UN hands over original map to Cambodia for border line verification

The United Nations delivered an original map to Cambodia on Thursday after Prime Minister Hun Sen requested it last month to verify the authenticity of the map his government is using to demarcate border line with Vietnam.

Mereani Keleti Vakasisikakala, acting president of the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library, handed over the map to Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong at a ceremony here.

Hun Sen borrowed the map from the UN to verify with the map his government is using to demarcate border line with Vietnam after lawmakers of opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) have accused the government of using a wrong map to demarcate border line with Vietnam.

Hor Namhong said the map verification was to clear all doubts and to show the public that the map the government is using is authentic.

After the handover ceremony, the map from the UN and the government's map had been verified whether they were identical or different.

"We all have seen that all the maps are exactly the same," Hor Namhong announced after a two-hour map verification, "This clearly shows that the government's map is authentic."

Opposition CNRP's spokesman Ou Chanrith, who attended the ceremony, told reporters after the event that it was too early for the party to conclude if the map from the UN and the government's map are identical or different.

Border issue between Cambodia and Vietnam has become a sensitive topic in Cambodia in the last few months after CNRP's lawmakers have accused the Phnom Penh government of using a wrong map to demarcate border line with Vietnam and led their supporters to inspect disputed border areas. Some trips ended up with violent clashes between civilians of the two countries.

Cambodia shares a 1,270 km border in the east with Vietnam. To date, about 83 percent of the border demarcation between the two neighbors has been completed.