Thailand halts Cambodia peace deal after landmine injures 2
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Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said his country will suspend the terms of the US-backed peace accords.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BANGKOK – Thailand announced it was suspending the implementation of a peace agreement with Cambodia overseen by US President Donald Trump on Nov 10, after a landmine blast injured two Thai soldiers on patrol near the border.
“The follow-up to the joint declaration that we have been doing for about a week will stop”, including the release of 18 detained Cambodian soldiers, government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat said.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul had earlier threatened to derail the fragile peace deal with Cambodia
The soldiers stepped on what the Thai army suspects were newly laid mines while on routine patrol on Nov 10 in Si Sa Ket province.
The Royal Thai Army said in a statement that the mine explosion left one soldier with a severe leg injury, while pressure from the blast caused another to suffer chest pains.
It was the seventh such blast in four months, following a wave of explosions in July that sparked the deadliest border clashes in years.
As a result, Thailand will suspend the terms of Trump-backed Kuala Lumpur peace accords, which outline disarmament measures as part of efforts to normalise ties, Mr Anutin said. The country will also halt the release of 18 Cambodian soldiers in its custody – a move that had been set to begin on Nov 21 under the peace terms.
“Everything we have been doing until now will be stopped until there is more clarity,” Mr Anutin told reporters on Nov 10. “What happened shows that the hostility hasn’t decreased as we thought it would. So we can’t proceed any further from here.”
The accords call for the removal of heavy weapons from border zones between Nov 1 and Dec 31 and a cooperation on land-mine clearances. Thailand has also sought Cambodian crackdowns on cyber-scam operations there.
A spokesperson for Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence did not respond to requests for comment.
The 18 Cambodian soldiers had been detained since late July following an initial ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia facilitated by the US and Malaysia, which currently chairs Asean.
Mr Anutin has asked the foreign affairs and defence ministries to lodge complaints with an observer team consisting of military officials from South-east Asian nations, according to a Thai government statement.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to fly to Si Sa Ket on Nov 11 to visit the injured soldiers and chair a meeting on Thailand’s position on the peace deal. BLOOMBERG
