Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior strongly criticised the Thai foreign minister, described as a “four-month minister”, for portraying Thailand as the victim of the Cambodia–Thailand border conflict at the UN General Assembly. In its September 29 statement, the ministry rejected the minister’s assertion that “the real victims are Thai soldiers who lost legs to landmines, children whose schools were destroyed by artillery, and innocent civilians attacked by Cambodian rockets”.
The ministry posed nine questions intended to expose what it viewed as Thai actions requiring accountability for tensions along the border. The questions were:
1. Who opened fire first, causing the death of a Cambodian soldier in the Mom Bei area?
2. Who unilaterally closed the border?
3. Who laid barbed wire around Ta Moan Thom temple?
4. Who attacked Cambodian troops, triggering five days and nights of fighting?
5. Who violated the Franco-Siamese treaties and the 2000 MoU?
6. Who was reluctant to accept a third country’s involvement in resolving the problem?
7. Who violated the ceasefire through incidents such as detaining Cambodian troops the morning after it took effect, expanding disputed areas, and moving forces until they stepped on landmines left from the past?
8. Who flagrantly violated international principles by deploying troops to lay barbed wire and then treating it as a boundary line?
9. If Thailand is truly in the right and is truly the victim, why does it fear intervention by the international community? If it has been right from the start, why fear an international court?
The statement concluded that not only Cambodians and Thailand’s neighbours, but the entire world, had come to recognise and tire of Thailand’s conduct.
Preah Sihanouk Provincial Television — By ង៉ែត ពិសាន្ត
