Cambodia complained to the U.N. Security Council that Thai forces have violated its territory near a World Heritage Site temple, as more than 4,000 troops from the two sides were deployed in the border region Sunday. The two countries were to hold talks Monday in Thailand aimed at resolving the dispute, but a Cambodian general said he had little hope they would succeed, according to a report of the Associated Press. Cambodia's mission at the United Nations submitted a letter to the chairman of the Security Council and the chairman of the General Assembly to «draw their attention to the current situation on the Cambodian-Thai border,» Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said Sunday. «Cambodia is not asking for U.N. intervention. We still stick to Prime Minister Hun Sen's instructions to try to solve the problem peacefully between the two sides,» the minister said. The conflict over territory surrounding the ancient Preah Vihear Hindu temple escalated when UNESCO recently approved Cambodia's application to have the complex named a World Heritage Site. Thai activists say the new status will undermine Thailand's claim to nearby land. The tension, which began Tuesday, is centered on the compound of a Buddhist temple near the Preah Vihear temple complex. Cambodia and Thailand both claim the compound. In his letter Friday to the Security Council, Cambodian U.N. Ambassador Sea Kosal said the action by Thai troops was aimed at creating «a de facto overlapping area that legally does not exist on Cambodian soil.» A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday.
