Hundreds of Buddhist monks in the country held a religious ceremony to honour soldiers killed in recent border clashes with Thai forces and to pray for peace.
They marched from the country’s main religious school near the Royal Palace in the capital, Phnom Penh, to a nearby temple, where they were joined by nuns and laymen and women.
The monks chanted and prayed to honour the souls of the dead soldiers.
A board inside the temple displayed the photographs of more than 40 men in uniform.
It wasn’t clear whether these images were of soldiers killed, or included those who were wounded and captured.
Cambodia has admitted only to the deaths of six of its troops in the fighting, which began late last month and continued for five days.
Dozens of people on both sides, including civilians, were killed in the fighting and over 260,000 displaced on both sides of the border.
A ceasefire that took effect on July 29 ended major fighting, though both sides have alleged violations of the truce and the underlying dispute over territorial claims has not been resolved.
Khem Sorn, the chief monk for Phnom Penh, said the main purpose of yesterday’s ceremony was to show support to the government for working towards peace and ending the war with a ceasefire.
It was also intended to honour the souls of the Cambodian soldiers and civilians who were killed, and to appeal to all Buddhist countries, especially Thailand, to live in peace with each other, he said in a phone interview.
“It means that we only want to live side-by-side with Thailand as a good neighbour, living with unity and peace with each other,” Khem Sorn said.
The fighting stems from a decades-old dispute over the ownership of several small pockets of land along the 800km border.
Talks in Malaysia on Thursday reaffirmed both sides’ commitment to the ceasefire deal but failed to secure the release of 18 Cambodian soldiers, who were captured in disputed circumstances after the truce went into effect.
Thailand says it is treating the men in full compliance with international humanitarian law and will free them once “active hostilities” end.
The United States and China, which both played an active role in encouraging an end to the fighting, separately hailed Thursday’s reaffirmation of the ceasefire, and said they look forward to supporting the parties involved in securing the peace process. — AP
