KI Media: “Cambodian officers gave their word, not Hun Sen [-Tawatchai Samutsakhon is spewing out lie foams from his mouth yet again!!!]” plus 24 more

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his son, an army commander, have broken a gentleman's agreement for a truce, leading to the latest border clash and damage to both Thailand and Cambodia.

Thai soldiers expected their Cambodian counterparts to honour the gentleman's agreement for a truce, so they trusted their counterparts and sustained many deaths and injuries from the unexpected opening of fire.

The Thai-Cambodian border seemed peaceful over the past two months, after the truce had been agreed by Thai soldiers led by army chief-of-staff Dapong Rattanasuwan and Cambodian soldiers led by Cambodian army deputy commander Hun Manet in Cambodian territory next to Chong Sa-ngam border pass in Phu Sing district of Thailand's Si Sa Ket province.

Thai and Cambodian soldiers coexisted in a friendly manner in the 4.6 square kilometre disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple.

They met, shared meals, played sports and enjoyed the Songkran water festival together. That together with the supposed credibility of the son of Hun Sen convinced Thai soldiers that Cambodia was honouring the truce.

However, a local source said there were signs leading to the latest clash. During the Songkran festival Lt Gen Hun Manet, in his capacity as the combat commander in the vicinity of the Preah Vihear temple, came to Preah Vihear province and Gen Kun Kim, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, travelled to areas near Ta Kwai and Ta Muen temples to inspect and promote local soldiers.

Cambodian soldiers conducted military exercises from late March to last week. They also made reinforcements but claimed the movements were only parts of such drills.

"It is surely the order of Hun Sen because he is upset with the Thai armed forces' refusal to welcome military observers from Indonesia and determination on bilateral approaches. [He] wants to escalate the issue internationally so he had to trigger fire to attract the UN and other countries to handle the issue," said Gen Tawatchai Samutsakhon, commander of Thailand's 2nd Army, who supervises defence affairs in the Northeast.

"I did not think Cambodian soldiers would break the promise. Although the truce was not signed, it was a gentleman's agreement."

He said Cambodian soldiers always opened fire first. He contacted a local Cambodian commander who said it was an order. Lt Gen Tawatchai said the order was known to have come from Hun Sen.

"The order of Hun Sen led to the deaths and injury of Cambodian soldiers and heavy damage of their weaponry as Thai soldiers responded equally. We are more precise and even ready to use Caesar [self-propelled] artillery," Lt Gen Tawatchai said.

He has also put his soldiers near the Preah Vihear temple in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket on standby as Cambodian soldiers removed the covers of their artillery and multi-barrel rocket launchers there.

"Regarding the situation at Preah Vihear, it depends on Hun Sen as to whether he wants it to expand to the area. It is up to him because we are only defensive and are fully ready," Lt Gen Tawatchai said.

"Don't worry. If [you] shoot at us, [we] will fire back with similar weapons. The Army chief has given a green light. Thai soldiers do not want a fight or a war but Cambodian soldiers started it. So, we must fight and react to protect Thai soldiers, sovereignty and Thai people.

"From now on, we will not believe in any promise or gentleman's agreement from Cambodian soldiers. Even on the first day of the clash, they told us by phone to stop firing our artillery but when we stopped, Cambodia resumed firing their artillery shells at us."

He also denied reports that Thai soldiers were captured by Cambodian troops.

Phnom Penh has reportedly removed soldiers and tanks from its Preah Vihear military base, next to the disputed main border area near Si Sa Ket province, to fortify its troops near the two temples at the Thai-Cambodian border in Surin's Phanom Dong Rak district, said army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd citing a late military report.

This showed Phnom Penh is focusing more on the overlapping border near Surin by first trying to seize Ta Kwai temple. Fortunately, Col Sansern said, Thai troops managed to control the situation, preventing its occupation.

A cause of the Ta Kwai clash, that erupted last Friday, is apparently Phnom Penh's failure to follow an agreement made with Thailand to make the area one where armed soldiers and land adaptation are prohibited, he said.

Thai military officers claimed Cambodian troops were building a bunker in the area and needed to warn them against the act. But when the officers approached them, the Cambodian soldiers opened fire at the officers, Col Sansern said.

"If we had not warned them before the confrontation, Cambodia would have seized the area as they did in the areas near Preah Vihear temple," he said.

"So letting problems occur today is better than seeing it turn chronic in the future."

The Cambodian approach to solve the border conflict at Preah Vihear is to take villagers, especially women and children, to settle in its military area so that "when something happens, it will use them to back its claims", Col Sansern said.

During the three days of clashes, Thai soldiers have been told to stick to necessary responses to the Cambodian attacks by gradually adopting soft to harsher strikes.

The army used rifles, machine guns and then cannons and kept trying to contact Cambodian military commanders for a ceasefire, Col Sansern said.

Defence spokesman Col Thanathip Sawangsaeng denied the allegation that Thai troops resorted to air strikes and chemical weapons.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also told the army to adopt a defensive approach when second army chief Lt Gen Thawatchai Samutsakhon sought permission to send five more battalions to the clash scene out of concerns over Cambodia's alleged attempt to occupy Ta Kwai and Ta Muen Thom temples, an army source said.

