Thai FM: Cambodia will register Preah Vihear temple only, prepare new map
MCOT English news 24 May 2008 16:47:36
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.
To get accross, the protesters had placed wooden planks over barbed wire on the border. They were vowing to reclaim the temple, that has been handed over to Cambodia by the World Court, in a 1962 ruling.
Shortly before the incident, Thailand’s foreign minister resigned over the temple row.
In two days, Noppadon Pattama was the second cabinet member to resign, which increased pressure on the government of Samak Sundaravej, the Thai prime minister, who was installed just five months ago.
Noppadon Pattama has been accused by Democratic Party politicians of supporting Cambodia on the issue of the temple, which is located on land claimed by both countries as their own.
Last week, World Heritage status has been granted to the temple by the UN cultural organisation, Unesco.
However, Thailand’s constitutional court ruled, on the same day, that when he endorsed Cambodia’s Unesco application without first consulting the Thai parliament on the matter, Mr Noppadon acted unconstitutionally.
Thailand’s own claim to land near the temple is undermined by the endorsement, said critics.
The 11th-century Preah Vihear has been at the centre of a long-running territorial dispute because though the main compound lies inside Cambodia, its most accessible entrance is at the foot of a mountain in Thailand.
