Feeding thousands: A man moving supplies at Batthkav refugee camp in Chong Kal, Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia. — Reuters
Fighting continued to rage along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, even after US President Donald Trump, acting as a mediator, declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a ceasefire.
Thai officials have said they did not agree to a ceasefire, and Cambodia has not commented on Trump’s claim. Its defence ministry instead said Thai jets carried out airstrikes yesterday morning.
Cambodian media reported Trump’s claim without elaborating.
The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish on Dec 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire promoted by Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July over long-standing territorial disputes.
Cost of conflict: Cambodian evacuees having lunch as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia.
The July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalised in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
About two dozen people have officially been reported killed in this past week’s fighting, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced on both sides of the border.
The Thai military acknowledges 11 of its troops have been killed, while estimating there have been 165 fatalities among Cambodian soldiers. Cambodia has not announced military casualties, but has said at least 11 civilians have been killed and 76 wounded.
Danger from above: Smoke rising following a blast in Pursat province, Cambodia, amid clashes along the Cambodia-Thailand border. — Agence Kampuchea Press/AFP
Trump on Friday, after speaking to Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, had announced an agreement to restart the ceasefire.
“They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump said in his Truth Social post.
Trump’s claim came after midnight in Bangkok. After his call with Trump, Thai Prime Minister Anutin said he had explained Thailand’s reasons for fighting and that peace would depend on Cambodia ceasing its attacks first.
The Thai foreign ministry later explicitly disputed Trump’s claim that a ceasefire had been reached.
Thai evacuees resting at an evacuation centre in Buriram province, Thailand. — AP
Anutin’s busy day on Friday included dissolving Parliament so that new elections could be held early next year.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, in comments posted early yesterday, also made no mention of a ceasefire. He said he held phone conversations on Friday night with Trump, and a night earlier with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and thanked both “for their continuous efforts to achieve a long- lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand”.
“Cambodia is ready to cooperate in any way that is needed,’ Hun Manet wrote.
Thailand has been carrying out airstrikes on what it says are strictly military targets, while Cambodia has been firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets that have caused havoc but relatively few casualties.
BM-21 rocket launchers can fire up to 40 rockets at a time with a range of 30-40km. These rockets cannot be precisely targeted and have landed largely in areas from where most people have already been evacuated.
However, the Thai army announced yesterday that BM-21 rockets had hit a civilian area in Sisaket province, seriously injuring two civilians who had been running toward a bunker for safety. — AP
