The prime minister of Cambodia has issued a six-day ultimatum to Laos to pull back its troops who have allegedly trespassed into a border area or face a military response.

Hun Sen said on Friday that about 30 Laos soldiers crossed into Cambodian territory in April in northern Stung Treng province despite repeated requests by his government for them to leave the area.

He said he had been in touch with the government of Laos.

"I appeal to Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith to withdraw troops from Cambodian territory without any conditions," Hun Sen said during a ceremony in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Military commanders have been ordered to deploy troops along with multiple rocket launchers to the border area, he said, giving Laos the "ultimatum" of pulling out by August 17.

"We are friends, but a friend cannot step on [our] head," he said, adding he was running out of patience with "the invasion" by Laos troops.

"We are not waging war, but we just want our land back."

Calls and emails to the Laos embassy in Phnom Penh were not returned.

Cambodia and Laos share a 540km land border, but large tracts have not been officially demarcated, leading to territorial squabbles.

The Laos border is hard to police with increasing amounts of drugs - mainly methamphetamine and heroin - being moved from Laos into Cambodia.</s>Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen accused neighboring Laos on Friday of sending troops into Cambodian land in April and said they must leave by an August 17 deadline and that he was mobilizing soldiers to the border area.

Cambodia and Laos on Saturday on Saturday agreed to withdraw their troops from the border between them Cambodia had accused Laotian troops of encroaching on its territory.

Hun Sen said a border commission from both countries would begin working in the area once troops have withdrawn.

“We are not waging war, but we just want our land back”, he said, adding that he was running out of patience with “the invasion” by Laos troops.

An official at the Lao embassy in Phnom Penh told Reuters on Friday the border area was the subject of a territorial and demarcation dispute.

“I’ve ordered the authorities involved to withdraw troops from that area by tomorrow morning”, Thongloun said. He urged Cambodians not to be alarmed if they see military forces on the move.

“I appeal to Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith to withdraw troops from Cambodian territory without any conditions”, Hun Sen said during a ceremony in Phnom Penh. “We don’t want to have a dispute with Laos, but we also can not allow the situation remain like this anymore”. Later on Friday Cambodia’s foreign ministry announced that Hun Sen would fly to the Laos capital Vientiane on Saturday to meet with his counterpart to hash out a solution.

Hun Sen said he had talked over the phone in recent months with the Laotian prime minister and recently sent him a letter but hadn’t received an official reply.

“Our biggest success is that there is no dispute that can’t be solved”, Hun Sen. His party won decisively in the 2008 general election, but lost seats in 2013 and is expected to face a strong challenge next year.</s>PHNOM PENH: Cambodia and Laos reached an agreement on Saturday for Lao soldiers to pull back from their shared border after Cambodia accused Laos of sending troops into its territory, the leaders of both countries said.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday dispatched forces to the border and issued an ultimatum for Laos to withdraw the soldiers by Thursday.

The Cambodian strongman flew to Vientiane on Saturday to hold urgent talks with Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.

In a news conference after the meeting, broadcast live on Hun Sen's Facebook page with simultaneous translation into Khmer, the Lao leader said he had ordered the withdrawal.

"I've ordered the authorities involved to withdraw troops from that area by tomorrow morning," Thongloun Sisoulith said.

Thongloun said he was sorry he had not responded to an Aug. 2 letter from Hun Sen seeking withdrawal of the troops.

"Anyway, the discussion today was frank and friendly, so that the area would not lead to forces being confrontational," he said.

Thongloun did not say whether Laos admitted to having sent troops into Cambodia, which says about 30 soldiers from Laos crossed into its province of Stung Treng in April.

Hun Sen said he had also ordered Cambodian forces sent to the border - truck-mounted rocket launchers and ground troops - to pull back in response to Laos's agreement to withdraw.

"Our biggest success is that there is no dispute that can't be solved," Hun Sen said at the news conference.

"Moments ago, I already ordered all troops that were mobilised yesterday to go back to their positions."

Hun Sen said a border commission from both countries would begin working in the area once troops have withdrawn.

An official at the Lao embassy in Phnom Penh told Reuters on Friday the border area was the subject of a territorial and demarcation dispute.

Laos wants Cambodia to stop clearing land there for road-building and allow checks by inspection panels from both countries, the official said.</s>Phnom Penh (Cambodia): Cambodia’s prime minister on Friday issued a six-day ultimatum to Laos to pull back troops who have allegedly trespassed into a border area or face a military response.

Around 30 Laos soldiers have been stationed in Cambodia’s northern Stung Treng province since April despite repeated requests by Phnom Penh for them to leave, according to strongman premier Hun Sen.

“I appeal to Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith to withdraw troops from Cambodian territory without any conditions,” Hun Sen said during a ceremony in Phnom Penh.

Military commanders have been ordered to deploy troops along with multiple rocket launchers in the border area, he said, giving Laos the “ultimatum” of pulling out by 17 August.

