Thailand-Cambodia clashes enter day 3, over 30 Dead, thousands displaced
A long-running border dispute erupted into intense conflict involving jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, prompting the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis Friday.
Cambodia's defence ministry said 13 people were now confirmed killed in the fighting, including eight civilians and five soldiers, with 71 people wounded.
In Thailand, the army said five soldiers were killed on Friday, taking the toll there to 20 -- 14 civilians and six military.
The death toll across the two countries is now higher than the 28 killed in the last major round of fighting between 2008 and 2011.
Both sides reported a clash around 5:00 am (2200 Friday GMT), with Cambodia accusing Thai forces of firing "five heavy artillery shells" into locations in Pursat province, which borders Thailand's Trat province.
The fighting has forced more than 138,000 people to be evacuated from Thailand's border regions, with more than 35,000 driven from their homes in Cambodia.
After the closed meeting of the Security Council in New York, Cambodia's UN ambassador Chhea Keo said his country wanted a ceasefire.
"Cambodia asked for an immediate ceasefire -- unconditionally -- and we also call for the peaceful solution of the dispute," he told reporters.
- Border row -
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said Friday, before the UN meeting was held, that Bangkok was open to talks, possibly aided by Malaysia.
"We are ready, if Cambodia would like to settle this matter via diplomatic channels, bilaterally, or even through Malaysia, we are ready to do that. But so far we have not had any response," Nikorndej told AFP.
Malaysia currently holds the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional bloc, of which Thailand and Cambodia are both members.
Acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai has warned that if the situation escalates, "it could develop into war."
Both sides blamed each other for firing first, while Thailand accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital hit by shells and a petrol station hit by at least one rocket.
Cambodia has accused Thai forces of using cluster munitions.
At the UN, Cambodia's envoy questioned Thailand's assertion that his country, which is smaller and less militarily developed than its neighbour, had initiated the conflict.
"(The Security Council) called for both parties to show maximum restraint and resort to a diplomatic solution. That is what we are calling for as well," said Chhea Keo.
The fighting marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running dispute between the neighbours -- both popular destinations for millions of foreign tourists -- over their shared 800-kilometre (500-mile) border.
Dozens of kilometres in several areas are contested, and fighting broke out between 2008 and 2011, leaving at least 28 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.
A UN court ruling in 2013 settled the matter for over a decade, but the current crisis erupted in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a new clash.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
20 minutes ago
- Indian Express
What to expect, and what not to, at the UN meeting on an Israel-Palestinian two-state solution
The UN General Assembly is bringing high-level officials together this week to promote a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict that would place their peoples side by side, living in peace in independent nations. Israel and its close ally the United States are boycotting the two-day meeting, which starts Monday and will be co-chaired by the foreign ministers of France and Saudi Arabia. Israel's right-wing government opposes a two-state solution, and the United States has called the meeting 'counterproductive' to its efforts to end the war in Gaza. France and Saudi Arabia want the meeting to put a spotlight on the two-state solution, which they view as the only viable road map to peace, and to start addressing the steps to get there. The meeting was postponed from late June and downgraded from a four-day meeting of world leaders amid surging tensions in the Middle East, including Israel's 12-day war against Iran and the war in Gaza. 'It was absolutely necessary to restart a political process, the two-state solution process, that is today threatened, more threatened than it has ever been,' French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Sunday on CBS News' Face the Nation. The idea of dividing the Holy Land goes back decades. When the British mandate over Palestine ended, the UN partition plan in 1947 envisioned dividing the territory into Jewish and Arab states. Israel accepted the plan, but upon Israel's declaration of independence the following year, its Arab neighbours declared war and the plan was never implemented. Under a 1949 armistice, Jordan held control over the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Egypt over Gaza. Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians seek those lands for a future independent state alongside Israel, and this idea of a two-state solution based on Israel's pre-1967 boundaries has been the basis of peace talks dating back to the 1990s. The two-state solution has wide international support. The logic behind it is that the population of Israel — along with East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza — is divided equally between Jews and Palestinians. The establishment of an independent Palestine would leave Israel as a democratic country with a solid Jewish majority and grant the Palestinians their dream of self-determination. France and Saudi Arabia have said they want to put a spotlight on the two-state solution as the only viable path to peace in the Middle East — and they want to see a road map with specific steps, first ending the war in Gaza. The co-chairs said in a document sent to UN members in May that the primary goal of the meeting is to identify actions by 'all relevant actors' to implement the two-state solution — and 'to urgently mobilise the necessary efforts and resources to achieve this aim, through concrete and time-bound commitments'. Saudi diplomat Manal Radwan, who led the country's delegation to the preparatory conference, said the meeting must 'chart a course for action, not reflection'. It must be 'anchored in a credible and irreversible political plan that addresses the root cause of the conflict and offers a real path to peace, dignity and mutual security', she said. French President Emmanuel Macron has pushed for a broader movement towards a two-state solution in parallel with a recognition of Israel's right to defend itself. He announced late Thursday that France will recognise the state of Palestine officially at the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly in late September. About 145 countries have recognised the state of Palestine. But Macron's announcement, ahead of Monday's meeting and amid increasing global anger over desperately hungry people in Gaza starting to die from starvation, makes France the most important Western power to do so. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the two-state solution on both nationalistic and security grounds. Netanyahu's religious and nationalist base views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people, while Israeli Jews overwhelmingly consider Jerusalem their eternal capital. The city's eastern side is home to Judaism's holiest site, along with major Christian and Muslim holy places. Hard-line Israelis like Netanyahu believe the Palestinians don't want peace, citing the second Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s, and more recently the Hamas takeover of Gaza two years after Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005. The Hamas takeover led to five wars, including the current and ongoing 21-month conflict. At the same time, Israel also opposes a one-state solution in which Jews could lose their majority. Netanyahu's preference seems to be the status quo, where Israel maintains overall control and Israelis have fuller rights than Palestinians, Israel deepens its control by expanding settlements, and the Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in pockets of the West Bank. Netanyahu condemned Macron's announcement of Palestinian recognition, saying it 'rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became'. The Palestinians, who label the current arrangement 'apartheid', accuse Israel of undermining repeated peace initiatives by deepening settlement construction in the West Bank and threatening annexation. That would harm the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state and their prospects for independence. Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the PLO Executive Committee and close associate of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the meeting will serve as preparation for a presidential summit expected in September. It will take place either in France or at the UN on the sidelines of the high-level meeting, UN diplomats said. Majdalani said the Palestinians have several goals, first a 'serious international political process leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state'. The Palestinians also want additional international recognition of their state by major countries including Britain. But expect that to happen in September, not at Monday's meeting, Majdalani said. And he said they want economic and financial support for the Palestinian Authority and international support for the reconstruction and recovery of the Gaza Strip. All 193 UN member nations have been invited to attend the meeting and a French diplomat said about 40 ministers are expected. The United States and Israel are the only countries boycotting. The co-chairs have circulated an outcome document which could be adopted, and there could be some announcements of intentions to recognise a Palestinian state. But with Israel and the United States boycotting, there is no prospect of a breakthrough and the resumption of long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on an end to their conflict. Secretary-General António Guterres urged participants after the meeting was announced 'to keep the two-state solution alive'. And he said the international community must not only support a solution where independent states of Palestine and Israel live side-by-side in peace but 'materialise the conditions to make it happen'.
Indian Express
20 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Thailand-Cambodia Border Conflict LIVE: Ceasefire talks underway in Malaysia, US and China in attendance
Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire talks: Ceasefire talks are underway between Thai and Cambodian leaders in Malaysia amidst international calls for peace as the deadly border clashes between the two south Asian nations entered their fifth day. The talks are taking place in Malaysia's administrative capital, Putrajaya, and are also being attended by the ambassadors of the United States and China, reported news agency Reuters, citing a Malaysian official. US and Malaysia supporting peace efforts: Acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Monday that both US and Malaysia are supporting the peace efforts. Thailand confirmed its participation in the talks, which were arranged by Malaysia in its role as ASEAN chair. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said State Department officials were on the ground in Malaysia to support peace efforts. 'We want this conflict to end as soon as possible,' Rubio said in a statement issued early Monday in Asia.
