Posted: 13 February 2011
BANGKOK: Thailand will tell the UN Security Council there is no need for outside mediation to resolve a deadly border conflict with Cambodia, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Sunday.
He said Thailand was confident it could make a strong case at the closed-door meeting in New York on Monday to show that Phnom Penh sparked the standoff over disputed territory, which has left eight people dead.
Cambodian soldiers stand on a military truck as they travel past a check point near the Preah Vhear temple in Preah Vihear province, some 500km northwest of Phnom Penh
"We're confident that we can explain that (Cambodia's claims) are wrong," he said in his weekly television address.
"Cambodia is calling for (intervention by) a third country, the UN and peacekeeping forces. Thailand will call for a return to bilateral talks on demarcation," he said.
Thailand will present evidence including pictures and media reports to support its case and show that Cambodia used an ancient temple at the centre of the dispute as a military base, he added.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is due to attend Monday's Security Council meeting, along with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong.
Thailand and Cambodia have blamed each other for the clashes around the ancient temple of Preah Vihear, which sparked four days of fighting earlier this month.
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen sought an urgent Security Council meeting and called for a UN buffer force to be put in place. Thailand has repeatedly said the dispute should settled between the two countries.
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