By ANTARA News,
Bangkok : The United Nations Security Council will decide this week whether or not it will hold an emergency session to discuss an escalating border spat between Thailand and Cambodia over an ancient Hindu temple, a senior Thai diplomat confirmed Wednesday.
On Monday Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, claiming he feared an “imminent state of war,” appealed to the 15-member UN Security Council to intervene in the Thai-Cambodian dispute over conflicting claims to territory adjacent to the Preah Vihear temple, perched on a cliff that partly defines the two neighbouring countries’ common border.
Thailand has informed the UN of its preference to resolve the dispute through bilateral talks, Thailand’s Ambassador to the UN Don Pramudwinai confirmed in an interview with the state-run Thai News Agency (TNA).
The UN will decide on whether to hold an emergency session over the border row on Thursday, said Don.
“The council will call a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) and we will see to it whether or not the council will hold an emergency session upon Cambodia’s request,” he told the TNA.
Cambodian Defence Minister Teah Banh and Thai Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niempradit met at the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet on Monday in an attempt to defuse the temple dispute bilaterally but failed to find a solution to the legal obstacles involved.
The problem dates back to a map drawn up in 1908 by French cartographers to define the Thai-Cambodian border when Cambodia was still a French colony.