NDTV
24 minutes ago
- NDTV
How Former Prisoners In Russia Are Rebuilding Lives in Ukraine
Kyiv: Since his release from a Russian prison in April, Stanislav Tarnavskyi has been in a hurry to build the life in Ukraine he dreamed about during three years of captivity. The 25-year-old has proposed to his girlfriend, bought an apartment and adopted a golden retriever. And that was just what he accomplished one week in July. But as busy as he is rekindling old relationships and creating new ones, Tarnavskyi cannot shake the trauma he and thousands of other Ukrainian soldiers experienced as prisoners of war. The UN says many endured beatings, starvation and humiliation at the hands of their captors - experiences that will leave lifelong scars. Tarnavskyi, who was captured during the battle for Mariupol in April of 2022, regularly has nightmares about the prisons where he was held. "I see the officers who watched over us. I dream they want to harm me, catch me," he said. When he wakes up, his heart pounds, anxiety surges - until he realizes he is in the outskirts of Kyiv, where he was forced to move because Russia occupied his hometown of Berdiansk. As the three-year war drags on, Tarnavskyi is one of more than 5,000 former POWs back in Ukraine rehabilitating with the help of regular counseling. Regardless of any physical injuries that may require attention, psychologists say it is vital to monitor former POWs for years after their release; the cost of war, they say, echoes for generations. In a photography studio high above Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, sunlight floods the white walls. After a shoot that lasted several hours Tarnavskyi said the brightness was hurting his eyes, which are still sensitive from years spent in a dark cell. But his mood couldn't be dimmed. The girlfriend who waited for his return had just consented to his surprise proposal. "I love you very much, I am very glad that you waited for me," Tarnavskyi said, holding a thick bouquet of pink roses and a ring. "You have always been my support, and I hope you will remain so for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?" Tarnavskyi said it was the thought of Tetiana Baieva - whom he met in 2021 - that helped stop him from committing suicide three times during captivity. Still, he finds it hard to talk with Baieva about his time in prison. He doesn't want to be pitied. Soon after he returned home, he was paranoid, feeling watched - a reaction to constant surveillance in prison. "If you stepped out of line, they'd (Russians) come and beat you. I still get flashbacks when I see (surveillance) cameras. If I see one, I get nervous," he said. But with each passing week, he is feeling better, progress Tarnavskyi credits to the work he is doing with a psychologist. Any small stimulus - a smell, a breeze, a color - can trigger traumatic memories for POWs, says Kseniia Voznitsyna, the director of Ukraine's Lisova Polyana mental health center for veterans on the outskirts of Kyiv. Yet contrary to stereotypes, ex-POWs aren't more aggressive. "They tend to isolate themselves, avoid large gatherings, and struggle with trust," said Voznitsyna. "They say time heals - five or ten years, maybe - but it doesn't," she added. "It just feels less intense." A 2014 study in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine found that Israeli ex-POWs and combat veterans tracked over 35 years had higher mortality rates, chronic illnesses and worse self-rated health - conditions partly tied to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The authors of the study said that is why it is crucial to monitor ex-POWs and give them specialized medical and psychological care as they age. That logic rings true to Denys Zalizko, a 21-year-old former POW who has been back in Ukraine for less than three months but is already sure his recovery will take a long time. "You can't fool yourself. Even if you really want to, you will never forget. It will always haunt you," he said. Zalizko survived torture, suicide attempts and relentless beatings during roughly 15 months in Russian captivity. The first time his mother, Maria Zalizko, saw him after his release, she barely recognized him. He was thin and appeared "broken", she said, with torment in his eyes. Zalizko's physical appearance is now almost completely different. His skin looks healthy, his muscles are taut and he has lots of energy. But still there is sadness in his eyes. Two things keep him moving forward and help clear his mind: music and exercise. "Pauses and stillness bring anxiety," says Zalizko. Like Tarnavskyi, he is receiving mandatory counseling at the Lisova Polyana mental health center. And like many former POWs, he still battles hypervigilance - listening for threats, scanning his surroundings. At night, sleep comes in fragments, and that was true even before a recent uptick in nightly drone attacks by the Russian army. For the families of POWs, the reintegration process is also a struggle. A psychologist advised Maria Zalizko to give her son space, to avoid calling him too often. But it is Denys who often calls her, sometimes singing over the phone - a skill she taught him as a child. "I love music. Music unites," he said, touching the tattoo of a treble clef behind his ear - inked after his return. Even in captivity, he sang quietly to himself, composing songs in his mind about love, home and war. Now he dreams of turning that passion into a career as an artist. "I've become stronger now," Zalizko said. "I'm not afraid of death, not afraid of losing an arm or a leg, not afraid of dying instantly. I fear nothing anymore." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