Col Sansern yesterday insisted Thailand wanted a permanent ceasefire and a solution to the border dispute through bilateral peace talks.

"We always honour Cambodia, but we also need to protect our land," he said.

"We hope Cambodia sees our sincerity and that we get together to solve the problem through bilateral talks. No one knows the problem better than the two countries."

Asked whether a third country can step in to help broker the talks, he said it depends on an agreement to be made between Bangkok and Phnom Penh on what should be an appropriate role of the third party.

Fresh clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops have reportedly left at least 11 people dead from both sides along the disputed Thailand-Cambodia border.

The current round of clashes began on Friday and both sides have been using long range heavy artillery, military commanders on both sides confirmed.

In his weekly television show, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that sporadic clashes have taken place with Cambodia.

"We have no intention to invade or attack anyone," and that it is a duty to protect the country's sovereignty, he said.

The last round of clashes between the two neighbors occurred in February when four days of fighting left eight soldiers and civilians dead.

Clashes between the two neighbors have erupted several times since 2008. Both have competing claims over small swaths of land along the border. Skirmishes erupted after Cambodia's 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple was given UN World Heritage status despite Thai objections.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called on both parties to implement an effective and verifiable ceasefire.

Ban said the dispute cannot be resolved by military means and both sides should engage in "serious dialogue."

"The secretary general calls on both sides to exercise maximum restraint and to take immediate measures to put in place for an effective and verifiable ceasefire," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

Meanwhile, thousands of villagers have been evacuated from their homes and are sheltering in camps on either side of the porous border.

The sound of gunfire along the Thai-Cambodia border on Sunday appeared to have fallen silent, at least for the moment, after an emphatic call by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for "immediate measures for an effective and verifiable ceasefire".

As on the preceding two days of intermittent fighting, Cambodia and Thailand blamed each other for starting Sunday's clash. However, even as their defence forces counted new casualties and as more civilians in the troubled areas were evacuated, the political focus shifted to the differences over ways to end the crisis.

In Bangkok, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Thailand "will not fall into Cambodia's trap of inflating the issue" of title to a few temples along their border and arguing that the competing claims could not be resolved bilaterally. However, the real issue, in his view, was that Thai sovereignty was at stake and direct talks with Cambodia were needed to address this.

Also seeking to dispel the impression that the Thai military was orchestrating this crisis for domestic political reasons, Mr. Abhisit said he was in constant communication with the defence leaders.

In Phnom Penh, the Foreign Ministry rejected what it described as Thailand's "slanderous and false allegation" that Cambodia was to blame for the starting the current round of hostilities. The only way forward was to allow the deployment of Indonesian military observers along the border between Thailand and Cambodia.

However, Thailand had not yet accepted the draft terms for such a deployment, although the three countries had agreed, several weeks ago, that the Indonesian observers could help prevent clashes, the Cambodian Foreign Ministry said.

King of Cambodia at long last replied on Friday ti his wedding invitation.

He stated that he was too busy to come.

A spokesman at the Cambodian Embassy in London said: "He can't come as he has a very tight schedule. He has another important engagement."

However, the spokesman would not reveal any further information or details when asked.

King of Cambodia, Norodom Silhamond, 57, was the only royal who refused to attend the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

HARTFORD — Watkinson School teacher Chris Brown, of Canton, danced with members of the Cambodian dance troupe The Children of Bassac in its premiere performance in Connecticut, April 17 and 18. The group, an emerging traditional Cambodian Dance group that has been supported by Cambodian Living Arts since 2003, gave a sold-out performance to the public April 17, and Brown danced with them in a performance just for the students and staff of Watkinson April 18. The tour featured ten highly-talented young Cambodian dancers who perform a combination of ancient, classical and lively folk dances.

While in Hartford, the dancers stayed with Watkinson families. All funds raised benefited Cambodian Living Arts and its important work of restoring Cambodia's folk arts following their decimation by the Khmer Rouge.

Watkinson School, in Hartford, has many ties to Cambodia and the Cambodian Living Arts. Charley Todd, former Head of School at Watkinson for 28 years, is now Chair of the Leadership Council for the Cambodian Living Arts and moved to Cambodia to help the cause. In each of the last six years, Watkinson students have traveled on three-week-long service learning trips to Cambodia, where they work with a village that is built around a living arts master teacher. Over the years, students have built strong relationships, and follow the villagers about what work is needed and doable by students each year. Watkinson students raise money by being hired to do odd jobs each spring, selling goods they import from Cambodia, and other activites. In past visits, they have built a community center and latrines, planted fruit trees, installed water filters, established a women's health committee and health/nutrition classes for them at a local hospital, bought instruments that are hand made in the village, and supplied them with medicines, bicycles, and sewing machines.

Members of the Global Studies program at Watkinson School will depart for their next trip to Cambodia in summer of 2011 and hope that the event will bring awareness to the greater Hartford community.

SYRACUSE, NY (WSYR-TV) – A doctor from Central New York has been arrested in Cambodia and is being held in a Phnom Penh prison on a charge of sexual abuse of an underage boy, according to the non-governmental organization Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE).

