Thai-Cambodian border clashes draw 40,000 worried evacuees to shelters
Following a second day of fighting between Thai and Cambodian troops, Surin's six temporary shelters yesterday were filled with 25,000 evacuees from villages along the border in Phanom Dongrak, while two temporary shelters in nearby Kap Choeng district were also full, with 15,000 evacuees.
Thai Army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd yesterday said the Army would do its best to assist affected people and that a mobile hospital was already set at Maharat Hospital 4. Mental health experts from the Weerawatyothin Army Camp in Surin's Mueang district were also dispatched to assist the evacuees. Mobile kitchens were set at shelters while the state and private sectors also assisted the evacuees in other aspects.
In related news, neighbouring Buri Ram's Ban Kruat district chief Nat Chatwattanasiri went to inspect the damage at five villages of tambon Sai Taku, located about 20 kilometres from the clash area, from five stray cannon balls from Friday's clash.
Finding 40 rubber trees destroyed but no resident houses damaged nor anyone injured, Nat set up a 20-strong team of civilian security volunteers to guard each of the affected villages until the situation is resolved. Buri Ram police also arranged for 50 police officers a day to patrol affected villages.
After 2,500 people fled their homes on Friday, the total number of evacuees at the shelter in tambon Noen Charoen yesterday rose to 6,500 at six locations.
One evacuee, Naree Kaewpa-op, 58, said she was frightened to hear gun fights all morning yesterday and saw black smoke near her home so her family sought refuge at Noen Charoen. She said she wanted the clash to end fast because both sides suffered losses.
In Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district, although the situation there remained normal, many border residents now were fearful that the Surin border clash might spread to the Preah Vihear Temple area and prepared to evacuate.
Bhumisarol resident Samrit Saenpradap, whose family home was damaged in the previous border clash in February, urged Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to help end the clash as soon as possible, as she and fellow villagers now feared for another clash in the Preah Vihear Temple area.
Another villager, Chanyapat Pradasri, said she sympathised with the affected villagers who had to flee their homes and urged people to be prepared for evacuation by keeping important documents with them and filling up cars' petrol tanks for emergency.
Following the recent border clash, Army Region 2 commander Lt-General Thawatchai Samutsakorn ordered the Thai-Cambodian key checkpoint at the Thai border district of Kap Choeng, namely the Chong Jom-Osamed checkpoint, to close indefinitely.
However, Surin Chamber of Commerce vice chairman Thiensak Samphansirikul yesterday commented that the recent border clash would only slightly affect the border trade and economy, because trade at the Chong Jom-Osamed checkpoint generated about Bt40 million-Bt50 million income in the first three months.
Since the border pass was closed for just one or two days the damage so far was only about Bt1 million to Bt2 million, he said, expressing hope that the pass would soon be re-opened.
He said a planned June 18 meeting in Cambodia between the chambers of commerce of the Thai lower northeastern provinces' and their Cambodian counterparts was still on.
On the Cambodian side, villages close to the border were emptied as people fled with their belongings, according to Agence France-Presse.
"Most of the people in my village have fled their homes because many Thai artillery shells landed nearby," 29-year-old farmer Has Pov told AFP at a pagoda complex where he took refugee with his wife and two children in the Cambodian town of Samrong, about 40 kilometres from the fighting.
"I'm really scared by the shelling," he added.
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Ban deplores fresh clashes between Cambodia and Thailand, urges restraint
The Temple of Preah Vihear
23 April 2011 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said he is troubled by reports of renewed fighting over the past two days between Cambodian and Thai troops along the two countries' border, which has reportedly claimed the lives of many people on both sides.
He said he had been encouraged by the initial signs of progress in regional efforts to strengthen bilateral mechanisms for dealing with the dispute between the two neighbours and called on both sides to exercise maximum restraint.
He urged Cambodia and Thailand to take immediate measures for an effective and verifiable ceasefire.
In a statement released by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban said he also believes that the dispute cannot be resolved by military means and urged the two countries to engage in serious dialogue to find a lasting solution.
Tensions first escalated in July 2008 following the build-up of troops near the Preah Vihear temple, which dates back to the 11th century and is located on the Cambodian side of the border. The Hindu temple was inscribed on the World Heritage List of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that same month.
Considered an outstanding example of Khmer architecture, the temple consists of a complex of sanctuaries linked by pavements and staircases on an 800-metre-long axis.
Early last month, representatives from both sides agreed to a United Nations-sponsored meeting to discuss ways to safeguard the temple, which was damaged in previous border clashes between the South-East Asian neighbours earlier this year.
The two sides had agreed to meet again at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 25 May, the agency reported in March.
The agreement followed a mission to Cambodia and Thailand by Koïchiro Matsuura, who served as UNESCO's Special Envoy for Preah Vihear.
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