VZCZCXRO1115
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0406/01 1681053
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 171053Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0835
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 0025
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0707

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000406 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, P, D, L, IO 
BANGKOK FOR T. HINES 
STATE PASS TO NPS - STEPHEN MORRIS 
PARIS PLEASE PASS TO US MISSION TO UNESCO - S. ENGELKEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2019 
TAGS: PREL SCUL KTIA KJUS UNESCO EAID TH CB
SUBJECT: CAMBODIA PREPARES PREAH VIHEAR PLAN FOR UNESCO 
MEETING IN SEVILLE; SEEKS MORE ACTIVE U.S. ROLE IN 
ENCOURAGING THAI-CAMBODIAN MILITARY WITHDRAWAL 
 
REF: A. STATE 41703 - SECRETARY'S APRIL 23 CONVERSATION 
        WITH THAI FM KASIT 
     ¶B. PHNOM PENH 224 - CAMBODIA HOLDS ITS POSITION 
        (APRIL 3 CLASH) 
     ¶C. 08 STATE 78884 - GUIDANCE TO POSTS ON 
        CAMBODIA-THAILAND BORDER 
     ¶D. 08 STATE 77799 - INSCRIPTION OF PREAH VIHEAR 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR CAROL A. RODLEY FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: In advance of his participation in the 33rd 
session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Seville, 
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Council of 
Ministers Sok An asked to see the Ambassador June 16 to 
outline progress by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) in 
developing a full Management Plan for the Preah Vihear World 
Heritage site inscribed last July (Ref D).  Sok An said 
development of the plan met barriers such as Thai 
foot-dragging on negotiations related to the disputed border 
in the vicinity of Preah Vihear and delays to agreed border 
demarcation.  Thai non-responsiveness to reparation claims 
for the destruction of a market by Thai heavy weapons is 
another obstacle.  Sok An also noted the RGC's difficulty in 
accepting Thailand on the proposed Preah Vihear international 
coordinating committee (ICC), in light of Thailand's invasion 
of Cambodia last July 15 and multiple subsequent armed 
clashes (Ref B).  Sok An stated that withdrawal of troops and 
return to the situation found before last July 15 would go a 
long way to remedying the border dispute impasse.  Prime 
Minister Hun Sen appointed Sok An to negotiate with Thai 
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsupan on the border; talks 
might be scheduled for July, but success could depend on Thai 
parliament giving permission to a joint border demarcation 
committee at Preah Vihear.  Sok An requested U.S. assistance 
to "encourage both sides" to reach a resolution. END SUMMARY. 
 
Success Hampered by Thai Obstacles 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) Sok An recalled the helpful cooperation of the U.S. 
delegation to the Quebec City UNESCO inscription by consensus 
of Preah Vihear last July 7 (Ref D), that had culminated 
earlier successful meetings in Christchurch and Paris.  Now 
there was no more success and the source of the problem was 
the Thai claim on sovereign Cambodian territory.  Once the 
Thai referred to this as an "overlapping area" but now they 
claim it solely as Thai territory, he said.  Last July 15, 
Thailand sent military close to the temple and invaded 
Cambodia; they occupy Cambodian territory and don't want to 
discuss withdrawal of troops.  Although they say that they 
want to negotiate, the Thai raise problems such as the name 
of the temple, referred to in Khmer as Preah Vihear (PREE-ah 
vih-HEE-ah).  The 1962 judgment of the International Court of 
Justice which awarded the temple to Cambodia, referred 
exclusively to the "Temple of Preah Vihear" but the Thai 
insist on joint communiques referring to the temple as Khao 
Praviharn (the Thai name).  Sok An cited this as an example 
of Thai efforts to delay negotiations or render them 
unproductive.  He noted the unilateral Thai demarcation of 
the borderline in the vicinity of Preah Vihear was 
inconsistent with the 1908 map used by the ICJ.  Sok An 
complained that a bilateral team ready to begin demarcation 
in late May was halted when the Thai pulled out of a 
previously agreed mission, citing the excuse that they needed 
permission from the Thai parliament. 
 
¶3.  (C) Sok An noted that UNESCO delegations continued to go 
to the main Preah Vihear Temple complex (recognized to be in 
Cambodian territory) to continue to develop the required 
UNESCO World Heritage Management Plan.  Pulling out a 
foot-high stack of reports, he walked the Ambassador through 
completed and draft plans, including plans to preserve the 
site's "spectacular landscape environment" overlooking virgin 
Cambodian forest from the temple perched atop a cliff on the 
Dangrek Range.  Part of the landscape seen from that view was 
being referred to as the Sussman Rectangle, he noted, in 
honor of private consultant Richard Sussman, a retired U.S. 
National Park Service official. 
 
