WASHINGTON (AP) — At least two of several agreements, in Congo and at Cambodia-Thailand border, aimed at ending global conflicts that President Donald Trump has hailed as evidence of his negotiating prowess are in trouble and at risk of collapsing.
Less than a week after Congo and Rwanda signed a deal in Trump’s presence in Washington that was meant to halt fighting in eastern Congo, and less than two months after he witnessed Cambodia and Thailand sign a ceasefire pact in Malaysia to end their border conflict, fighting has surged in both places.
The developments have caused international alarm, which on Tuesday resulted in urgent calls to halt the renewed violence from countries involved in the African Great Lakes region and from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In each case, the statements urged the combatants to live up to their commitments in the deals that Trump has touted in part as the rationale for casting himself as the “president of peace.”
Trump late Tuesday expressed confidence that once again he could end the fighting between Cambodia and Thailand.
“Tomorrow I’ll have to make a phone call,” Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania. “Who else could say, ‘I’m going to make a phone call and stop a war of two very powerful countries, Thailand and Cambodia?’”
Trump administration calls for halt to violence on Thai-Cambodian border
In a separate statement, Rubio said the U.S. is concerned by an uptick in fighting between Cambodia and Thailand along their contested border, just over a month after the two countries signed an agreement in Malaysia that was pushed for by Trump.
“We strongly urge the immediate cessation of hostilities, the protection of civilians, and for both sides to return to the deescalatory measures outlined in the Oct. 26 Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords,” Rubio said in a statement.
The Cambodia-Thailand deal has been faltering for weeks, but it took a big hit when fighting broke out following a weekend skirmish in which two Thai soldiers were injured. Five days of fighting since has left dozens dead on both sides and forced the evacuation of over 100,000 civilians.
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A senior Trump administration official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president expected Thailand and Cambodia, as well as Rwanda and Congo, to “honor their commitments” to halt the violence. The official says the administration is monitoring the situation in Congo closely and that Trump has told both sides he is expecting “immediate results.”
Trump has repeatedly cited seven or eight agreements, including these two, as proof of his success in ending conflicts, although another one — an internationally endorsed plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza — is still not finalized and in limbo, with sporadic fighting continuing while a critical second phase remains a work in progress.
His efforts to halt the fighting between Russia and Ukraine have so far proven unsuccessful. Other deals Trump has been involved with and claimed as successes include those between India and Pakistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Israel and Iran, Kosovo and Serbia, and Egypt and Ethiopia.
