FACTBOX-Preah Vihear, a lightning rod for Thai-Cambodia tension
Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:35 GMT
July 18 (Reuters) - The International Court of Justice ordered Thailand and Cambodia on Monday to pull their troops out of a newly defined demilitarised zone around a temple on a disputed stretch of their border.
It told them to restart talks to end the row.
Following are facts about the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple:
-- Completed in the 11th century, Preah Vihear predates Cambodia's more famous Angkor Wat temple complex by 100 years. Many say its stunning setting atop a jungle-clad escarpment overlooking northern Cambodia also eclipses its celebrated cousin as the finest of all the ruins left by the mighty Khmer civilisation.
-- Officially part of Cambodia since a 1962 World Court ruling, Preah Vihear, or Khao Phra Viharn as the Thais call it, has only really been accessible from Thailand in recent years. From Cambodia, landmines and Khmer Rouge guerrillas kept it off-limits for decades. Pol Pot's forces surrendered in 1998, but the track up the 600-metre Dangrek escarpment is so steep and pot-holed it is passable only by motorbike or heavy-duty four-wheel drive.
-- Thailand has officially accepted the ruling on the temple but the land around it is still claimed by both countries and the temple itself has stirred nationalist passions on both sides for generations. Cambodia's bid to list it as a World Heritage Site fuelled the tension.
-- At least three Thais and eight Cambodians died in fighting at the temple from Feb. 4-7 and dozens of troops and civilians were wounded. There were more deaths in April in fighting near temples on another stretch of the border.
-- Preah Vihear has witnessed bloodshed before. The Khmer Rouge occupied the site for years, and rusting artillery pieces can still be found lying amid the ruins. In June 1979, Thai soldiers forced 45,000 refugees from Pol Pot's "Killing Fields" to descend the heavily mined escarpment back into Cambodia. "Several thousand died, either shot by Thai soldiers to prevent them trying to cross back, or blown up in the minefields," British historian Philip Short wrote in a seminal biography of Pol Pot. (Writing by Bangkok bureau; Editing by Alan Raybould / Daniel Magnowski)
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