Border chaos amid hope for peace
ACTING Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet is set to meet today in Malaysia for peace talks over their border conflict, Bangkok said yesterday.
The Thai premier's office said the talks would be hosted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, 'with Mr Hun Manet, Prime Minister of Cambodia, to personally travel for talks'.
Cambodia and Thailand earlier said the other had launched artillery attacks across contested border areas early yesterday, hours after US President Donald Trump said the leaders of both countries had agreed to work on a ceasefire.
Cambodia said it fully endorsed Trump's call for an immediate ceasefire.
'We've proposed bilateral talks between our foreign ministers to conclude the conditions for a ceasefire and drawing back troops and long-range weapons,' said Phumtham.
Cambodia said Thailand had started hostilities yesterday morning and that Thai forces were mobilising along the border.
Thailand said it had responded to attacks from Cambodia.
'I made it clear to Honourable President Donald Trump that Cambodia agreed with the proposal for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between the two armed forces,' Hun Manet posted on Facebook, noting he had also agreed to Malaysia's earlier ceasefire proposal.
Four days after the worst fighting in more than a decade broke out between the South-East Asian neighbours, the death toll stood above 30, including 13 civilians in Thailand and eight in Cambodia.
On the ground help: (Left) Evacuees displaced by the ongoing conflict between Thailand and Cambodia resting at an evacuation centre in the Thai border province of Sisaket while. — AFP
More than 200,000 people have been evacuated from border areas in the two countries, authorities said.
Cambodia's Defence Ministry said Thailand had shelled and launched ground assaults yesterday morning at a number of points along the border.
The ministry's spokesperson said heavy artillery was fired at historic temple complexes.
'For me, I think it is great if Thailand agreed to stop fighting so both countries can live in peace,' a Phnom Penh university student Sreung Nita said.
The Thai army said Cambodian forces had fired shots into several areas, including near civilian homes, early yesterday, and were mobilising long-range rocket launchers.
The governor of Surin said that artillery shells had been fired into the province.
'The soldiers will continue to do their job at full steam – so Thais do not worry – until the government has reached a clear agreement that there is no danger for the people and to ensure we maintain the country's interests in order to bring the peace we want to see,' Phumtham said.
Local villagers help to unload supplies donated by a charity for refugees from a truck as they take refuge in Wat Phnom Kamboar, Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia. — AP
In the Thai province of Sisaket, reporters heard shelling and said it was unclear which side of the border it was on.
'If there is a ceasefire, things will be better,' Sisaket resident Thavorn Toosawan said.
Trump said on Saturday that he had spoken with the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia and they had agreed to meet immediately to quickly work out a ceasefire to end fighting that began on Thursday.
'Both Parties are looking for an immediate Ceasefire and Peace,' Trump wrote on social media, adding that tariff negotiations with both countries were on hold until the fighting stopped. — Reuters/AFP
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