Thailand and Cambodia halt fierce border conflict with second ceasefire
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BANGKOK – Thailand and Cambodia ended weeks of fierce border clashes on Dec 27 with a second ceasefire in recent months, following the worst fighting in years between the South-east Asian nations.
The ceasefire was holding, a Thai Defence Ministry spokesperson, Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, told Reuters about two hours after it went into effect at 12pm local time (1pm Singapore time).
“So far there’s been no report of gunfire,” he said.
Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence did not report any clashes after what it said had been a Thai air strike early on Dec 27, before the ceasefire announcement.
The agreement, signed by Thai Defence Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Seiha, ended 20 days of fighting that killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million on both sides, and included fighter-jet sorties, exchanges of rocket fire and artillery barrages.
ASEAN to monitor truce, bilateral talks to continue
The clashes were reignited in early December
“Both sides agree to maintain current troop deployments without further movement,” the Thai and Cambodian defence ministers said in a joint statement.
“Any reinforcement would heighten tensions and negatively affect long-term efforts to resolve the situation.”
The statement was posted on social media by the Cambodian Defence Ministry.
Cambodia’s top diplomat Prak Sokhonn and his Thai counterpart Sihasak Phuangketkeow will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in China’s Yunnan province on Dec 28 and 29 to discuss the border situation, according to a statement from the Cambodian Foreign Ministry and a Thai official.
For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia have contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points along their 817km land border – a dispute that has occasionally exploded into skirmishes and fighting.
The latest ceasefire will be monitored by an observer team from the ASEAN regional bloc as well as direct coordination between both countries, Mr Natthaphon said. Both countries are ASEAN member states.
“At the same time, at the policy level, there will be direct communication between the minister of defence and chief of the armed forces of both sides,” Mr Natthaphon said.
Civilians to return, demarcation efforts unaffected
Tensions between the two countries came to a head in July, when they clashed for five days along some parts of the frontier. At least 48 people died and 300,000 were displaced before Mr Trump intervened to broker a truce
That ceasefire broke down in early December after the two sides accused each other of moves that led to clashes.
Datuk Seri Anwar, currently the ASEAN chair, and Mr Trump were unable to stitch together another ceasefire as fighting spread from forest regions near Laos to the coastal provinces on the Gulf of Thailand.
The renewed ceasefire came after a special meeting on Dec 22 of ASEAN foreign ministers in Kuala Lumpur, followed by three days of talks between the warring sides at a border checkpoint, where the two defence ministers met on Dec 27.
In their joint statement, the ministers agreed on the return of people displaced from affected border areas, while also underlining that neither side would use any force against civilians.
Thailand will also return 18 Cambodian soldiers in its custody since the July clashes if the ceasefire is fully maintained for 72 hours.
The latest pact, however, made clear that it will not impact any border demarcation activities under way between both countries, leaving the task of resolving disputed areas along the frontier to existing bilateral mechanisms.
Thailand’s Air Chief Marshal Prapas Sornjaidee said: “War and clashes don’t make the two countries or their people happy.
“I want to stress that the Thai people and the Cambodian people are not in conflict with each other.” REUTERS