In a release on its website, APLE says James D'Agostino, 56, was arrested February 16 by the Phnom Penh anti human trafficking and juvenile protection police. He was charged two days later under article 34 "purchase of child prostitution."

APLE is an organization that provides assistance to vulnerable children in South and South-East Asia by monitoring and investigating child sexual exploitation and associated trafficking activities.

APLE says it had been investigating D'Agostino after it received information that he was abusing an underage boy, whom he took under his "care" at his Phnom Penh rental house.

According to D'Agostino's blog, he started volunteering in Cambodia and Vietnam in 2009. In it, he writes about working with children to build roads for use by villagers.

APLE says he lived in Cambodia for more than two years, where he acted as a doctor offering advice to staff at the National Pediatric Hospital.

The organization says D'Agostino supported the family of the victim by helping to construct road access in the village in Kandal province.

Upstate Medical University's website lists D'Agostino as an assistant professor of emergency medicine and certified in pediatric emergency medicine.

Calls to Upstate University for an update on his status and comment were not returned Sunday.

(VOV) - More than 300 Vietnamese and Cambodian businesses attended the second Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Promotion Conference in Phnom Penh on April 24.

The conference, co-chaired by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, is an important information channel for both governments and businesses to boost economic and investment cooperation.

It is a chance for the two countries' ministries and organizations to review the investment situation, and update economic development strategies and preferential policies for investment in Cambodia.

The conference also aims to lay a firm foundation for signing agreements on double taxation avoidance and on the combination of the two economies.

Addressing the event, the two PMs appreciated the potential for Vietnam-Cambodia cooperation, affirming that both governments will create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to invest in Cambodia, especially in telecommunications, aviation, energy, infrastructure development, tourism, trade, agriculture, forestry, rubber, and mining.

PM Dung proposed that the two governments maintain an effective dialogue mechanism to help businesses in the two countries iron out snags and promote business activities.

The Vietnamese government and related ministries and agencies have created incentives for Cambodian businesses to invest in Vietnam and encourage Vietnamese investors to expand business in Cambodia, Mr. Dung said.

He also asked Vietnamese businesses operating in Cambodia to comply with the country's laws, manners and customs, and pay attention to ensuring employment and social welfare as well as reducing poverty.

PM Hun Sen said the Cambodian government is making every effort to create a transparent investment environment for Vietnamese businesses by simplifying administrative procedures and combating corruption. He called on them to increase their investment in Cambodia.

Vietnam and Cambodia have taken the initiative to boost economic cooperation by signing more than 60 cooperation agreements and forming the necessary cooperation mechanisms.

This contributed greatly to increasing two-way trade from US$950 million in 2006 to US$1.8 billion in 2010. Vietnam is now one of the three biggest foreign investors in Cambodia with 90 projects worth over US$2 billion.

Also at the conference, the two government leaders witnessed the signing of memorandum of understanding on promoting investment and cut the ribbon to open the Vietnam-Cambodia Securities Company.

On the afternoon of the same day, PM Dung and his entourage left Cambodia for Vietnam, successfully concluding their visit to the country.

PHNOM PENH, Apr. 24, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Some 500 Cambodian and Vietnamese businessman met here on Sunday in the 2nd Cambodia-Vietnam conference and some investment projects worth nearly 1 billion U.S. dollars were signed.

The annual conference was chaired by the two countries' prime ministers.

Speaking in the conference, the visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that to date, excluding the investment costs, which would be signed in the conference, Vietnamese investments in Cambodia have mounted to more than 2 billion U.S. dollars in the fields of telecommunication, aviation, banking and finance, mineral resources, and rubber plantations.

Nguyen Tan Dung encouraged more Vietnamese investors to consider their ventures in Cambodia, and urged existing Vietnamese investors to strengthen and expand the investment to build closer economic cooperation.

Meanwhile, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that Cambodia is implementing favorable investment policies for overseas investors.

"There are good opportunity for investors in growing rice, corn, cassava, bean, rubber industries," he said.

He also stressed the government has made its efforts to develop new industries such as car assembly plants, electronic manufacturing.

(VOV) - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's official visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia is expected to open up more opportunities for Vietnamese investment in the country as well as bilateral economic cooperation.

Many major Cambodian newspapers run articles about it and reviewed positive achievements in bilateral trade.

In 2010, trade revenues between Vietnam and Cambodia hit more than US$1.8 billion, up more than 35 percent from the previous year. Vietnam also invested over US$2 billion in nearly 90 projects in Cambodia. Nearly 470,000 Vietnamese tourists visited Cambodia in 2010, ranking first and accounting for one fourth of the country's total foreign tourists.

A Cambodian entrepreneur of Vietnamese descent, Xieng Minh, told VOV that he hoped PM Dung's visit will help Vietnamese enterprises boost the presence of their goods in Cambodia. He added that Vietnam's agricultural products have secured a firm foothold in the market and he expects more opportunities in other fields.

DPM (PetroVietnam Fertilizer & Chemicals Company) is an example of a successful Vietnamese business that brings practical benefits to the local people.

In 2010, DPM transferred techniques to some Cambodian farmers and helped them double their rice output to nearly nine tonnes per hectare. This year, the company has set a target to expand this technical transference to three provinces – Kampang Cham, Kampang Thum, and Kandal.

