Thailand: Cambodia must announce ceasefire 'first' to stop fighting

BANGKOK, November 18 ------ Thailand said that Cambodia must be first to announce a truce to halt fighting between them after more than a week of deadly clashes in a reignited border conflict. “As the aggressor onto Thai territory, Cambodia must announce the ceasefire first,” Thai foreign ministry spokesman Maratee Nalita Andamo told reporters in the capital Bangkok, adding that Cambodia must also cooperate in de-mining efforts at the border “sincerely.”

Renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbors this month has killed at least 34 people, including soldiers and civilians, and displaced around 800,000 others, officials said.

In Cambodia, 17 civilians in all have been killed, the country’s interior ministry said. Each side has blamed the other for instigating the clashes, claiming self-defense and trading accusations of attacks on civilians. Cambodia did not immediately respond to Thailand’s statement.

United States President Donald Trump, who intervened in the border conflict earlier this year, last week claimed that the two countries had agreed to a ceasefire beginning Saturday night. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said his country supported the ceasefire initiative of Malaysia, the current chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, with Washington’s participation. But fighting has continued daily since Dec. 7, spreading to seven provinces on each side of the border, and Bangkok denied Trump’s claim of an agreed truce.

Cambodia, which is outgunned and outspent by Bangkok’s military, said on Monday that Thai forces had expanded their attack “deep into” Cambodian territory. Phnom Penh accused Thai forces of bombing Siem Reap province, home to the centuries-old Angkor temples — the country’s top tourist draw — for the first time in the latest round of clashes. The fighting, with artillery, tanks, and Thai jets, has killed 16 Thai soldiers, one Thai civilian, and 15 Cambodian civilians, officials said.

Emergency talks

Phnom Penh had not reported any military deaths in the latest fighting. The conflict stems from a territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometer (500-mile) border and a smattering of ancient temple ruins situated on the frontier. Five days of fighting in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered by the US, China, and Malaysia, and then broken within months.

Source: manilatimes.net