Thai monks refuse to evacuate as shells and F-16s fly overhead

Telegraph

2 days ago

In a now deserted town less than 20 miles from the front line of the fighting between Thailand and Cambodia, monks at a usually peaceful temple have endured another bad night's sleep.
The boom of artillery erupted throughout the night, with one shell estimated to have landed less than three miles from the temple on Sunday morning.
'Last night it was quite heavy and today at around 8am we heard some loud thuds,' Phra Mahasanong Khantitharo, the abbot, told The Telegraph on Sunday. 'The metal sheet roof and the windows were rattling very strongly this morning.'
The south-east Asian neighbours have been fighting since a row over their shared border escalated on Thursday, leading to an exchange of fire and deaths on both sides.
Despite the obvious risks to their lives, the monks at this temple and others in the border areas where fighting is raging have refused to budge, saying they owe it to the communities they serve to stay put.
'If I leave, the people who rely on us will lose their spirit. I'm scared too, but I'll just stay here for now, when I can,' Phra Phut Analayo told the Associated Press from a small, cylindrical shelter at a temple just six miles from the border.
Thailand and Cambodia are both Buddhist countries and share many traditions and customs as a result. Relations between the two countries are normally peaceful, but the fighting has ignited a wave of nationalist fervour which the monks do not share.
'Cambodians are our neighbours, we should not be fighting,' Phra Mahasanong said. 'I have to say that karma will be the judge of this.'
On Sunday, Thailand reported the death of a soldier, bringing its total fatalities to 22, mostly civilians. Cambodia said 13 of its people had been killed, though it was unclear if that included Lt Gen Duong Samnieng, whose death in combat was announced on Sunday.
Meanwhile, more than 139,000 people in Thailand have evacuated to safe locations, and more than 79,000 people have fled from three Cambodian provinces. Many border villages are mostly deserted, with many schools and hospitals shut.
The international community has called for peace and despite fighting continuing around two ancient, disputed temples in the Dangrek mountains, there were signs on Sunday that the two countries were finally yielding to pressure.
A Thai government official said talks between Phumtham Wechayachai, the acting prime minister, and Hun Manet, the Cambodian premier, will begin at 3pm on Monday. They will be hosted by Malaysia, which currently chairs Asean, a regional bloc of south-east Asian countries.
Both sides have previously talked of peace, with Cambodia, which has a far weaker military, already proposing a ceasefire.
But Thailand has until now maintained that it prefers bilateral talks – perhaps because international arbitration has previously favoured their rival in the territorial dispute – while each side has repeatedly claimed that the other has undermined armistice efforts by continuing to attack civilians.
The move towards talks comes after Donald Trump threatened to withdraw the US from critical tariff negotiations unless the two countries stopped fighting. As it stands, Thailand and Cambodia will be hit by a 36 per cent tax on imports from next month – a major economic hit which the countries are trying hard to avoid.
The US president on social media: 'Both Parties are looking for an immediate Ceasefire and Peace. They are also looking to get back to the 'Trading Table' with the United States, which we think is inappropriate to do until such time as the fighting STOPS.'
Yet whether this will be enough to stop the clashes – which have seen tanks, ground troops, rocket launchers, and F-16 jets deployed – remains to be seen.
Dr Paul Chambers, a visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said the long 'history of antagonism between the two countries' should not be underestimated.
He added: 'I do not think that the US efforts to achieve conflict resolution will be successful because Washington has lost a great deal of influence in south-east Asia since the end of the Cold War.'
The violence has also fuelled by mounting animosity between two political dynasties once considered close.
While control in Cambodia is highly centralised under authoritarian premier Hun Manet, in Thailand the government is weak after a political crisis triggered by a leaked phone call with the Cambodian leader's father, Hun Sen, led to the suspension of Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the prime minister.
'The Thai negotiating team is operating under heavy domestic suspicion,' Ken Lohatepanont, a Thai politics expert at the University of Michigan, wrote in a blog post.
'I am not sure what [they] can achieve that will blunt public criticism in the face of such suspicion, [and] the fact that several Thai civilians and troops have died over the course of the past few days has raised public anger at Cambodia to a fever pitch,' he said.
In Sisaket on Sunday, this anger was on full display in deserted villages in the danger zone.
Like the monks, some men have seen it as their duty to stay behind despite the risks – a health centre was hit just 10 miles away on Saturday. They told The Telegraph they were there to protect property from looters and 'potential Cambodian spies'.
Outside one house destroyed by shelling on Thursday, chickens wandered over mangled metal, and the smell of fuel from charred embers still persisted.
Thongsuay Saikaew, the village chief, who lives next door, was lucky his house survived unscathed. 'It's not right to hit civilian places like this, it's rotten,' said the 58-year old.
His neighbours who lost their home, he said, were speechless when they saw it had been destroyed.
'This was [a shop too], it was like their livelihood as well as their home. And now it's all gone… I think the Cambodians have to be blamed.'
On the other side of the border, Cambodians affected by the fighting told The Telegraph the opposite – that Thailand was the aggressor and at fault.
But despite his nationalist rhetoric, Mr Thongsuay is also keen for the fighting to stop. It's not just about safety; every day the clashes continue are a hit to his business, selling cattle.
'It will become very difficult if I can't earn an income soon,' he said. 'Our own government has to find a solution to this situation.'