Thailand to talk to UNESCO about the temple row
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has announced that Thailand’s heritage committee will ask UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to reconsider a decision giving control of the temple and its surroundings to Cambodia. The decision has led to clashes between Thai and Cambodia security guards with seven soldiers killed in the past year.
The prime minister is sending Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Taugsuban to Cambodia in a bid to calm rising tensions on the disputed border. The Thai government wants joint development and supervision of the Hindu Temple perched on an escarpment that forms a natural border between Thailand and Cambodia and could one day be a lucrative tourist site.
Nationalist passions were aroused in both countries last year when the temple and its ownership were dragged into politics. Cambodian foreign minister Hor Namhong told media that his country was ready to fend of any attacks from Thailand militarily or diplomatically or through legal action at the international court.
The international court of justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962 but didn’t determine the ownership of 1.8 square miles lying next to the ruins leaving considerable scope for disagreement.
Joint management of the Khao Phra Viharn area seems to be the only way to solve the serious dispute, how ever that will require drawn out negotiations by experts with strong public participation.