Israeli tanks enter disputed area with Lebanon

Tension at the Israel-Lebanon border; Source: Daily Star

Two Israeli tanks crossed into a disputed area of land on the frontier with Lebanon on Thursday 14th April after several people were spotted in the border zone.

The alert was sounded after several people were seen in the area and it was later determined they were picking thyme and thistle.

Lebanon's Daily Star said the incident resulted in a two-hour standoff, which saw Israeli soldiers aim heavy artillery at Lebanese military and UN Personnel.

“At 7:50 am, two tanks belonging to the Israeli enemy went beyond the Technical Fence on the outskirts of Adaysseh border village in a disputed area before leaving at 9:30 a.m. toward the Occupied Territories,” a Lebanese army communiqué said.

“Army units deployed in the area took suitable field measures and the issue is being followed up in coordination with [the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon].”

AFP reports have said that one Israeli Merkava tanks entered four metres into the disputed area along the UN-drawn Blue Line before withdrawing. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) observed that one Israeli Defense Force (IDF) tank had crossed the Israel-erected Techical Fence and moved towards the Blue Line pillar marked BP36.

Another Israeli tank and other military vehicles were deployed in the area south of the Technical Fence. This prompted the Lebanese Army to mobilize with heavy artillery, and UNIFIL confirmed that a number of Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) personnel were deployed on the Lebanese side of the Blue Line.

According to the Daily Star, UNIFIL also sent reinforcements to the scene, and an Indonesian patrol with the international peacekeeping force was forced to wave the UN flag – an agreed gesture of pacification – when an Israeli patrol targeted them with heavy machine guns.

According to UNIFIL, no Blue Line violation was recorded.

The Blue Line is a UN-drawn border between the two countries, established in 2000. It is not an official international border, rather it marks the point Israel was required to withdraw from. There have been numerous incidents along the border in the decade since hostilities ceased and both sides have challenged the accuracy of the Blue Line in several locations.

Thursday's incident took place near the village of Adaysseh, which was the scene of a deadly border clash last August. Adaysseh sits a few meters from the Blue Line and Israel's Technical Fence. Last year's incident took place after Israeli troops cut down several trees in an area claimed by Lebanon. The clash resulted in the deaths of two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist, as well as a senior Israeli officer.

Lebanon routinely submits complaints to the UN Security Council over alleged Israeli violations of Resolution 1701, which stipulates that Lebanon's borders must not be breached. In addition to the presence of the tanks in disputed land, Lebanese media sources have also reported that 13 Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace on Thursday, flying over the southern villages of Alma Shaab and Rmeish.

“The warplanes [12 of them] performed circular maneuvers in the skies over many Lebanese areas before leaving [the airspace] at 9:55 am over the village of Rmeish,” the guidance directorate of the Lebanese Army said in the statement, adding that another warplane had violated Lebanon's airspace earlier in the day over Rmeish and circled over the south, Ryak, Baalbeck and Hermel before leaving.

UNIFIL commander Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas has been in contact with the command of both sides, stressing the importance of ensuring full respect for the Blue Line, reiterating the sensitivity of the Line and urging utmost caution in any actions that could be seen as provocative. He called on the parties to utilize the liaison and coordination mechanism through UNIFIL, particularly on matters relating to the Blue Line in order to minimize the scope for any misunderstandings or apprehensions that may increase tension and lead to escalation.

Sources: AFP, Daily Star, UNIFIL

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

South Sudan asks UN to send new peacekeeping force to border

Pagan Amum, Ban Ki-moon and SPLM North America representative Ezekiel Lol Gakouth 

The UN Security Council met on Monday 21st March to discuss the situation in Sudan, and Pagan Amum, secretary-general of the South's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) said he asked the council to consider deploying a new peacekeeping force at the border.

According to AllAfrica, the meeting was an unofficial sitting of the council, held in response to a request from a people's organisation in the US on the disputed Abyei region, although this has not been confirmed.

In a statement to Sudan's SUNA newspaper, Khalid Musa, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the request for an unofficial meeting reflects an 'unjustifiable trend towards escalation' on behalf of the South, resulting from the failure of some circles in South Sudan to solve their own political issues.

Musa said the Sudan's envoy to the UN had made available all the facts for the Security Council and reiterated his government's commitment to the peaceful solution of all issues.

Speaking after the meeting, Amum said that the UN would be involved in investigating the Northern National Congress Party's aid to the renegade general, George Athor, that the SPLM/A is currently fighting. The south has in recent weeks accused the north of working to destabilise the South, and has recently withdrawn from talks.

