By: BangkokPost.comPublished: 3/07/2009 at 10:37 AM
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban annuunced the start of troop reductions by both sides along the tense Thai-Cambodian border on Friday, despite reports the two military commanders had failed to reach an agreement in their talks on Thursday.
Mr Suthep said this should help ease the hostility along the sensitive frontier.
He and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had agreed during talks last weekend that the border dispute should be settled by peaceful means, he said.
The deputy prime minister will tomorrow leave for Phnom Penh for another meeting with Mr Hun Sen.
Local administrative officials and the Second Army on Friday called off an evacuation drill and annual refreshment training for village defence units along the border for fear they might be seen by Cambodia as preparations for combat.
The operations were to involve troops of the Suranaree Task Force and the 23rd Rangers Task Force in Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district.
Col Thanya Kiatsarn, commander of the 23rd Rangers Task Force, said the drill was originally to be carried out under a scenario that four enemy artillery rounds had landed on Phum Sarol village injuring four civilians, two seriously. The village headman, therefore, would tell residents to collect necessities and get ready to evacuate immediately to a reception area 11km away.
Col Thanya said some local media mistook the evacuation drill as having been actually ordered by the district chief after the situation around Preah Vihear became tense.
It was a case of miscommunication. Therefore, the drill was called off to prevent any misunderstanding by Cambodian forces across the nearby border, he said.
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