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PHNOM PENH - Anti-government protests in Bangkok have caused the Thai military to postpone talks to discuss withdrawing troops from a disputed border area near an ancient temple, a Cambodian general said Thursday.
Twenty soldiers from Cambodia and Thailand remain stationed at a small pagoda on a patch of disputed land near Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple, while 40 from both sides remain nearby.
Up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops pulled back from the area in mid-August, suggesting that an end to the sometimes tense month-long military stand-off could be near.
But Cambodian and Thai military officials scheduled to meet Friday to discuss a further pullback of troops postponed their talks at the request of Thai officials, Cambodian General Neang Phat, a secretary of state at the defence ministry, told AFP Thursday.
The request was made Wednesday afternoon, just hours after a 30-member Thai delegation arrived in Siem Reap to prepare for the talks, he said.
"They requested the meeting be postponed and they returned to Thailand," General Neang Phat said.
"They did not give any reasons. But we can know that it is because of their internal problems," he added.
Thai officials were not immediately available to confirm the suspension of the talks.
Thousands of Thai protesters seized a television station and occupied the main government compound in Bangkok this week in an attempt to force the resignation of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
Courts have ordered the protesters out of Government House and issued arrest warrants for nine of the movement's leaders, but the alliance of demonstrators against the Thai premier remained defiant Thursday.
General Neang Phat said it was not clear when Thai and Cambodian military officials would resume the meeting to discuss troop withdrawals.
Relations between the neighbours flared up last month after Preah Vihear was awarded world heritage status by the UN cultural body UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the ancient Khmer
temple. - AFP/vm
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