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              ICJ Awards Part of Disputed Temple Site to Cambodia

   by VOA News

   [1]The UN's top court has ruled that part of the contested area around
   an ancient temple on the Thai - Cambodian border belongs to Cambodia.
   The International Court of Justice ruled Monday that Cambodia has
   sovereignty over the promontory immediately surrounding the
   900-year-old Preah Vihear Hindu temple.
   The prime ministers of both Cambodia and Thailand have vowed to comply
   with the verdict, but analysts in both countries have expressed concern
   that the decision has the potential to provoke violence.
   Thailand has acknowledged that the temple itself belongs to Cambodia,
   but Bangkok has long claimed much of the land surrounding the facility,
   including a key access road.
   As recently as 2011, Cambodia and Thailand exchanged artillery fire
   along the border. Clashes that year killed dozens of people and forced
   tens of thousands to flee nearby villages.
   The Khmer temple was named by UNESCO in 2008 as a World Heritage Site.
   The territorial dispute originated in the early years of the 20th
   century, when Cambodia was part of French Indochina. In 1962, the ICJ
   referenced agreements between the French and Siam (as Thailand was
   internationlly known until 1939) in awarding the temple itself to
   Cambodia, but left unresolved the ownership of 460 hectares of land
   surrounding the sacred site.
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   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/un-awards-disputed-temple-site-to-cam
   bodia/1787655.html

References

   1. http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/151/17704.pdf
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/un-awards-disputed-temple-site-to-cambodia/1787655.html