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UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday expressed concern about the escalating border tension between Cambodia and Thailand and urged the two neighbours to show restraint.
"The Secretary General is... concerned about the current escalation of tensions between the two countries, including the build-up of troops," a UN statement said.
Ban "calls for restraint on both sides and hopes that this matter can be resolved peacefully and by diplomatic means," the text added.
Earlier Monday, senior Thai and Cambodian defence officials emerged from talks with no resolution to a military standoff near an ancient temple which has seen troops mass on the border.
After nearly eight hours of closed-door meetings in an eastern Thai town, the two sides agreed only that force must not be used to resolve the nearly week-long crisis over disputed land near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.
More than 500 Thai and 1,000 Cambodian troops are stationed around a small Buddhist pagoda in disputed land on a mountain slope leading to Preah Vihear, which is owned by Cambodia.
Both sides have shown willingness to peacefully defuse the dispute, which saw weapons briefly drawn last week, but neither has shown any sign of backing down on their claims to the land near the Hindu temple ruins.
- AFP/yb
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