"The existence of the team must really be clear concerning the number of its personnel and the level of its responsibility," Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said after opening an ASEAN Defense Senior Officials Meeting (ASDOM +) here on Thursday.
When the first conflict erupted, the UN Security Council suggested that it e be solved within the extended ASEAN family.
As ASEAN chairman, Indonesia has conducted a meeting in Bogor, West Java, to discuss discuss the guidelines for the handling of the conflict by sending a peace-keeping force to the border.
But Purnomo said the dispatch of Indonesia`s peace-keeping force to Thai, Cambodian border would not be conducted if the conflicting parties did not accept the presence of the force, called "Indonesian Observer Team".
"If the conflicting parties namely Cambodia and Thailand reject the Indonesian Observer Team, it would not be sent to the border," Purnomo said.
The minister added that the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia has widened eastwards to about 150 kilometers away.
"The widening conflict is also discussed in the guidelines to be proposed by Indonesia to know if the number of force has to be increased," Purnomo said.
According to him, the meeting of the two countries troops commanders was also a positive step in the solution to the border conflict.
"We are going to wait. If the two countries agree on the guidelines that have been made, the Indonesian Observer Team will soon be sent to the border," Purnomo said. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
