Keystone-SDA
Thailand and Cambodia accuse each other of having opened hostilities on Sunday, on the fourth day of their conflict. This while saying that they are ready to discuss a ceasefire after Donald Trump’s intervention.
(Keystone-ATS) The two kingdoms of Southeast Asia are struggling in the deadliest episode in almost fifteen years of a long-term territorial dispute. The exchanges of fire, bombing and air strikes left at least 34 dead and caused the movement of around 200,000 people.
The two camps, joined on Saturday by the tenant of the White House, assured that he wanted to start discussions, but Sunday in the early morning, the fights resumed, and each capital accused the other of missing his word.
“We rushed to leave our house this morning,” said AFP Maefah, 61, who lives around forty kilometers from the border in the Thai province of Sisaket. She refused to give her surname for security reasons.
“All my neighbors have already gone. We no longer think it is sure to stay, ”she said. Accompanied by four family members, including his 97 -year -old mother, Maefah took the direction of Chachoengsao, not far from Bangkok, six o’clock.
Reported clashes
Thailand and Cambodia reported clashes around 4:30 am near disputed temples where the first clashes broke out on Thursday.
Bangkok committed “deliberate and coordinated acts of assault,” said the spokesperson for the Cambodian Defense Ministry, Maly Socheata, denouncing the “lies and false pretexts” of the Thai people guilty of “illegal invasion” in his eyes.
The Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry spoke of the “heavy artillery fire” of the Cambodian army aimed at “civilians of civilians” in the province of Surin.
Several fronts
“Any cessation of hostilities is impossible as long as Cambodia shows a blatant lack of good faith and continues to repeat the fundamental principles of human rights and humanitarian law,” said Thai diplomacy.
The Thai army also accused Cambodia on Sunday of resorting to “long -range weapons”.
In recent days, the conflict has spread on multiple fronts, sometimes far from several hundred kilometers between them, from the Thai province of Trat, popular with tourists, on the Gulf of Thailand to an area nicknamed “The Emerald Triangle” for its proximity to Laos.
The 2 countries “ready to meet”
Donald Trump announced on Saturday, after exchanging with their leaders, that the two countries were ready to meet to reach a ceasefire.
The former real estate developer welcomed two “very good conversations” and said that the two neighbors “will agree for many years”, in a message on his Truth Social network.
Bangkok said “accepting in principle to set up a ceasefire”, while waiting to see if Phnom Penh’s intention was “sincere”.
Prime Minister Khmer Hun Manet instructed his diplomacy chief, Prak Sokhonn, to coordinate with his American counterpart Marco Rubio in order to “end” the conflict.
Customs duties
Thailand and Cambodia are also in full discussions with the White House concerning the prohibitive customs duties which must strike these two economies dependent on exports on August 1.
Donald Trump said it was “inappropriate” to return to the negotiating table on the commercial aspect as long as the fights “have not stopped”. The United Nations also urged the two neighbors on Saturday to conclude a ceasefire “immediately”.
Disputed border layout
Diplomatic relations between the two neighbors, linked by rich cultural and economic ties, have been at the lowest for decades.
The current episode killed 20 people on the Thai side, including eight soldiers, while Cambodia reported a balance sheet of 13 dead including five soldiers.
More than 138,000 Thai people have evacuated risk areas, according to Bangkok, and more than 80,000 Cambodians on their side of the border, according to Phnom Penh.
The two countries dispute the layout of their common border, defined during French Indochina. Before the current fights, the most violent episode linked to this dispute dates back to clashes around the temple of Preah Vihear between 2008 and 2011, which had left at least 28 dead and tens of thousands of displaced.
The United Nations tribunal agreed in Cambodia twice, in 1962 and in 2013, on the ownership of the Preah Vihear temple, listed as World Heritage by UNESCO, and a surrounding area.
