Redrawing the border: Thailand’s national flag flying on top of containers and barbed wire blocking a street in Chouk Chey village, Banteay Meanchey province. — Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP)/ AFP
THE country said that Thai forces had taken control of a disputed border village, accusing Thailand of “annexing” the area after a truce halted deadly fighting along their contested frontier a week ago.
The decades-old border dispute between the South-East Asian neighbours erupted into military clashes several times last year, with fighting in December killing dozens of people and displacing more than one million on both sides.
The two countries agreed a truce on Dec 27, pledging to freeze troop movements and end the three weeks of clashes.
On Friday, Cambodia’s Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said that the Thai military has started its “illegal annexation of Cambodian territory into Thailand, especially at Chouk Chey village”.
The Thai army, without mentioning any specific locations, said in a statement it had taken control of areas that had always belonged to Thailand but were “occupied” by Cambodia.
The Cambodian minister said Thai forces had damaged civilian buildings, installed barbed wire and shipping containers to create a “border fence”, and deployed to administer disputed areas.
“The unilateral assertion of Thailand’s sovereignty by force was also demonstrated by raising the Thai national flag,” the minister added.
A map provided by Cambodia’s information ministry shows Thai military presence in territory Cambodia claims as its own in the Chouk Chey area.
According to the Cambodian map, Thailand now controlled an area that, at its furthest point, is around 750m from a boundary line drawn by Phnom Penh through the village.
“Cambodia will not recognise any alteration of the boundary line resulting from the use of force,” Neth Pheaktra said.
The Thai army disputed Phnom Penh’s narrative and rejected recent media reports suggesting it had used force to seize Cambodian territory.
The locations, which the army’s statement did not name, “were originally places where Cambodian forces had deployed troops and where Cambodian civilians had settled, encroaching upon Thai sovereignty”, it said.
Chouk Chey is located in a patch of frontier land between Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province and Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province. — AFP
