Trying to Calm Cambodia-Thailand Temple Dispute

[Coventina]

Source: Time partnered with CNN

There seemed to be only two types of traffic on the roads of Preah Vihear province in northern Cambodia this week: villagers fleeing with their worldly belongings stacked in pick-up trucks, and Cambodian soldiers heading in to fight.

Thai and Cambodian forces clashed for more than an hour on Oct. 15 in the disputed border territory around the 11th Century Preah Vihear temple. The fighting left three Cambodian soldiers dead and several Thai troops injured.

Fears of a full-scale war have been put on hold for now. Military commanders from both sides met in Thailand on Oct. 16, to try to cool hostilities. But while the talks produced plenty of words of reconciliation, troops from both countries are busy digging in around Preah Vihear.

On the Cambodian side, trenches and foxholes now pepper the approach road to the mountaintop temple. Soldiers have dug a mortar bunker a stone's throw from the second-level of the beautiful stone Hindu temple complex.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1851339,00.html

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This situation is still extremely tense and worrisome.