Thailand and Cambodia dispute whether ceasefire is holding
The Thai army said Cambodia launched attacks in multiple areas after the ceasefire was supposed to take effect at midnight, but Cambodia said there was no firing in any location.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai had agreed to an 'unconditional' halt in fighting Monday after five days of border clashes that have killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands.
Along the border area, it was unclear if fighting was continuing but signs of calm returned in places. Some families displaced by the fighting began returning to their homes.
A Thai military spokesperson said Thailand halted all military activities as agreed upon but that Cambodian troops continued strikes and the Thai army responded with defensive action.
'Such actions represent a deliberate violation of the ceasefire and a serious breach of trust,' Major Gen. Vithai Laithomya said in a statement.
The Cambodian Defense Ministry denied the Thai account. 'After the ceasefire became effective, there has been no armed conflict on all front lines. This is the firm determination of the Cambodian leadership to implement the ceasefire,' ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata said.
Military commanders from both sides are scheduled Tuesday to hold their first meeting after the ceasefire as agreed under the pact, she said.
The meeting between the two national leaders Monday was hosted by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as annual chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and held under U.S. pressure. Anwar called the ceasefire a 'vital first step towards de-escalation and the restoration of peace and security.'
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. applauded the ceasefire declaration. 'President (Donald) Trump and I are committed to an immediate cessation of violence and expect the governments of Cambodia and Thailand to fully honor their commitments to end this conflict,' Rubio said in a statement.
The fighting began Thursday after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers. Both sides blamed each other for starting the clashes, which have killed 35 people and displaced 260,000 people on both sides.
Trump had warned that the U.S. might not proceed with trade deals with either country if hostilities continue, giving both sides a face-saving justification for halting the clashes.
The 800-kilometer (500-mile) frontier between Thailand and Cambodia has been disputed for decades, but past confrontations have been limited and brief. The latest tensions erupted in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a confrontation that created a diplomatic rift and roiled Thailand's domestic politics.
___
Sopheng Cheang reported from Samrong, Cambodia.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
6 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Putin says Russia's hypersonic missile has entered service and will be deployed in Belarus
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia has started production of its newest hypersonic missiles and reaffirmed its plans to deploy them to ally Belarus later this year. Sitting alongside Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam Island near St. Petersburg, Putin said the military already has selected deployment sites in Belarus for the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile.
Winnipeg Free Press
6 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Putin says Russia's hypersonic missile has entered service and will be deployed in Belarus
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia has started production of its newest hypersonic missiles and reaffirmed its plans to deploy them to ally Belarus later this year. Sitting alongside Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam Island near St. Petersburg, Putin said the military already has selected deployment sites in Belarus for the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile. 'Preparatory work is ongoing, and most likely we will be done with it before the year's end,' Putin said, adding that the first series of Oreshniks and their systems have been produced and entered military service. Russia first used the Oreshnik, which is Russian for 'hazelnut tree,' against Ukraine in November, when it fired the experimental weapon at a factory in Dnipro that built missiles when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. Putin has praised the Oreshnik's capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack. He warned the West that Moscow could use it against Ukraine's NATO allies who allowed Kyiv to use their longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia. Russia's missile forces chief has declared that Oreshnik, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, has a range allowing it to reach all of Europe. Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow abandoned in 2019. Last fall, Putin and Lukashenko signed a treaty giving Moscow's security guarantees to Belarus, including the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons to help repel any aggression. The pact follows the Kremlin's revision of its nuclear doctrine, which for the first time placed Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella amid tensions with the West over the conflict in Ukraine. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for over 30 years and has relied on Kremlin subsidies and support, allowed Russia to use his country's territory to send troops into Ukraine in 2022 and to host some of its tactical nuclear weapons. Russia hasn't disclosed how many such weapons were deployed, but Lukashenko said in December that his country currently has several dozen. The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, which has a 1,084-kilometer (673-mile) border with Ukraine, would allow Russian aircraft and missiles to reach potential targets there more easily and quickly if Moscow decides to use them. It also extends Russia's capability to target several NATO allies in Eastern and Central Europe. The revamped nuclear doctrine that Putin signed last fall formally lowered the threshold for Russia's use of its nuclear weapons. The document says Moscow could use nuclear weapons 'in response to the use of nuclear and other types of weapons of mass destruction' against Russia or its allies, as well as 'in the event of aggression' against Russia and Belarus with conventional weapons that threaten 'their sovereignty and/or territorial integrity.' ___ The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape:
Toronto Star
36 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
EU chief's texts to a pharma boss during pandemic were likely erased, the NYT reports
BRUSSELS (AP) — Text messages exchanged between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and a pharmaceutical boss during the COVID-19 pandemic were seen by her top adviser and have likely been destroyed, the New York Times reported Friday. Von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla exchanged the messages as COVID-19 ravaged European communities from Portugal to Finland and the EU scrambled to buy millions of hard to find vaccines. She was under intense scrutiny to deliver.
