CAMBODIA PREPARING FOR DOWNGRADED THAI VISIT;

UNCLAS PHNOM PENH 000840 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, P, D NSC FOR L. PHU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KTIA MOPS TH CB SUBJECT: CAMBODIA PREPARING FOR DOWNGRADED THAI VISIT; STILL FOCUSED ON BORDER ISSUES REF: PHNOM PENH 814 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. ¶1. (SBU) Cambodian officials learned late October 10 that the Thai Prime Minister has postponed his official visit to Cambodia originally scheduled for October 12-13. Nonetheless, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) is awaiting the visit of Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat, who was apparently delegated by the Thai PM to make the visit. MFA note verbales from the RGC announcing official arrival times of the Thai PM's delegation had already been issued when the news of the official postponement arrived. The Thai embassy's first secretary had just received the word himself and could only speculate that internal Thai matters had detained the PM at home. ¶2. (SBU) Senior Minister and RGC Chair of the Joint Border Commission Var Kimhong told A/DCM that RGC Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong would receive his counterpart the morning of October 13 and that the RGC planned to raise bilateral border issues. No follow-on meetings had yet been planned; Var Kim Hong noted any detailed talks on the Thai-Cambodian border would depend on what transpired between the two foreign ministers. ¶3. (SBU) The talks come as both sides begin again to ramp up troop presence along Cambodia's northern border with Thailand in several patches of disputed territory along the Dangrek Range. The most prominent of these disputed areas is near to the ancient Khmer Preah Vihear temple awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962 and designated a UNESCO World Heritage site last July 7. A brief clash on October 3 and the serious injury of two Thai soldiers from mine blasts on October 6 have contributed to tensions along the border. (NOTE: In 2007, 357 Cambodians suffered casualties from mine blasts and the vast majority of these occurred in the northwestern and northern provinces which were heavily mined by Khmer Rouge forces up until their surrender in the Preah Vihear area in 1998. Tourists to Preah Vihear who wander off into the surrounding landscape have also suffered mine injuries, due to lack of knowledge by RGC authorities of Khmer Rouge mine fields and incomplete clearance of old mines. END NOTE.) CAMPBELL