Cambodia claimed on Friday an “immediate ceasefire” and “unconditional” with Thailand on Friday at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on clashes between the two neighbors. The fighting left at least 33 people dead in two days.
This long -standing border dispute and degenerated on Thursday in confrontations of violence never seen since 2011, involving combat aircraft, tank, ground troops and artillery fire.
“Cambodia asked for an immediate, unconditional cease-fire and we also called for a peaceful conflict resolution,” said the country’s ambassador at the UN, Chhea Keo, after this closed-door meeting. The two countries accuse each other of having opened fire first and defend their right to defend themselves.
“How can they [les Thaïlandais, ndlr] To accuse us, we a small country with an army three times smaller, without air force “, to attack” a large neighbor, “said Keo.
The Cambodian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that 13 people were killed and 71 others injured on the Cambodian side. The Thai army said that five soldiers had been killed on Friday, which takes stock of 20 dead on the Thai side (14 civilians and six soldiers).
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 homes.
Call for restraint
The Security Council, for its part, “called both parties to restraint and a diplomatic solution. This is what we also ask,” said Keo. No other participant in this emergency meeting requested by Cambodia wished to express themselves.
Friday, artillery fire was still audible on the Cambodian side of the border. But Thailand has left the door open to negotiations, with Malaysia as possible intermediary.
“We are ready, if Cambodia wishes to settle this question by the diplomatic route, in a bilateral or even Malaysia. We are ready to do so. But so far, we have not received any response,” the spokesman for the Thai Foreign Ministry told AFP before the meeting in the UN.
Malaysia currently chairs the Association of Nations of Southeast Asia (ASEAN), of which Thailand and Cambodia are both members.
A little earlier, the acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai warned that the worsening of clashes could lead to “a war”.
These fights constitute a major escalation in the long -standing conflict between Cambodia and Thailand, about their common border of 800 kilometers. The two neighbors dispute his route, defined during French Indochina.
A decision by the UN International Court of Justice in 2013 resulted in 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 of fire in the “emerald triangle” area.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ATS / AFP
