Yudhoyono meets Abisit, Hun Sen to help reduce tension
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Sunday morning and will later in the day meet with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to help tensions between the two countries that share land borders.
No official statement was given about the bilateral meeting between Yudhoyono and Abhisit, but presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said earlier that Indonesia wanted to ease tensions at the border.
Dino said that Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa had communicated with his Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya to discuss about the border tension.
"We hope this tension can be resolved peacefully," Dino was quoted by Antara as saying.
Conflicts between Cambodia and Thailand have originated border from disputes around the famous old temple, Preah Vihear.
The World Court awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but sovereignty over the surrounding land has never been clearly resolved.
Tensions flared in July when UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, approved Cambodia's bid to have Preah Vihear named a World Heritage Site, leading some Thais to believe their claims to the surrounding land would be undermined.
Both sides have stepped up deployment of soldiers at the border since then, and deadly border classes have occasionally flared up.
Sun, 11/15/2009
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
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