Thailand-Kambodscha conflict: agreement on ceasefire

After a days of fire

Thailand and Cambodia agree on ceasefire

More than 30 people died in the day -long border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. From midnight, the shelling should come to an end – the parties to the conflict have decided on a ceasefire.

Thailand and Cambodia have agreed on Malaysia’s “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire. The Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia, announced on Monday. “This is an important first step towards de -escalation and restoring peace and security,” he says. The ceasefire should come into force from midnight (local time).

According to official information, more than 30 people have so far been killed in the fights between Thailand and Cambodia. Over 200,000 people fled from their villages, 138,000 on the Thai and 80,000 on the Cambodian side of the border.

• Escalation in Southeast Asia: This conflict threatened to degenerate into a war
• Fighting: Foreign Office warns of trips to Thailand and Cambodia

The battles are the latest escalation in a dispute over the border in the so-called emerald triangle for decades, where the Thai province of Surin and the Cambodian province of Oddar Meanchey and the neighboring state of Laos are bordered. The border between Cambodia and Thailand is more than 800 kilometers long.

Since the beginning of the battles, both sides have accomplished the violence. Civil buildings, including a hospital and a supermarket, were also hit in the attacks. Among other things, Thailand used fighter jets against military positions, Cambodia shot through the border with rockets.

The dispute continued to pork after a change of shooting between soldiers from both countries at the end of May. A Cambodian soldier was killed. Most recently, the Cambodian Department of Defense Thailand had accused of using chemical weapons. The Foreign Ministry in Bangkok denied and spoke of “baseless accusations” and “disinformation”, which aimed to specifically undermine Thailand’s prestige in the international community.

In the midst of the ongoing Thai-Kambodian border, peace talks between the two parties to the conflict began on Monday with the mediation of Malaysia’s. As a photographer of the AFP news agency reported, Thailand’s incumbent Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Manet met on Monday morning in the Malaysias Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in the Malaysian city of Putrajaya.

Malaysia is currently the chair of the Southeast Asian alliance asean, Thailand and Cambodia. Shortly after the fights began, he had spoken to his counterpart from Thailand and Cambodia and offered himself as an intermediary.

The United States in particular, but also China, had pushed for a meeting between the conflict parties since the weekend. US President Donald Trump personally put pressure on both heads of government. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also called for “immediate ceasefire” in advance. Representatives from the USA, China and Malaysia also took part in the talks, as it was said in advance.

Trump had already phoned both heads of the government on Saturday and then wrote on the Truth Social platform: “They agreed to meet immediately and quickly work out peace and ultimately peace!” He added that there would be no negotiations regarding his threatened tariffs as long as both states fought. Trump had previously announced that they wanted to prove the two countries with tariffs of 36 percent in early August.

As an immediate episode, the number of Cambodians living in Thailand, who want to return to their homeland with their belongings. From the Ministry of Defense in Phnom Penh it was said that more than 400,000 migrant workers had already crossed the border because they no longer felt safe in Thailand. Many more would probably follow.

Previously, Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn had canceled the official celebrations on the occasion of his 73rd birthday, as the broadcaster Thai PBS reported. The celebrations should last until Tuesday. The decision was made because “the government, the military and all areas of society, given the continuing border conflicts, have to concentrate their efforts to protect national sovereignty, the defense of the country and the security of the population,” it said.