After 20 days of clashes that left 101 people dead, and following the collapse of a ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump, Thailand and Cambodia said overnight Friday into Saturday that they had ended the fighting.
In a joint statement announcing the ceasefire, the two countries’ defense ministers said “both sides agree to maintain current troop deployments without further movement.”
The latest round of fighting began less than three weeks ago, when four Cambodian civilians and a Thai soldier were killed in an exchange of fire along the border — just five months after a Trump-brokered ceasefire had been declared. Each side accused the other of violating that truce.
In the days that followed, the clashes escalated, displacing more than 500,000 people in both countries. About two weeks ago, Trump said Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to halt the fighting and revert to the original peace framework, but the clashes continued.
Thailand’s prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, said at the time that Thailand would keep up military operations until it determined the country was no longer at risk, adding that its conduct on the ground spoke for itself.
Thailand and Cambodia have a long-running border dispute that flares into fighting. In July, clashes killed 48 people and displaced 300,000; a five-day ceasefire followed, formalized in October, though tensions persisted.
In November, Bangkok announced it was suspending the agreement after Thai soldiers were injured by land mine explosions. Trump intervened in an effort to prevent the ceasefire from collapsing, but it fell apart less than a month later.
Source: Al-Ahed News