The two sides have also bickered over UN Mission in Sudan head Haile Menkerios's flying to Abyei on a UN helicopter with Ahmed Haroun, an NCP member who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.

Amum said that Menkerios was wrong for flying with Haroun, but according to Inner City Press, UN Peacekeeping Assistant Secretary-General Atul Khare criticised the SPLM for not granting it access.

South Sudan is preparing to declare its independence from Sudan in July, following an independence referendum in January, but the transition preparations have been overshadowed by violence in recent weeks. There has been considerable violence in the disputed border area of Abyei, as well as within South Sudan between supporters of rebel general Athor and the SPLA.

Amum said he asked the council to think about deploying a new peacekeeping force to the border, but it is not yet clear how that request was received.

Sources: Canadian Press, Inner City Press, AllAfrica

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

UN calls for 'permanent ceasefire' between Thailand and Cambodia

Thai FM Kasit Piromya (left) and Cambodian FM Hor Namhong in New York

The UN Security Council (UNSC) has called for a 'permanent ceasefire' between Thailand and Cambodia after a border dispute erupted into deadly clashes last week around a disputed Hindu temple.

 

The council insisted it would not intervene in the border dispute, and encouraged mediation efforts by Indonesia, the current president of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Clashes broke out on 4th February around the base of the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, and lasted for 3 days. The temple and the area around it has been the cause of great tension between the two neighbours. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in 1962 that it lay in Cambodian territory, but it did not rule on the 4.6sq km at the base of the temple, where the main access lies, which has been in dispute ever since.

Cambodia sought – and was awarded – world heritage status for the temple in 2008, despite the wishes of Thailand which wanted the temple to have joint Cambodian-Thai status. Border clashes broke out soon after, and tension in the border region has been present since.

Displaced people leave the border region

The most recent spate of violence was, however, the most extreme. At least 10 people died and some 30,000 people were displaced from villages in the border region. Additionally, the temple itself was damaged in one of the Thai artillery offensives. Both sides claimed the other side started attacking first.

Cambodia last week submitted petitions to the UNSC calling for international intervention in handling the issue. Thai, Cambodia and Indonesian representatives met with the UNSC in New York on Monday 14th February.

Council president Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil made the call for a ceasefire after a closed door session with foreign ministers of Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.

"Members of the Security Council urge the parties to establish a permanent ceasefire and to implement it fully," she said.

Ms Viotti said council members expressed "great concern" over the clashes and "called on the two sides to display maximum restraint and avoid any action that may aggravate the situation."

Cambodia has been trying to raise the border fighting issue to the UN platform since 2008, but without success. Thailand has rejected third party intervention and mediation, and despite the current violence, it appears the position has not changed.

Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya, speaking early on 16th February to the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) said Thailand supports a 'permanent ceasefire' agreement and that the country could implement it soon after defense ministers of both countries hold talks.

"Thailand has proposed to hold Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) meeting on Feb 27 and Cambodia should express her sincerity to solve border issue by joining the talks," Thai FM said. At the UNSC meeting, he insisted the two countries could resolve the dispute themselves.

He also said that Cambodia's development plans for the area surrounding the Preah Vihear temple should be halted until negotiations on border demarcation could reach agreement.

"The listing of Preah Vihear temple was seen as the source of fresh tension and had frequently led to cross-border clashes," Kasit said.

On Sunday 13th February, Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva laid the blame for the crisis on UNESCO's decision to declare the temple ruins a world heritage site even though the land around it is disputed.

Cambodia has taken a tougher line, with foreign ministry spokeman Koy Kuong saying UNESCO was not to blame.

"The war was not caused by the listing of the temple, but by Thailand's invasion of Cambodian territory," said the Cambodian spokesman.

"They want not only the territory, but also the temple."

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen even went as far as calling the clashes a 'real war', the first time the term has been used to refer to clashes between Thailand and Cambodia.

ASEAN president and Indonesia foreign minister Marty Natalegawa is using the issue to try to raise the standing of ASEAN. His call for a "brief, urgent and informal" meeting with his ASEAN counterparts on 22nd February in Jakarta is an anticipation of a mandate from the Security Council for ASEAN, under his leadership, to take up "regional" responsibility.

A more systematic approach to conflict resolution and dispute settlements as outlined in the ASEAN Charter as well as those contained in the ASEAN Political and Security Community blueprint are likely to be discussed and put into practice.

In recent international security issues, the UNSC has often made use of Article 52 of the UN Charter to share burden and delegate responsibility to existing regional arrangements. ASEAN members have traditionally avoided taking collective responsibility, but it appears that is now changing.

Sources: Bangkok Post, Xinhua, China Post, BBC News

For more information on this dispute, see the Menas Borders website, here.