Protesters take to the streets in Si Sa Ket yesterday demonstrating against the Foreign Ministry’s support of Cambodia’s attempt to register ancient Preah Vihear as a Unesco World Heritage site.

Opposition says minister 'distorts' facts to cover favours to Phnom Penh in support of Thaksin Shinawatra business interests

Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama has distorted "crucial" facts about this country's position on the controversial Preah Vihear temple and should resign because of it, the opposition claims.

Its leader Abhisit Vejjajiva says Noppadon's assertion to the Constitution Court that the Surayud Chulanont government supported Cambo-dia's sole application for listing the temple as a World Heritage site is a distortion.

"After reading the document carefully, what PM Surayud signed was an agreement on our part to the submission by Cambodia of the temple as a World Heritage site with the big proviso that it must have 'active support' from Thailand," Abhisit says.

He says Thailand has been attempting to stall the World Heritage application and that Noppadon's unilateral action has now removed any doubt the country is actively behind Cambodia's position.

At odds

Abhisit says negotiations at the bureaucratic level between the two countries have been in difficulties since early this year. It was, until now, impossible, he says, for Cambo-dia to claim it had Thailand's support.

Nitya Pibulsonggram, foreign minister in Surayud's administration, yesterday clarified that at a previous meeting of the World Heritage Committee in New Zealand Thailand had agreed to the submission for listing in itself but not to its being put forward by Cambodia alone, which, he said, had led to the postponement until this year of the committee's consideration of Preah Vihear's listing.

"That is what happened at the previous meeting," he said. "After that came the pro-tests, in various forms and at different levels, to Cambodia's attempt to push its agenda."

Unofficial discussions at the Unesco's summit on the World Heritage assessment in Quebec, Canada, started yesterday. Noppadon says he'll now tell it Thailand has changed its position and withdrawn its support for the Cambodian listing, following an order from the Adminis-trative Court. He will forward the joint-listing proposal.