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| The stone remains of Preah Vihear, built nearly 1,000 years ago, are supposed to be a protected U.N. World Heritage site. Instead they are at the heart of a dangerous tug-of-war between Cambodia and Thailand. (Photo: AP) |
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 15 February 2011
“The roots of this conflict go back to 1962, when the International Court of Justice ruled that the temple belonged to Cambodia.”
In the past 46 years, Cambodia and Thailand have clashed off and on over Preah Vihear temple. But the border dispute has been increasingly motivated by nationalism in both countries.
Tensions spilled over into intense fighting along the border between Feb. 4 and Feb. 7, leading the foreign ministers to the UN Security Council on Monday.
Experts say the heart of the matter is Preah Vihear temple itself, an 11th-Century structure built when the Khmer empire spread far outside the borders of today’s Cambodia but which some Thai political groups have said belongs to Thailand.
“The roots of this conflict go back to 1962, when the International Court of Justice ruled that the temple belonged to Cambodia,” according to Vinita Ramani Mohan, a researcher at the University of Management of Singapore.
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