Kieng Kieng, a farmer from Kandal province, praised Vietnamese experts for giving farmers like him expertise in rice cultivation and helping them create a better model for growing rice. "Before this we farmers only cultivated according to our experience," he said.

With assistance from Vietnamese agriculturists, Cambodia is expected to achieve its target of exporting one million tonnes annually by 2015.

It has been over three decades since the nightly convoys of trucks that carried the emaciated, the half-dead and the terrified from S-21 jail in Phnom Penh to Choeung Ek, 17 kilometers away, came to a halt.

Whether or not the blindfolded and shackled men, women and children knew in advance of their fate is unclear. Some surely did, but all were murdered in this flood-prone former orchard, mostly by a blow to the back of the neck with an iron bar, followed by a knife across the throat.

The dead and dying were piled in the freshly dug pits, as a generator ran in the background to drown out any screams.

Now, a Buddhist stupa dominates the Killing Fields, stacked with thousands of human skulls dug up from the ground around it, where some 17000 people were murdered. Most of the skulls are behind glass, but some, lower-down, can be touched. Visitors light incense and candles and wait their turn to photograph this gruesome memento of Cambodia's greatest tragedy.

While this grim memorial keeps the horrible memory of the Khmer Rouge alive and gathers a steady stream of several hundred visitors a day, the effort to find justice for the victims of Pol Pot and his ultra-left movement remains slow. So far, only one man, the commander of S-21, also known as Tuol Sleng, has been convicted in the UN-backed tribunal that is underway.

Out here in the killing fields, diplomacy is the last thing on the mind of Cham, a bedraggled man with one-leg. "I have children, they go school," he implored as he begged one day recently. He said that he lost his right leg in 1988 when he was a soldier, but he declined to say which side he fought for in those closing years of Cambodia's long civil war that ended in the 1990s.

Youk Chhang, head of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DCCAM), said in an interview that many of the 5 million Khmer Rouge survivors live in penury in the countryside, some without family or any support. Despite recent economic growth, 80 percent of Cambodia's people live in the countryside, where the average income for the rural poor is much lower than the official $2,000 per capita for the country as a whole.

In a small way, the inequity is symbolized by a controversial deal signed in 2005, when the Cambodian Government sold the rights to run Choeung Ek to a Japanese company, JC Royal, which pays US$15,000 per year to the Phnom Penh city government in return. The ticket on the gate says US$3, but the actual fee I paid to get in was a dollar less. Does any of this go to help survivors or the relatives of those who were killed here? It seems not.

On the ticket is the following reassurance: "Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre, in collaboration with Sun Fund [affiliated with Prime Minister Hun Sen], sponsors the poor and talented students. Your admission fee, a kind charity will ultimately contribute to development, conservation of the centre and sponsorship for education of the poor students."

When I asked, staff at the center could not give any further details about the poor and talented students or how much of the $600-800 the center makes a day on gate fees from 300-400 daily visitors goes to help them.

At the end of March, Duch, the man who ran Tuol Sleng and the sole person to be convicted for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge, appealed the effective 18-19 year sentence handed down to him last year by the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Despite previously expressing remorse for his crimes, he now says that he cannot be held fully responsible as he was directed to kill by the Khmer Rouge leaders.

At the latest hearings, held March 28-30, at the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the tribunal's official title, Duch's defense team told the court that their client "tried to isolate himself from the crimes at S-21." 

"What would you or anyone have done in his shoes? It would be like trying to disobey orders from the SS," the lawyers said.

Duch, who on occasion accompanied his subordinates out to Choeung Ek from S-21 to oversee a night's murder, is to be the key witness in the tribunal's upcoming Case 002, in which the four main surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and Nuon Chea, are to stand trial in a proceeding that has been delayed by claims that the elderly defendants are to frail to face justice.

Some say Duch's credibility as a witness has been hurt by his u-turns and that the case against the four could be damaged as a result. There are now rumors that Case 002 is being deliberately undermined, and that Pol Pot's surviving lieutenants could escape justice.

Certainly there is little eagerness among Cambodia's rulers to see the tribunal go very far. The government has already demanded that no second-tier Khmer Rouge, other than Duch, face trial. Hun Sen — himself a low-level Khmer Rouge before turning against the group — says that additional trials could spark another civil war. Late in 2010, Hun Sen told visiting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that new cases would not be permitted.

Since Duch's appeal, Theary Seng, an outspoken US-schooled lawyer whose parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge, has lodged a civil suit naming the former commanders of the Khmer Rouge navy and air force as among the defendants in cases 003 and 004, which are not yet scheduled to go before the ECCC. Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the tribunal, described her lawsuit as reckless.

Behind the scenes, there are also echoes of big-power politics at play.

Thus far, the Japanese Government has been the largest single donor to the tribunal, providing $67 million, according to the ECCC website, nearly half of all pledges and contributions.

If there are difficulties with the ECCC going forward, however, China, and to a lesser extent the United States, could emerge as the beneficiaries. The US bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War seems to have facilitated the rise of the Khmer Rouge as the group fought its way across the Cambodian countryside to Phnom Penh. Case 002 could see the US embarrassed by whatever the aged former leaders say about the impact of the bombings and later US diplomatic support for the Khmer Rouge after the Vietnamese invasion in 1979 ripped them from power.

