Community leaders who took part in the evacuation drills were from Ta Phraya, Khok Sung, Aranyaprathet and Khlong Hat districts, reports the Bangkok Post. During the exercises, they learned where to guide their villagers to safety in the event of a border emergency.
Sa Kaeo governor Parinya Phothisat said leaders of sub-districts and villages of the four districts were prepared for real evacuations in case of necessity.
The governor said that the evacuation drill was an internal affair and had nothing to do with efforts to evict Cambodians from their encroachment areas in Ban Nong Chan and Ban Nong Ya Kaeo villages of Khok Sung district.
Meanwhile, Maj Gen Benchapol Dechatiwong na Ayutthaya, commander of the Burapa Task Force who also supervised the evacuation drills, said the army was clearing landmines from the encroached areas for public safety and for their future use by Thai people.
The commander acknowledged the use of loudspeakers in border areas under the task force’s supervision, saying he was unconcerned about Cambodia’s complaint regarding the noise.
Maj Gen Benchapol said the measure was intended to keep Thai soldiers alert while on duty within Thai territory and should not be an issue for Cambodia.
He was apparently referring to the border areas of Ban Nong Chan and Ban Nong Ya Kaeo villages, where some Cambodians have continued to live since taking refuge there to escape the civil war more than four decades ago.
The First Army Region said yesterday that Thai officials used loudspeakers to inform local Cambodians that their forebears had settled in the Sa Kaew villages they were now trying to claim after escaping from the Cambodian Civil War.
Authorities also used the loudspeakers to warn Cambodian encroachers that they were illegally occupying Thai forest areas, and were thus liable to a jail term of up to 15 years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht in accordance with the Forests Act of Thailand.