Thailand and Cambodia agree to restart ceasefire brokered by US, says Trump | Thailand
Donald Trump said Thai and Cambodian leaders agreed to renew a ceasefire after days of deadly fighting threatened to undo a truce brokered by the US administration earlier this year.
Trump announced the agreement to restart the ceasefire in his social media post after his meetings with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.
“Tonight they effectively agreed to stop all attacks and return to the original Peace Agreement with me and them with the help of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump said in his Truth Social post.
The first ceasefire in July was brokered by Malaysia and put into effect under pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia reached an agreement. It was formalized in more detail at a regional meeting in Malaysia in October, which Trump attended.
Despite the agreement, the two countries waged a fierce propaganda war and cross-border violence continued.
The roots of the Thailand-Cambodia border dispute lie in a history of hostility over rival territorial claims. These claims largely stem from a 1907 map created when Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand claims is inaccurate. Tensions increased further in 1962 when the international court of justice ruled granting Cambodia sovereignty; This still angers many Thai people.
Thailand has deployed warplanes to conduct air strikes on what it says are military targets. Cambodia has deployed BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 30–40 km (19–25 mi).
At least six of the dead Thai soldiers were hit by shrapnel, according to data compiled by public broadcaster ThaiPBS.
The Thai army’s northeastern regional command said on Thursday that some residential areas and houses near the border were damaged by Cambodian forces’ BM-21 rocket launchers.
The Thai military also said it destroyed a tall crane atop a Cambodian-held hill where the centuries-old Preah Vihear temple is located, allegedly containing electronic and optical devices used for military command and control.