These days China has become a key ally of the Hun Sen government, offering loans and grants that do not come with the conditions required by the Western donors with whom Hun Sen has had a testy relationship. Chinese investment in Cambodia exceeds that of any other country, with $8 billion in projects lined up so far this year.

Japan's backing for the court can also be seen in the context of the always-touchy history between China and Japan, as well as China's growing economic and strategic weight in southeast Asia. For its part, China says that it wants nothing to do with the tribunal, describing it as a "domestic matter."

However, Beijing supported the Khmer Rouge, financially, diplomatically and militarily, before, during and after the group's 1975-79 rule. Duch is said to have taken sanctuary in China after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and the four senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders may have more to say about the nature of Chinese backing for their regime, if and when they face trial.

At the Killing Fields, periodic rainstorms still strip away the topsoil to reveal human bones that rise up from the ground. Just as those bodies have not been fully buried, the full truth about the Khmer Rouge and the tragic history of Cambodia seems destined to remain partially uncovered at best.

Dear Editor of Asia Sentinel:

I write to clarify on the issues of "personal jurisdiction" of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Simon Roughneen's excellent article (21 April 2011).

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal has the legal authority ("personal jurisdiction") to try only two groups of people:

that is to say, those not in senior positions who are responsible for countless deaths, e.g. Duch who was only the director of one S-21 (or Tuol Sleng)—out of 200 prisons—but there, at least 14,000 lives were lost (Case 001).

I lodged a civil party application in Cases 003 and 004 involving 5 additional charged persons, two of whom—Meas Muth and Sou Meth—could fall under the personal jurisdiction of either (i) "senior Khmer Rouge leader" for their role as commanders of the Khmer Rouge Navy and Air Force, respectively, contributing to the "joint criminal enterprise"/common design, or (ii) "most responsible" for their role as commanders of military divisions responsible for countless deaths.

There is no question that Meas Muth and Sou Met fall under the personal jurisdiction of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in both groups. It will be a complete political farce if the Co-Investigating Judges rule otherwise by dismissing Case 003.

Click the control below to listen to the Call-in Show audio program in Khmer

SI SA KET, April 24 (MCOT online news) --- Si Sa Ket's Chong Sa-ngam border crossing has been closed since Sunday's noon for safety reasons after fresh Thai-Cambodian fighting reerupted in neighbouring Surin province in the morning, a local customs officer said, while border trade at Rong Kluea Market in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district continued.

Trade and tourism along Thai-Cambodian border in Si Sa Ket province have been suspended, following the Sunday's closure of Chong Sa-ngam border crossing after it had been opened for four hours in the morning.

Orawan Boonsang, a head of the customs officers at Chong Sa-ngam border crossing, explained that the closure was for safety reasons for Thai and Cambodian people after the sounds of gunfire was heard along the border in Surin.

Earlier, Chong Sa-ngam border crossing was temporarily closed on Friday (April 22), following the skirmish along Thai-Cambodian border in Surin's Phanom Dong Rak district. Later, officers reopened the crossing for trade and tourism, depending on the situation.

Initially, it was projected that the closure of the Chong Sa-ngam border crossing will cause Bt10 million (over US$333,000) in losses.

Meanwhile, the Aranyaprathet border crossing in Sa Kaeo province remains opened on Sunday with ten thousand of Cambodian people flocking to Rong Kluea Market to buy commodity products back to their country.

Army Captain Chan Vongvaimathee, commander of ranger company 1206, under Burapha Task Force, said there is no reinforcement of Thai troops at the Thai-Cambodian border in Aranyaprathet district, but he has been instructed to closely monitor the situation and for troops to be on standby at their base.

10,000 Cambodians reportedly crossed into Rong Kluea Market for work and trading since the border crossing opened at 7am after the crossings in Surin and Buri Ram provinces were temporarily closed.

Tourists, both Thai and foreigners, also continued travelling to Cambodia's Poi Pet town in Banteay Meanchey province as usual, but about ten tour groups have already cancelled trips to Angkor Wat in Siem Riap.

TENSIONS rose in Thailand yesterday as a fiery border clash with Cambodia entered its third day and coup rumours swept Bangkok.

The fresh outbreak of fighting took place ahead of an expected announcement that the nation would go to the polls in July.

Thousands of people have been forced to flee the disputed jungle frontier after fighting broke out on Friday, shattering a tense two-month ceasefire.

Each side has accused the other of restarting the armed conflict, in which at least 11 people have been killed. Public accusations of invasion, artillery bombardment and poison gas bombing have been aired in increasingly inflamed rhetoric on both sides.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on both nations to declare a ceasefire and begin "serious dialogue" to resolve the lethal dispute.

Some analysts see the clash as a continuation of the four-day battle that erupted in February near the 11th-century Hindu temple of Preah Vihear, which left 10 dead.

The latest fighting broke out 150km west of Preah Vihear at the site of two other temples claimed by both nations, called Ta Krabei by the Cambodians and Ta Kwai by the Thais.

