2 March 2011 -- AKP
Foreign diplomats, including the former prime minister of Barbados, praised Cambodia for its effort in protection and conservation of the World Heritage-listed Temple of Preah Vihear, which was seriously damaged by Thai direct bombardment earlier this month.
Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford, Barbados' former Premier and now ambassador to China, told Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Sok An: "Barbados appreciates Cambodia's effort to protect the intangible heritage of mankind", according to the Press and Quick Reaction Unit of the Council of Ministers.
Sir Lloyd said in a briefing of several ambassadors from member countries of the World Heritage Committee: "Barbados supports the work of Cambodia, UNESCO, the UN, and ASEAN in seeking to advance peace and prevent conflict."
"We wish to continue these efforts by working with international cooperation so that we can create a better world through peace and development," said Sir Lloyd.
The briefing also included diplomats from Mali, Ethiopia and Nigeria, who said that they strongly supported the efforts by ASEAN and the United Nations Security Council to bring about peace and development through diplomatic means and to put an end to fighting along the Cambodian-Thai border.
Mali's Ambassador N'Tji Laico Traore said that his government welcomes the statements of ASEAN and the UN Security Council.
Indonesia plans to send 30 observers to monitor the ceasefire where Cambodia and Thailand exchanged fire near Preah Vihear Temple. The United Nations urged both sides to establish a permanent ceasefire and to implement it fully and resolve the situation peacefully and through dialogue.
A Nigerian diplomat in the Philippines, A.E. Okoliko, said that he hailed the Cambodian government's efforts to protect the temple.
"The use of force is not allowed to destroy a World Heritage Site," Okoliko told the Cambodian deputy prime minister.
H.E. Sok An told the delegates, who were invited to Phnom Penh to hear Cambodia's explanation concerning the armed clashes of Feb. 4-7, that all five temple gates of Preah Vihear were seriously damaged by Thai shelling.
He briefed the delegates that the Thai troops had fired rounds of unconventional shells, comprising cluster bombs and gas shells, during their artillery battles with Cambodia.
Four Cambodian soldiers and one policeman were killed. Two Cambodian civilians were killed and another 30 Cambodian military personnel were injured. More than 3,000 Cambodian families were displaced.
The Thai military is building up its troops to some 20,000 men along the border, supported by 120 tanks and heavy weapons.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) special envoy on Preah Vihear Temple, Koïchiro Matsuura, arrived in Cambodia on Sunday and met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday.
Matsuura told Prime Minister Hun Sen that it was impossible to delist the Temple from the World Heritage list, although Thailand had requested UNESCO to do so.
The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO inscribed the 900-year-old temple as a World Heritage Site in July 2008.
Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Sok An said that UNESCO has planned to host a meeting in Paris in May at which Cambodia and Thailand will be invited to discuss preparations ahead of the annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee, to be held in Bahrain in June.
He also informed the delegation about the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in 1962 that: the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in Cambodian territory. The Court found that Thailand was obligated to withdraw any military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, it had stationed at the Temple, or in its vicinity on Cambodian territory. Thailand is also obligated to restore to Cambodia any heritage objects removed from the Temple or the Temple area by Thai authorities.
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