Posted by Michael Vatikiotis
Asia Security Initiative
MacArthur Foundation
A landmark agreement among ASEAN Foreign Ministers in February effectively defused a dangerous stand-off between Thai and Cambodian forces along their common border by agreeing on the deployment of Indonesian monitors on either side of the border and also the convening of bilateral talks between the two sides in Indonesia.
However, since then, little has moved on either of these fronts. Indonesia has not yet managed to deploy the observers – now set at 15 on each side of the border. More worryingly, Thai military officials have said they do not want to join bilateral talks on the border dispute in a third country. Cambodia, for its part insists on the talks taking place in Indonesia. The talks are set to start on April 7th in Bogor, a city outside Jakarta where ironically the first round of the Cambodian peace process meetings was convened in 1988.
Should the agreement unravel there is the threat of renewed fighting along the border. This could then lead to further international diplomatic maneuvering that could see the issue return to the floor of the UN Security Council in New York.
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