“We are friends, but a friend cannot step on (our) head,” said the mercurial leader, who often leans on ultra-nationalist rhetoric to drum up support, especially ahead of election season.

“We are not waging war, but we just want our land back,” he said, adding that he was running out of patience with “the invasion” by Laos troops.

According to Hun Sen, the Laos soldiers crossed into Cambodia to halt the construction of a road.

Later on Friday, Cambodia’s foreign ministry announced that Hun Sen would fly to the Laos capital Vientiane on Saturday to meet with his counterpart to hash out a solution.

Cambodia and Laos share a 540-km (335-mile) land border but large tracts have not been officially demarcated, leading to territorial squabbles.

The border is hard to police, with increasing amounts of drugs—mainly methamphetamine and heroin—being moved from Laos into Cambodia.

For years, Cambodia was locked in a bitter territorial dispute with Thailand over the ancient Preah Vihear temple near their shared border, with 28 people killed in the worst clashes in 2011.

In 2013 the United Nations’ top court ruled that the area belonged to Cambodia and ordered Thai troops to leave.</s>Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, has issued an ultimatum to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to withdraw its troops without condition from the Cambodian territory, not later than Aug. 17, 2017.

 The Cambodian premier gave the six-day ultimatum while presiding over the official nomination of H.E. Dr. Sok Touch as President of the Royal Academy of Cambodia held at the Peace Palace, Phnom Penh this morning.

 According to Samdech Techo Hun Sen, a group of Lao armed forces crossed the Sekong River into Cambodia’s territory by boat in April to stop Cambodia from building a road along the border in Stung Treng, a northeastern province bordering with Attapeu province of Laos.

 The Cambodian side asked its Lao counterpart at different levels to withdraw the troops several times, but the Lao side seemed ignoring this request. “If necessary, I will fly to talk with my Lao counterpart about this troop withdrawal,” said the Cambodian premier.

 Cambodia does not want war, but we need to protect our territory, he underlined.

 Samdech Techo Hun Sen also appealed to all his compatriots not to worry when they see the deployment of Cambodian troops who will be sent to Stung Treng province.

 On Aug. 2, Prime Minister Hun Sen sent a letter to his Lao counterpart H.E. Thongloun Sisoulith, asking the Lao side to withdraw its troops from the area near O’ Alay and O’ Ta Ngav area, at Stung Treng-Attapeu border. But he has not so far received any reply from the Lao side.</s>Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen called on Laos on Friday to withdraw troops he said have been present in Cambodia since April, threatening military action against the neighboring country if its soldiers are not pulled out by Aug. 17, Cambodian media and other sources said.

Speaking at a ceremony in the capital Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said that he has ordered a temporary halt to road construction in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung Treng province challenged by Laos to give its soldiers a chance to leave.

Residents of Stung Treng should not be alarmed, though, if they see Cambodian troops mass in the area to take back the disputed land, Hun Sen said.

“I can’t let anyone take an inch of Cambodian land, and Cambodia won’t take anyone else’s land either,” the prime minister said.

“I urge Laos to withdraw its troops from Cambodia unconditionally,” he said.

Reported by Sonorng Kher for RFA’s Khmer Service and by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Sarada Taing and Bounchanh Mouangkham. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Copyright © 1998-2017, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. http://www.rfa.org.</s>Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who threatened Friday to use force over a border crisis with neighboring Laos, announced Saturday that the situation had been peacefully resolved after he made a lightning trip for face-to-face talks with his Laotian counterpart.

Hun Sen, an enthusiastic user of social media, announced on his Facebook page that he had successfully negotiated with Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith to have a small contingent of Laotian troops withdrawn from disputed frontier territory, with Cambodia also to remove its soldiers. His Facebook page showed video of the two leaders at a news conference.

Hun Sen flew to the Laotian capital, Vientiane, on Saturday morning, a trip announced just the day before, when he had set an Aug. 17 deadline for Laotian troops to withdraw or be confronted by Cambodia's military.

News media close to Hun Sen's government had shown troops in the Phnom Penh area mobilizing Friday night.

Cambodia and Laos have generally warm relations as both had fraternal communist governments after 1975. Hun Sen said Friday that the problem began in April when about 30 Laotian soldiers entered a no-man's-land on the border to stop Cambodian military engineers from building a road on what Cambodia maintains is its territory in Stung Treng province.

Hun Sen's critics have accused him of using past border crises with Thailand to boost his popularity.

Cambodia's last major border disputes were with Thailand from 2008 to 2011, and were widely seen as benefiting Hun Sen politically, as he was able to portray himself as a nationalist protector of the country's territory. His party won a strong victory in the 2008 general election, but lost seats in 2013 and is expected to face a strong challenge next year.