Cambodia has accused Thailand of firing shells filled with poison gas, a claim rejected by Bangkok, and sending Thai military aircraft deep into Cambodian airspace. "The Ministry of National Defence condemns in the strongest possible terms these repeated deliberate acts of aggression by Thailand against Cambodia," the ministry said. Thailand accused Cambodia of "repeated armed attacks" and of shelling a district containing civilians and a hospital.

In his weekly television address yesterday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the government backed the army in defending Thai territory. "We must not fall into Cambodia's trap," he said. "Cambodia tried to internationalise the dispute, but the dispute can be settled at the bilateral level without a third country."

The border tensions have inflamed domestic politics in Thailand, where an expected election has fired a rush of political speculation and coup rumours.

Thailand's militant People's Alliance of Democracy yellow-shirt protesters staged demonstrations to denounce the alleged Cambodian encroachment.

Military dissatisfaction is one factor leading many rattled Thais to believe the restive security forces will soon mount a coup, perhaps before the election expected in early July.

One Thai news website has counted 11 coup denials so far this year, and on the weekend General Prayuth again said a coup was not in the offing. "The only thing we want to ask is for all parties not to violate the monarchy or bring the monarchy into their conflicts or get us involved in political conflict," he said in The Nation newspaper.

Thailand has endured 18 coup attempts, 11 successful, since the end of absolute monarchical rule in 1932. Some cynics point out that the Thai military roundly rejected the notion of a coup in 2006, just weeks before troops ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

But Thailand's red-shirt leaders, from the rebel United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, have accused General Prayuth of meddling in politics and trying to divide the nation rather than promoting unity as a military leader should.

Thailand is still bitterly divided after security forces last year forcibly routed thousands of red-shirt protesters, who had joined the weeks-long sit-in in central Bangkok. As many as 91 people were killed in the clashes.

Meanwhile, Mr Thaksin, in exile after he jumped bail on corruption charges in 2008, has again entered the thick of Thai politics, using a video link on the weekend to address thousands of members of the Puea Thai party with promises of a new capital city site and plans for new infrastructure.

He urged the military to stay out of politics, and pledged allegiance to the throne.

"The military must not intervene to set up a government like last time, when it formed a government in the barracks," he said.

BANGKOK — Thai and Cambodian troops clashed for a third day on Sunday in the first major territorial encounter since an informal cease-fire that followed four days of fighting in February. At least 10 people were killed and thousands of residents were evacuated from border areas, according to reports from both sides.

The United Nations called on both nations to settle the conflict peacefully with an effective and verifiable cease-fire. The cause of the latest clash, which began early Friday, was unclear, with the two sides accusing each other of making the first move in what was mostly a long-range artillery duel.

The fighting was reported at border areas 160 kilometers, or 100 miles, to the west of Preah Vihear, an 11th-century temple that has been the focus of armed tensions since it was listed in 2008 by the United Nations as a World Heritage site under Cambodian administration.

In his weekly television address, the prime minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, accused Cambodia of starting the fighting. "When there is firing into Thailand, we must fire back," he said.

He added: "We must not fall into Cambodia's trap in trying to spread a picture of conflict, or say the conflict is unsolvable through bilateral talks."

A sticking point in attempts at negotiations is Thailand's resistance to Cambodia's demand for mediation by international bodies. In the past, outside judgments have favored Cambodia. In 1962, the World Court ruled that the temple, which stands on a border bluff overlooking the Cambodian countryside, belonged to Cambodia.

The disputes involve border demarcations between the two countries made by former French colonial administrators and include references to competing maps and interpretations of maps.

The conflicting claims are a rallying cry for nationalists on both sides. In Thailand, they have become a focus of the anti-government "yellow shirt" protests in recent months.

Both nations claim ownership of a strategic area that is 4.6 square kilometers, or 1.8 square miles, near Preah Vihear. Two other ancient Hindu temples in the border area are the focus of the latest eruption of fighting.

In February the United Nations forwarded a Cambodian request for mediation to the Association of Southeast Nations, in which both sides agreed to allow unarmed military observers to be posted along the border.

But the Thai military resisted that plan, and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya of Thailand said that his government was trying to secure the cooperation of the armed forces to find a peaceful settlement.

Since a coup in 2006, the military has played a prominent role in Thai politics, sometimes acting as a political broker, and its role is drawing attention in advance of a Thai parliamentary election expected soon.

Cambodia accused Thailand over the weekend of firing artillery shells "loaded with poisonous gas" and of flying jet fighter sorties over Cambodian territory. Thailand rejected the accusations as groundless.

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- So far, 4,285 Cambodian families of 17,200 people have been evacuated in the three days of armed clashes between Cambodian and Thai troops over the disputed border area, a senior government official said today.

The people have been evacuated to safe shelters in Oddar Meanchey province's Samrong district, some 30 kilometers from the fighting zone, Nhim Vanda, the first vice-president of the Cambodian National Committee for Disaster Management, said today.

The clashes broke out at the Ta Moan and Ta Krabei temples in Oddar Meanchey province since Friday, causing casualties on both sides and damage to the temples and villagers' properties.

During the armed clashes, six Cambodian soldiers were killed and 16 others injured.

While on the Thai side, four soldiers were dead and 17 others injured, according to a report from Bangkok.

The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been completely demarcated.

Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. But Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 sq km of scrub next to the temple. Just a week after the enlistment, Cambodia and Thailand had a border conflict, triggering a military build-up along the border, and periodic clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers have resulted in deaths on both sides.

At sunrise in Thailand's Surin province, the tranquil Good Friday morning of April 22 was disrupted by exchanges of gunfire between Thai and Cambodian troops. The real causes of the latest armed clashes were unknown. But what is known is that both sides have accused each other for initiating the skirmish and prolonging a deep sense of hostility.

"Cambodian soldiers fired with assault rifles at Thailand first and... started to shell us with artillery," Thai Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon said. He also added, "I think Cambodia wanted to take over temples on the border." 

Meanwhile, Cambodia accused Thai troops of entering its territory. "Thai troops crossed the border and attacked our military bases," said Cambodian defense ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat.

This was followed by an urgent note sent by Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong to the United Nations Security Council, complaining about what he claimed was a "deliberate act of aggression." Thai artillery shells had landed 21 km inside Cambodian territory, he said in the note, which was released to media in Phnom Penh.

The current tit-for-tat accusation has exhausted analysts who are monitoring the tense situation along the Thai-Cambodian border. One the surface, it is just another violent breakout between the two estranged neighbors. At a deeper level however, it indicates an increasingly agonizing state of Thai domestic politics.

First, the Good Friday clashes have provided another much-needed opportunity for the Thai military to take full control of foreign policy vis-à-vis what is perceived to be the country's number-one enemy. Over the past months, the Thai army has been wrestling hard with the Foreign Ministry for the overall domination of foreign policy toward Cambodia. For the army, taking over foreign policy is crucial, as this guarantees its political role as well as authority in the decision-making process.

The clashes also took place at the right time. Instability, and even war, along the border would justify the military's request to UNESCO for the postponement of the discussion of Cambodia's management plan in the surrounding Preah Vihear area. The 35th World Heritage Committee (WHC) will be meeting from June 19-29, in Paris. Thailand has insisted that the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area must be demarcated before talks on management can begin. A new round of armed conflict with Cambodia is possibly a deliberate act to derail the WHC agenda.

Above all, the armed confrontation has highlighted the essential notion of national security. According to the Thai traditional view, in time of crisis the country needs a strong army to ward off external threats. Taking this view, the military could have criticized the Abhisit Vejjajiva government for insisting to exercise diplomatic means to achieve peace. 

Indeed, there are valid reasons to believe that the military has never wanted Abhisit's soft approach to prevail. It is evident that the military was silent when its political ally, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), sent its members to cross into Cambodia illegally in December last year to stir up already fragile Thai-Cambodian relations. The PAD earlier urged the government to adopt a harsher line against Cambodia—a suggestion supported by the army.

Second, the violent clashes erupted just less than two months before the much anticipated election, due in late June. After Abhisit made known of his intention to hold an election a few months ago, he received a cold response from the army. The army fears that proxies of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will return to power, thus jeopardizing the military's power position.

From this perspective, the military has gone on the political offensive. The royalist army chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, has assumed his full-time political role and now administers Thailand from his comfortable barracks. He has become the darling of the pro-elite media, appearing on television more frequently than the handsome Oxford-educated prime minister. One of his political activities is to file a complaint against some core leaders of the red-shirt movement for committing lèse-majesté.

On top of this, a coup is also a possible choice. On April 21, the nationwide television blackout, caused by a satellite technical glitch, sparked intense coup rumours. The military presence in Thai politics is at an all-time high.

How are the armed clashes along the border connected to the upcoming election?

The military has sent out a strong message that war on the Thai East is serious, and continues to threaten Thai sovereignty. Under this precarious circumstance, the military may ask: Should Thailand go ahead with an election, especially if the election will bring more "uncertainties" in the political domain?

The election is likely to go ahead, and the military is trying hard to help install an anti-Cambodian regime. Throughout the Thai crisis, Thaksin and his supporters in the red-shirt faction have been perceived as pro-Cambodian, anti-Thai interest elements. It would be unimaginable to see the next "red" government handling the Cambodian issue at the expense of the military's diminishing interest in domestic and foreign affairs.

Perhaps the Thai military may want to learn some new facts. Bilaterally, Cambodia has no longer played a passive part; it has refused to be bullied by the supposedly more advanced, more modern and more superior Thai neighbor. Domestically, the anti-military sentiment in Thailand is rapidly being heightened. The rejection of election and the coup will no longer be responded lightly by many pro-democracy Thais.

BANGKOK—A simmering border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia has killed at least 10 soldiers over the past three days and also threatens to complicate a heated political environment in Bangkok, where rumors are swirling about military coups or other ways to block planned elections.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a cease-fire late Saturday and urged both sides to find a diplomatic solution to the long-running border dispute. But clashes continued into Sunday morning and Cambodian officials said shooting again erupted in the afternoon. Thai officials have reported four of their troops killed, with Cambodia acknowledging six fatalities so far in a duel fought mostly with long-range artillery shells.

Analysts say there is a strong political dimension to the border conflict, which reignited in 2008 when Cambodia secured U.N. World Heritage status for an ancient temple within the disputed area. Nationalist movements in both Thailand and Cambodia have stressed the importance of claiming the Preah Vihear temple for their own countries, and eight people were killed in clashes near the temple site in February before this latest conflict, about 160 kilometers away.

