Break in Preah Vihear Tension?

The Thai military is pulling back from Preah Vihear, according to some online reports. Plus, there’s this translation of the Khmer-language paper Rasmei Kampuchea via the BBC.

According to a report by Konthea, Kulen, and Phirum in the 19 May issue of Phnom Penh Reaksmei Kampuchea, a pro-government Cambodian-language daily, a co-defence minister as well as high-ranking army officials in Preah Vihear Province said on 18 May that the "400 black-clad Thai soldiers, encroaching upon the white zone, have agreed to pull out in the next two-three days, following talks conducted by the authorities of the two neighbouring countries".

The report says that in the National Assembly on 18 May, Deputy Prime Minister and Co-Minister of National Defence Tie Banh "clarified the intrusion by Thai military planes into Cambodia's territory and the deployment of Thai troops in the white zone", at the border adjoining Preah Vihear Temple, which is "muddying the already strained relations between the two countries deeper". He said, "The Thai troops have agreed to pull out completely in the next two-three days." He maintained that the Defence Ministry was not "too negligent" especially regarding issues of territory.

As for State Secretary of Foreign Affairs Long Visalo, the report adds, he regarded the Thai troops' activities in the Preah Vihear region as "against the memorandum of understanding the two countries signed in 2000, for Cambodia was not notified although the troops have been deployed on Thai territory".

The report also says senior military officials of Military Region 4 told Reaksmei Kampuchea over the phone in the afternoon of 18 May 2005 that all the invading black-clad Thai soldiers would "pull back in the next two-three days, after talks were held by the Cambodian and Thai [authorities] in the region of O Smach."

Lt-Gen Chea Man, commander of the Fourth Military Region, said Cambodian border authorities had held talks with their Thai counterparts in Banteay Meanchey Province's O Smach District and that they "had reached an agreement that all the Thai troops would pull out of the Preah Vihear border in the next two-three days".

We’ll believe it when we read it in The Cambodia Daily.