Tea Banh: No confrontation on Cambodia-Laos border

MINISTER of National Defence Tea Banh dismissed media reports on Sunday of a tense border confrontation between Cambodian and Lao troops, putting the incident down to a “misunderstanding” as the area had yet to be fully demarcated.

Some local media outlets published reports of a renewed con

frontation between Cambodian and Lao troops at the Tonle Pov river in the Mom Bei area of Preah Vihear province, saying Cambodia had increased its troop presence and was ready to move the residents of four villages in two communes in Chom Ksan district in case of an exchange of fire.

However, Banh rejected reports that the situation at the CambodiaLaos border was tense.

“There has been no confrontation as published [by some media outlets], and after the prime ministers of the two countries spoke, the situation will return to normal very soon.

“There were some words exchanged [between troops], but the two leaders spoke and found a solution so there is no problem,” Banh told The Post.

The part of the Cambodia-Laos border in question has yet to have border markers installed, so unaware Cambodians had planted crops, which Lao troops removed, he said.

The Cambodians then reported this to the Cambodian soldiers, which led to a misunderstanding.

“There was a bit of a misunderstanding, but t he situation is not serious and will return to normal soon. Unlike what has been published by some loca l media outlets, there is no problem.

We are in ta lks to get t he situation back to normal,” Banh said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed to people to not worr y about t he situation at t he border, say ing Cambodian and Lao troops had withdrawn after he had spoken direct ly wit h his Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith.

“At 9am on Saturday morning I spoke directly on the phone with Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith

Serith, who took part in the operation, said on Sunday that authorities were using machinery to tear down the damaged buildings, with only the sixstorey one remaining.

“We used four big machines to demol i sh t he da maged bu i ld i ngs so neig hbou r i ng pr oper t ie s wou ld not be af fected,” he said.

Some 200 Phnom Penh Municipal Administration and National Committee for Disaster Management personnel also took part in the operation.

“We expect that the six-storey building will be completely demolished on Monday,” Serith said.

A National Police report said the fire in the building owned by 63-year-old Kan Chantha was caused by an electrical fault.

Chantha declined to comment to The Post on Sunday.

Plumes of smoke from the fire were visible as far away as Wat Phnom.

A resident living across from the factory told The Post that the fire was the third to occur at the facility in four years – with the latest one being the largest as the first two had burned out on their own.

Vechna Som Sova n, a veteran fireman of 12 years, said it was fortunate the fire broke out in t he afternoon.

“If it had happened during the night when people were sleeping, maybe it would have been worse and people could have been hurt,” he said.

Police officials and firefighters credited the collective efforts of neighbours and factory workers from the neighbourhood in helping to contain the blaze.