PRAYER FOR PEACE: Madam Bun Rany, wife of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, lighting candles during a prayer ceremony for peace at the Preah Vihear temple yesterday. -- PHOTO: AFP

The Cambodia Daily reported yesterday that the contaminated water is posing a hazard to monks and civilians living in the area.

Dr Pheng Nayim of the Institute Pasteur du Cambodge in Phnom Penh told the newspaper that she had tested water that allegedly came from three locations on the mountain, and had concluded that the pollution levels were dangerously high.

'The water had an increased level of arsenic and was also polluted by the extra human waste as a result of more military personnel and other people in the area,' she was quoted as saying.

If the monks or the people living there use this water, it could cause them to get illnesses such as typhoid and dysentery, she added.

The Preah Vihear temple straddles the Cambodian-Thai border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by Unesco's World Heritage Committee.

The area has become the focal point of a military stand-off between Thai and Cambodian troops in recent weeks after the flare-up of a long-dormant territorial dispute.

Yesterday, Cambodia held a prayer ceremony for peace at the ancient temple.

Some 1,000 people, including Buddhist monks, lit incense and prayed in the shadow of armed troops during the event, which was led by Prime Minister Hun Sen's wife Bun Rany.

'We are gathering here to pray to the souls of our ancestors, asking for peace,' said Tourism Minister Thong Khon, referring to Khmer kings who built the temple from the 9th to 11th centuries. 'We also pray for success in our defence of our territory.'

Madam Bun Rany thanked the soldiers for resisting what Cambodia says is Thai encroachment on a disputed patch of land next to the ruins.

The Prime Minister's wife 'called on the ancestral spirits to defend Preah Vihear and chase away the enemy', said Cambodia's Festival Committee chairman Min Khin.

Madam Bun Rany flew in by helicopter with a heavily armed security detail. Her high-profile visit suggests her husband, a wily former Khmer Rouge soldier who won a landslide victory in Sunday's elections, is in no mood to compromise.

Both foreign ministers had vowed on Monday to resolve the stand-off peacefully and pull back troops, although nothing has changed on the ground, with Bangkok and Phnom Penh reluctant to redeploy in case they are painted as weak.

About 800 troops from Cambodia and 400 from Thailand remain at a pagoda near the temple complex.

Mr Hun Sen has said his government was ready to go along with a proposed redeployment of Cambodian troops, but will not act without Thailand taking the same step.

XINHUA, REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS