodian and Thailand have agreed to arrange a second-phase troop redeployment at the disputed border area near the Preah Vihear Temple in the eponymous province of Cambodia, foreign minister Hor Namhong said here on Wednesday.
Both sides will convene a meeting between Head of the Cambodian Temporary Coordinating Task Force and Head of the Thai Regional Border Committee (RBC) On Aug. 29 in Cambodia to discuss the second-phase of redeployment, said Hor, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, who just returned home from Thailand after having a meeting with his Thai counterpart Tej Bunnag to end the 37-day-long military standoff at the two countries' border area.
Both troops started to face off there on July 15 and the personnel gradually accumulated to over a thousand in the coming weeks. However, major evacuation occurred on Aug. 16 and there are now only dozens of officers and soldiers left near the area.
In addition, Hor said Wednesday at the airport, both ministers also agreed to recommend to their governments that the next meeting of legal experts and the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) be convened in early Oct. 2008 to discuss the issues related to the survey and demarcation of the relevant sectors under the term of reference and master plan of JBC.
On July 15, Thai troops went into the border area to fetch three trespassers who had intended to claim Thai sovereignty over the Preah Vihear Temple. The troops stationed there ever since, thus triggering the military stalemate.
On July 28, foreign ministers from Cambodia and Thailand held a meeting in Siem Reap province and agreed to mull the possibility of evacuating troops from the border.
On Aug. 3, Thai troops entered the Tamone Toch and Tamone Thom temples in neighboring Otdar Meanchey province of Cambodia, thus aggravating the standoff.
On Aug. 16, most of the troops at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda and within the surrounding area of the Preah Vihear Temple were evacuated according to both sides' agreement.
The Preah Vihear Temple straddles the Cambodian-Thai border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice decided that the 11-century temple and the land around belongs to Cambodia, which rankled the Thais and has led to continuous disputes.
Source:Xinhua
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