DTN News: Cambodia TODAY March 7, 2010 ~ Cambodia Tests Rockets To Guard Against 'Invaders'
Source: DTN News / AFP
(NSI News Source Info) KAMPONG CHHNANG, Cambodia - March 7, 2010: Cambodia mounted Thursday a rare public test of rockets to protect agai
nst "invaders", amid a lingering military standoff over disputed territory with neighbouring Thailand.
In the first such public drill since the country's civil war ended more than a decade ago, troops fired some 200 rockets from truck-mounted launchers at an airfield 180 kilometres (about 110 miles) from the Thai border.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the exercise was "not about showing any military muscles", even though he is at loggerheads with the Thai government, but said it was to prepare for the defence of his country.
"This is a normal drill and preparation to defend the nation in case there is an invasion," Hun Sen said during a separate ceremony in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh shortly after the rockets were fired.
Hun Sen has recently made a number of fiery speeches railing against Thai "invaders" and "thieves" in disputed territory around an 11th century temple on their border, where there have been deadly clashes in the past two years.
Shortly before the weapons were fired in front of assembled media and top brass at Kampong Chhnang, some 100 kilometres from Phnom Penh, defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat also said the drill was not meant as a show of force.
"It is about the strengthening of the abilities of our forces in order to fulfil the duties of national defence against invaders," Chhum Socheat added.
Muffled thumps could be heard as salvos of rockets landed.
Hun Sen declared that the test was a success, saying targets 20, 30 and 40 kilometres away from the launch site were hit.
"(We) have had these kinds of weapons since the 1980s, but we have stored them in warehouses for too long. So now the weapons needed to be taken out to test fire to see whether they exploded or not," Hun Sen said.
Cambodia and Thailand have been locked in nationalist tensions and a troop standoff at their disputed border since July 2008, when Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.
Four soldiers were killed in clashes in the temple area in 2008 and three more in a gunbattle last April. Smaller flare-ups continue to be reported between troops in the area.
The Thai-Cambodia border has never been fully demarcated, partly because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia, which ended in 1998.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, although its main entrance lies in Thailand. The exact boundary through the surrounding grounds remains in dispute.
Relations plunged further in November after Hun Sen appointed ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser and then refused to extradite him to Thailand, which he fled to avoid a jail term for corruption.
Thailand's government downplayed the Cambodian rocket drill and said there had been no troop reinforcements on the disputed border.
"I don't think Cambodia wants to intimidate us, as we have sent them a clear signal that we don't want the dispute to go out of control and affect people in both countries," deputy Thai prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban said.
Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the drill was "nothing to do with us, they are not firing into our territory."
Source: DTN News / AFP
(NSI News Source Info) KAMPONG CHHNANG, Cambodia - March 7, 2010: Cambodia mounted Thursday a rare public test of rockets to protect agai
nst "invaders", amid a lingering military standoff over disputed territory with neighbouring Thailand.
In the first such public drill since the country's civil war ended more than a decade ago, troops fired some 200 rockets from truck-mounted launchers at an airfield 180 kilometres (about 110 miles) from the Thai border.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the exercise was "not about showing any military muscles", even though he is at loggerheads with the Thai government, but said it was to prepare for the defence of his country.
"This is a normal drill and preparation to defend the nation in case there is an invasion," Hun Sen said during a separate ceremony in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh shortly after the rockets were fired.
Hun Sen has recently made a number of fiery speeches railing against Thai "invaders" and "thieves" in disputed territory around an 11th century temple on their border, where there have been deadly clashes in the past two years.
Shortly before the weapons were fired in front of assembled media and top brass at Kampong Chhnang, some 100 kilometres from Phnom Penh, defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat also said the drill was not meant as a show of force.
"It is about the strengthening of the abilities of our forces in order to fulfil the duties of national defence against invaders," Chhum Socheat added.
Muffled thumps could be heard as salvos of rockets landed.
Hun Sen declared that the test was a success, saying targets 20, 30 and 40 kilometres away from the launch site were hit.
"(We) have had these kinds of weapons since the 1980s, but we have stored them in warehouses for too long. So now the weapons needed to be taken out to test fire to see whether they exploded or not," Hun Sen said.
Cambodia and Thailand have been locked in nationalist tensions and a troop standoff at their disputed border since July 2008, when Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.
Four soldiers were killed in clashes in the temple area in 2008 and three more in a gunbattle last April. Smaller flare-ups continue to be reported between troops in the area.
The Thai-Cambodia border has never been fully demarcated, partly because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia, which ended in 1998.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, although its main entrance lies in Thailand. The exact boundary through the surrounding grounds remains in dispute.
Relations plunged further in November after Hun Sen appointed ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser and then refused to extradite him to Thailand, which he fled to avoid a jail term for corruption.
Thailand's government downplayed the Cambodian rocket drill and said there had been no troop reinforcements on the disputed border.
"I don't think Cambodia wants to intimidate us, as we have sent them a clear signal that we don't want the dispute to go out of control and affect people in both countries," deputy Thai prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban said.
Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the drill was "nothing to do with us, they are not firing into our territory."
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