Cambodia to reopen Thai border temple gate

Cambodia plans to reopen a border gate with neighboring Thailand at a disputed temple this weekend, officials said Monday, indicating a thaw in relations between the two countries.

"I hope the gate will be opened very soon," general Chea Tara, a Cambodian deputy commander in chief who oversees troop operations at the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, told AFP.

Cambodian and Thai troops were working "on a good solution to resolve the problems along the border," Tara told AFP by telephone.

Cambodia closed the gate after Thai protesters rallied near the ruins in June 2008, but an official at the Preah Vihear authority, a government-run agency managing the temple, said there was a plan to open the gate Sunday.

The official, who asked not to be named, told AFP that the move came after the redeployment of both Cambodian and Thai soldiers away from the border.

He said the tense situation there had eased, and troops from both sides had covered up their bunkers in the area.

Ties between the neighboring countries have been strained since July 2008 by a series of deadly border clashes over land surrounding the temple after it was granted UN World Heritage status.

The Thai-Cambodia border has never been fully demarcated, partly because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

AFP