Thailand accused Cambodia on Tuesday of having violated a cease-fire in force a few hours earlier under the aegis of Malaysia, and supposed to end almost a week of bloody border fights between the two countries. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced on Monday that Bangkok and Phnom Penh had reached “a common agreement providing for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire” from midnight on Tuesday.
But after its entry into force, “the Thai part noted that the Cambodian forces had launched armed attacks in several areas of Thai territory,” said Thai army spokesman Winthai Suwaree. “This constitutes a deliberate violation of the agreement and a clear attempt to undermine mutual trust,” he added in a statement. “Thailand is forced to respond appropriately by exercising its right to self -defense. »»
Meetings between commanders
On the Cambodian side, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense Maly Socheata said that there had been “no armed confrontation […] in any region. ” “The front has been calming since (the entry into force of the) ceasefire” at midnight, said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Tuesday morning on Facebook.
Despite this accusation and this denied, the two parties proceed on Tuesday morning at meetings between local military commanders along the border, as planned as part of the cease-fire agreement, they announced.
A meeting on August 4
The clashes have killed at least 38 people since Thursday and caused the displacement of around 300,000 inhabitants. The two kingdoms of Southeast Asia have been opposed for decades on the layout of their common border, defined in the time of French Indochina. But rarely in recent history, such an episode of violence had shaken the region. Thailand and Cambodia have accused each other of having attacked first, and each camp questioned the sincerity of the opponent, before sitting at the negotiating table, under the eye of the United States and China.
The clashes have officially killed 25 on the Thai side, including eleven soldiers, and 13 dead, including five soldiers, on the Cambodian side. More than 138,000 Thai people have evacuated risk areas, according to Bangkok, and more than 140,000 Cambodians have done the same, according to Phnom Penh. The cease-fire agreement provides for the holding of a meeting of a cross-border committee in Cambodia on August 4.
