KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 (KUNA) -- Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohammad Hasan announced on Sunday that Thailand and Cambodia reached an agreement to let Malaysia mediate and find a solution to the 4-year border-conflict between the two nations.
Mohammad Hasan said, according to Malaysian News Agency BERNAMA, that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai will meet in Malaysia Monday night to start mediation talks over the deadly border conflict that saw countless deaths.
Hasan said that both leaders vocalized their refusal for any other third party to join the mediation and they placed their complete trust in Malaysia to successfully and neutrally mediate solution.
Malaysia, which chairs the ASEAN regional cooperation forum, has a duty to mediate and solve this internal conflict through having direct talks over a neutral ground.
Thailand had recently withdrawn their ambassador to Cambodia and turned the Cambodian ambassador to Thailand back to Cambodia, which escalated the conflict to reach its fourth day of exchanging blows in the disputed border.
This Thai-Cambodian conflict goes back decades over the sovereignty of Preah Vihear Temple and the surrounding area, and it saw armed altercations in 2008 and 2011 before gradually deescalating, however the tensions never disappeared, and recently escalated over military movement near the area on both sides. (end) aab.dm