Reparations From April 3 Destruction of Market 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶4.  (C) Showing photographs of a marketplace (catering to 
tourists) from before and after the April 3 clash of arms 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000406  002 OF 003 
 
 
(Ref B), Sok An noted that Thai heavy weapons had set the 
market on fire, causing $2.5 million in property destruction. 
 Although Cambodia had paid reparations to Thailand of over 
$30 million due to the destruction of Thai property in 
anti-Thai riots in Phnom Penh in 2003, now the Thai were 
silent on the fire started by Thai weapons that ruined the 
livelihoods of 312 Cambodian families inside recognized 
Cambodian territory, he said.  A diplomatic note the Royal 
Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent directly to the 
Royal Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 11 has gone 
unanswered, he said.  The RGC is planning an archaeological 
excavation on the area of the razed market, and will help 
restore the market with a well-laid out area of modern kiosks 
suitable to the environment.  UNESCO was well aware of this 
destruction, he said and UNESCO Director General Koichura 
Matsura had issued a statement of concern on April 4, 
deploring the loss of life and calling for renewed 
negotiations on the border.  Flipping through a large photo 
album depicting multiple bullet pock-marks to the ancient 
Preah Vihear temple, Sok An noted that UNESCO DG Matsura had 
separately called on the international community to ensure 
Preah Vihear's protection. 
 
Plans Going Forward... 
---------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) In the meantime, Cambodia was developing its national 
plan to resettle the market families and those from a 
separate village that had sprung up within the panoramic 
view.  These 800 families would be relocated to a model 
village 10 kilometers distant where Sok An had just helped 
build the first 5X10-meter wooden house, each of which would 
be situated on 5000 square meters of land.  An 
inter-ministerial committee was ensuring that water, a 
school, a health center, pagoda, and modern market would all 
be located on this new land concession.  Multiple ministries 
-- water resources, land management, interior, agriculture -- 
were actively involved and the Cambodian Mine Action Center 
had been called in to conduct humanitarian de-mining.  (NOTE: 
Preah Vihear and the surrounding area was one of the last 
Khmer Rouge strongholds attached to then KR headquarters at 
Anlong Veng, which held out until 1998.  END NOTE.) 
 
...But Not Without the Help of the U.S. 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Sok An painted a picture of an active Cambodian team 
well served by international consultants, intent on creating 
a strong Management Plan for the Preah Vihear UNESCO World 
Heritage Site.  He said that the U.S. could help by 
addressing a number of issues in Cambodian-Thai bilateral 
relations and by "encouraging both sides" to take action. 
Cambodia was the victim of an invasion on July 15, and 
although Cambodia has tried to negotiate several times, these 
negotiation have not gone forward.  Cambodia has taken the 
view that slow negotiations are better than no negotiations, 
but both sides need the intention to go forward, he said. 
Cambodia enjoyed the warm support of the U.S. in Quebec and 
Cambodia hoped for the continued support of the U.S. 
Praising Thai Prime Minister Abhisit for agreeing to 
negotiation under the terms of a bilateral 2000 MOU on the 
border through a Joint Border Commission (JBC), Sok An was 
nonetheless skeptical that negotiations would move quickly. 
He said that he would meet with Thai DPM Suthep in July some 
time, but hinted that the bilateral demarcation team already 
agreed to by the JBC would have to start its work at Preah 
Vihear if any serious progress was to be made.  Describing 
Thai maneuvering as "very tricky," and noting that Thai 
military movements were persistent in the Preah Vihear area, 
he called on the U.S. to push for bilateral troop withdrawals 
to positions consistent with the pre-July 15 status quo ante. 
 
¶7.  (C) COMMENT: Post will forward to the U.S. delegation to 
the UNESCO Committee meeting in Seville some of the 
background materials provided by Sok An.  Following the trail 
of the bilateral negotiation on Preah Vihear is not always 
easy as it overlaps several Thai governments, some of which 
have timely reversed positions (e.g., a June 18, 2008 
bilateral communique that UNESCO decided should be 
disregarded).  Sok An frequently likes to cite Cambodian 
successes in verbal negotiations, even if not part of the 
official written record.  While we recognize the merit in 
UNESCO's decision to request the RGC to invite Thailand to 
join the ICC, absent serious Thai engagement on a diplomatic 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000406  003 OF 003 
 
 
resolution of the border issue, something has to give.  The 
ICC needs to be formed to start its work.  Similarly, Thai 
participation in the Management Plan would be ideal, but not 
as long as the presence of large numbers of Thai military 
personnel and equipment in the Preah Vihear area inhibit 
access to the site from Thailand.  Post strongly recommends 
that we once again actively engage both sides in the border 
dispute, as we began to do in 2008 (Ref C), but were unable 
to sustain given the political upheaval in Thailand. 
Withdrawal of troops is the critical first step toward a more 
permanent solution to the border dispute and will help avert 
further armed clashes. 
RODLEY