The conflict also might complicate Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's plans to dissolve Thailand's parliament next month and pave the way for elections to be held as soon as June. The 46-year-old, Oxford-educated economist is counting on the vote to end five years of instability and violence and enable Thailand, Southeast Asia's second-largest economy after Indonesia, to build on its rapid recovery from the global economic slump.

But some analysts say there is still a risk the vote might not take place at all. In recent weeks, army commander Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha has filed criminal complaints against several top opposition activists for allegedly insulting the monarchy—a serious crime here—and a move which helped trigger murmurings that a coup is being planned. People familiar with the situation say some military leaders fear that a national vote could allow supporters of ex-Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and is now living in exile, an avenue back into power.

Thai military leaders have repeatedly denied any plans to launch a coup or otherwise influence the democratic process, while government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn says the latest clashes with Cambodia were triggered by unexpected troop movements on the Cambodian side of the border.

Royalist activists who blockaded Thailand's main airport in 2008 are meanwhile urging Mr. Abhisit to call off his election plan and allow an appointed government to take over instead. Prominent newspaper columnists are adding their weight to the campaign, saying Thailand won't be ready to have a peaceful election for four or five more years.

The pre-election anxiety got the better of many Thais on Thursday when a satellite glitch knocked out television signals across the country and set off rumors that a coup was already underway.

The latest skirmishes with Cambodia—as well as the previous flare-up in February—are prompting some residents and analysts to speculate the army is now increasingly willing to assert itself.

Some opposition leaders are skeptical the vote will happen, even if Mr. Abhisit dissolves Parliament. Nattawut Saikua, one of the leaders of the opposition "Red Shirt" movement, worries that new election laws could be challenged in court and ruled unconstitutional, delaying indefinitely any election.

"I think there might only be a 50% chance of an election taking place," says Mr. Nattawut, who plans to run as a member of the opposition For Thais Party.

Many Thais are worried about the potential for instability. Red Shirt protesters, including many of Mr. Thaksin's supporters, last year cordoned off large areas of central Bangkok and put a serious dent in the country's tourism industry. As the protests grew increasingly violent, the army stepped in to stop the spreading conflict. A total of 91 people—the majority of them protesters—were killed in clashes.

Mr. Thaksin, a 61-year-old former telecommunications mogul who now lives abroad to avoid imprisonment on a corruption conviction, recently emerged from his self-imposed exile to talk with the international media and reiterate his claim that the charges against him are politically motivated. He is also urging on his followers in a series of phone-ins and messages on twitter.

Now, with neither Mr. Abhisit's Democrat Party nor the pro-Thaksin For Thais Party—which are neck-and-neck in opinion polls—likely to gain an absolute majority in the planned election, analysts fear further violence could come as the two sides try to assume control of the government.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group this month warned of a potential bloody conflict if the Thailand's powerful armed forces and royalist bureaucrats pressure smaller parties to stay away from forming a coalition government with the For Thais Party if it wins the largest number of seats.

"Arm-bending by the royalist establishment is an obvious recipe for renewed street protests and violence," says Jim Della-Giacoma, the ICG's Southeast Asia director.

In the meantime, international efforts to end the border conflict continue. In addition to the UN, Indonesia, which is the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has also tried to mediate a solution to the conflict. Thailand, though, has refused to allow Indonesian military observers into the disputed area and says the conflict can be settled in direct talks with Cambodia. Cambodia says it prefers third-parties to help broker a settlement.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya on Saturday denied Cambodian allegations that Thailand had fired shells loaded with "poisonous gas" into Cambodia, while army officials have also denied using cluster bombs.

Thailand earlier admitted using cluster bombs in previous border spats with Cambodia, but said they weren't the kind banned by 108 countries under an international treaty. Cluster bombs spread small bomblets across a broad area and can lay dormant for years. They pose a similar hazard as land mines to civilian populations.

"The world and Asean have been alarmed by the new outbreak of violent and fatal clashes along the Cambodian-Thai border. The appeal for restraint and a quick return to the negotiating table will become louder from the Asean and dialogue partners. I can only add my voice to that call for a peaceful solution to a long simmering tension between our two Asean Member States. There is really no other alternative to a genuine dialogue between the two sides, " said Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of Asean.

Dr. Surin Pitsuwan has worked hard behind the scene to support Indonesia, the current Chiar of Asean, to convene the unprecedented February 22 meeting in Jakarta of the Asean foreign ministers devoted specifically to the bilateral border conflicts between the two Asean neighbors, Cambodia and Thailand. We thought we had responded effectively to the call of the UN Security Council's of February 14 with our own Asean's approach to the problem of our two member states," said Dr. Surin, who is a former Foreign Minister of Thailand.

"The renewed fighting not only disappointed the other Asean Member States, we have also failed the world in its expectation of all of us."

"Not only tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border having to suffer the consequences of displacement and evacuation away from the on-going violence, we also risk the judgment of the global community that its faith and confidence in us have been misplaced. That will, unfortunately, have a very negative impact on our region as a whole, " Dr. Surin lamented.