Thailand-Cambodge conflict: the parties ready to meet, according to Trump

The border fights between Cambodia and Thailand left 33 dead on both sides of the border, according to the latest assessments available on Saturday, but the belligerents are ready to meet for a cease-fire, according to US President Donald Trump.

This long -standing border dispute and degenerated on Thursday in clashes where combat aircraft, tanks, troops on the ground and artillery were used. Such a level of violence, unheard of since 2011, has led the Security Council of theHim to meet urgently.

On Saturday, the Ministry of Defense in Phnom Penh said that 13 people had been killed and that 71 others had been injured on the Cambodian side. Thailand has 20 dead on its soil, including six soldiers.

Donald Trump announced on Saturday, after exchanging with their leaders, that the two countries were ready to meet to reach a ceasefire.

They agreed to meet immediately and quickly find a ceasefire agreementwrote the American president on his network Truth Social.

Donald Trump, who is in Scotland, praised two very good conversations And said the two neighbors will get along for many years.

In a message published earlier, Donald Trump had assured that Thailand, like Cambodia, wants an immediate cease-fire and peace.

In total, the balance sheet exceeds that of the previous major border confrontations between the two countries, which had killed 28 people between 2008 and 2011.

The clashes broke out nearly temples of several centuries, before the fighting spread along the border, which consists in particular in a long line of peak of hills covered with trees, surrounded by jungle and rubber, rice and garlic crops.

The two camps have reported fighting around 5 a.m. local time on the coast. Phnom Penh accused Thai forces of having fired Five heavy artillery shells In various places in the province of Pursat, border of Thailand.

Journalists from the France-Presse agency present in the Cambodian city of Samraong near the border, heard artillery fire on Saturday.

More than 170,000 people evacuated

Refugee inside a shelter in the province of Sisaket, some 10 km from the border, a Thai villager joined on the phone also mentioned the rumble of the cannons.

I just want it to end as quickly as possiblesaid Sutian Phiewchan.

The clashes forced more than 138,000 people to evacuate the Thai regions backed by the border, while in Cambodia, more than 35,000 people had to flee their home.

At the end of the closed -door meeting of the Security Council of theHim The Cambodian ambassador to the United Nations, Chhea Keo said on Friday in New York on Friday, said his country wished a cease-fire.

Cambodia requested an immediate, unconditional cease-fire, and we also called for peaceful conflict settlement.

Thai Foreign Minister, Maris Sangiamposa, asked Cambodia on Saturday to show a true sincerity to end the conflict.

I urge Cambodia to stop raping Thai sovereignty and turn to the dialogue bipartitethe minister told the press.

Friday, before the United Nations meeting, Thailand said leaving the door open to negotiations, with Malaysia as possible intermediary.

This last country currently chairs the Association of Nations of Southeast Asia (ASEAN), of which Thailand and Cambodia are members.

The two camps accuse each other of having opened the fire. Thailand claims that Cambodia has targeted civil infrastructure, including a hospital and a service station, which Phnom Penh defended himself.

Cambodia, for its part, accuses Thai forces of using submunition weapons.

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, an influential personality in the Kingdom, went to several shelters on Saturday to meet evacuated people.

The army needs to complete its operations before any dialogue can take placelaunched Mr. Thaksin in front of the press.

These fights constitute a major escalation in the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand over their common border of 800 km. The two states dispute its route, defined at the time of French Indochina.

A decision of the United Nations International Court of Justice in 2013 solved the problem for more than a decade, but the current crisis broke out in May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a night exchange in the so -called area Emerald triangle.

Relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh particularly deteriorated last month, when former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen disseminated the recording of words from the Thai government then, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, about the border dispute.