23:39
Reporter
Thailand denied accusations that its soldiers used toxic gas against Cambodian troops in the deadliest fighting along their disputed border since tensions flared up three years ago.
Battles that began April 22 have killed five Thais and six Cambodians, according to army officials and press reports, ending two months of peace since the United Nations Security Council urged a permanent cease-fire on Feb. 14. Thai soldiers used “heavy guns loaded with poisonous gas” in yesterday’s fighting, Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“The Cambodians are really incredible to make up a story like that,” Veerachon Sukondhadhpatipak, the Thai army’s deputy spokesman, said by phone from Bangkok. “They are always making up stories to make us look bad.”
The renewed fighting comes as Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva prepares to call an election in early May. Thailand’s military is provoking the clashes to boost its popularity in the event it stages another coup, Cambodian government Phay Siphan said by phone from Phnom Penh, the capital.
“The Thai military is moving against us so they can say they are protecting Thai land and earn credibility from their people,” he said. “We are a small country and we can’t afford to take Thai land. We need peace to build our country.”
The Southeast Asian neighbors have blamed each other for provoking the battles, which occurred several hundred kilometers west of border clashes in February near Preah Vihear temple, a UN World Heritage site. Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said Thai troops were aiming to take over disputed temples, while Abhisit said Thailand wouldn’t invade its neighbors and was retaliating from Cambodian aggression.
‘International Rules’
“Our movements are in line with international rules,” Abhisit said today in a weekly televised address. “In our retaliation, we attack only military points. Our retaliation will be appropriate with Cambodian attacks.”
Five Thai soldiers have died in two days of fighting, Veerachon said. The battles have also killed six Cambodian troops, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, citing Suos Sothea, a commander with an artillery unit on the border.
The clashes reignite tensions along the border that escalated in 2008 after Thailand opposed Cambodia’s efforts to list Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site. Fighting in February claimed at least 10 lives and displaced 30,000 people.
Thailand has refused to accept border observers from Indonesia, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
International Arena
“The recent clash is another attempt by Cambodia to elevate the bilateral dispute to international arena,” Abhisit said today.
Cambodia accused Thailand of using cluster munitions during fighting in February, a charge verified by U.K.-based Cluster Munition Coalition, which is pushing for an international ban on the weapons that scatter ammunition over a large area upon detonation. Thailand and Cambodia aren’t among the 108 countries that have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled in a 9-3 vote that Cambodia had sovereignty over Preah Vihear. It didn’t rule on the land surrounding the temple, and the two countries have yet to reconcile 10,422 square miles (26,993 square kilometers) of disputed waters in the Gulf of Thailand that may contain oil and gas reserves.
Thailand’s $264 billion economy is more than 26 times the size of Cambodia’s. The Cambodian army spent $191 million in 2009, compared with $4.9 billion for the military in Thailand, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
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