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Thailand, Cambodia agree to ‘unconditional’ ceasefire

Monday, July 28


The leaders of Thailand and Cambodia agreed to end their bloody border conflict at midnight on Monday, after talks in Kuala Lumpur that followed mounting pressure from China and the United States, which warned both nations the fighting risked derailing trade negotiations.

At least 36 people, most of them civilians, have been killedsince Thursday, when a long-simmering territorial dispute boiled over into open conflict along the nations’ shared frontier.

More than 300,000 people in both countries have been forced from their homes by the relentless gunfights, artillery barrages and Thai air strikes, while tens of thousands of Cambodian migrant labourers have fled Thailand, fearing reprisals as nationalist sentiment intensifies across the two Southeast Asian nations.

People who fled their homes near the border between Cambodia and Thailand gather at a food distribution site on the grounds of a pagoda in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday. Both countries have agreed to a ceasefire. Photo: AFP
People who fled their homes near the border between Cambodia and Thailand gather at a food distribution site on the grounds of a pagoda in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday. Both countries have agreed to a ceasefire. Photo: AFP

Malaysia’s Prime MinisterAnwar Ibrahim, who hosted the talks as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), announced the truce flanked by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thailand’s acting prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai.

The leaders expressed “their willingness for an immediate ceasefire and a return to normalcy”, he said, name-checking US President Donald Trump – who called both leaders on Saturday – and China for pressing for peace.

Under the deal, the two countries agreed to “an immediate and unconditional ceasefire with effect from 24:00 midnight (tonight)”, Anwar said, adding it was “a vital first step towards de-escalation and restoration of peace”.

A second condition of truce is for the military commanders of Cambodia and Thailand – who have been locked in bitter fighting across several hundred kilometres of shared border – to meet at 7am on Tuesday morning, according to Anwar.

Malaysia has offered to observe the implementation of the ceasefire, while direct talks between the two countries’ leaders, foreign ministers and defence ministers resume.

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