The state news agency of Laos, KPL, reported Thongloun's remarks on the agreement by both sides to withdraw military forces from the disputed area between the Laotian province of Attapeu and Cambodia's Stung Treng.

"Today, we had frank talks in a friendly manner and in order to restrain the situation in that area from being intensified and consequently developing into military confrontations, I and Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen have agreed that the Lao side will withdraw the remaining military troops that have been left there since Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen ordered the stoppage of building an access road in that area," the Laotian prime minister was quoted as saying.

He said he had ordered his country's soldiers to withdraw no later than Sunday morning, and that Hun Sen was likewise ordering his troops to stand down.

Thongloun said at their joint news conference that the two sides agreed that their foreign ministries and border committees would continue talks on demarcating the border where markers have not yet been installed.</s>Prime Minister Hun Sen had accused Laos of sending 30 soldiers across the border and warned of a military response.

Cambodia and Laos reached an agreement for Lao soldiers to pull back from their shared border, easing the threat of a military confrontation.

The announcement came after Prime Minister Hun Sen flew to Vientiane on Saturday to hold urgent talks with Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.

Hun Sen on Friday dispatched forces to the border and issued an ultimatum for Laos to withdraw the soldiers.

In a news conference after the meeting, the Lao leader said he had ordered the withdrawal.

"I've ordered the authorities involved to withdraw troops from that area by tomorrow morning," Thongloun said.

Thongloun said he was sorry he had not responded to an August 2 letter from Hun Sen seeking the troop pullback.

"Anyway, the discussion today was frank and friendly, so that the area would not lead to forces being confrontational," he said.

Thongloun did not say whether Laos admitted to having sent troops into Cambodia, which says about 30 soldiers from Laos crossed into its province of Stung Treng in April.

Hun Sen said he had also ordered truck-mounted rocket launchers and ground troops to pull back in response to Laos' agreement to withdraw.

"Our biggest success is that there is no dispute that can't be solved," Hun Sen. "Moments ago, I already ordered all troops that were mobilised yesterday to go back to their positions."

Laos wants Cambodia to stop clearing land along the border for road-building and allow checks by inspection panels from both countries.</s>PHNOM PENH
• Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday accused neighbouring Laos of sending troops into Cambodian territory in April, and set an Aug 17 deadline for their departure, warning that he was mobilising soldiers to the border area.

Cambodia and communist Laos are key allies of giant northern neighbour China, backing its "One Belt, One Road" drive to build regional infrastructure, but it was not immediately clear how their dispute would affect the plans.

Mr Hun Sen said at a ceremony in the Cambodian capital that he had been in touch with the government in Laos about 30 soldiers from Laos who had crossed into the area, where some remained during the daytime.

"I can no longer keep patience," he said. "It's not right that we fight each other, but if they don't withdraw, we must do it... We don't declare war, we just ask to get our own land back."

Laos and Cambodia have a territorial and border demarcation dispute, said an official at the Laos Embassy in Phnom Penh.

"We have not yet agreed the border line with each other," said the official, who declined to be identified. "A border commission has not come to check it."

Cambodia should stop clearing the area for road-building activities in order to allow checks by inspection panels from both countries, he said.

China could help resolve the dispute, said an official from a Cambodian think-tank.

"China has influence on the two countries, and if they want to solve it, only China can help," said Mr Ou Virak of the Future Forum think-tank. "This issue might lead to clashes, like when it happened with Thailand," he told Reuters.

In a long-running dispute, land around an ancient temple on the Thai-Cambodian border was the scene of sporadic gun and artillery battles, with 28 killed in the worst incident in 2011.

In November 2013, a United Nations court in The Hague ruled that part of the land around the Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia, and ordered Thailand to withdraw its forces from the area.

Last month, Thailand approved construction of the first phase of a US$5.5 billion (S$7.5 billion) railway to link its industrial eastern seaboard with southern China through landlocked Laos.

In another land dispute, Cambodia accuses neighbouring Vietnam of encroaching on its territory. The two sides met last year in Phnom Penh but the dispute remains unresolved.</s>Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen accused neighbouring Laos on Friday of sending troops into Cambodian land in April and said they must leave by an Aug. 17 deadline and that he was mobilising soldiers to the border area.

PHNOM PENH: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen accused neighbouring Laos on Friday of sending troops into Cambodian land in April and said they must leave by an Aug. 17 deadline and that he was mobilising soldiers to the border area.

Hun Sen said at a ceremony in Phnom Penh about 30 soldiers from Laos had crossed into the area and that some of them remained there during daytime. He said he had been in touch with the government in Laos.

"I can no longer keep patience," Hun Sen said. "It's not right that we fight each other but if they don't withdraw, we must do it ... We don't declare war, we just ask to get our own land back."
According to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, 30 Laotian soldiers cross the border into Steung Treng Province despite repeated requests for them to leave. Hun Sen gives Laos a six-day ultimatum to withdraw the soldiers or face a military response.