Thailand has accused Cambodia of “deliberately” violating a ceasefire the two countries agreed on Monday to end border clashes that have killed at least 33 people and displaced thousands.
It’s a shaky start for the ceasefire, which is aimed at bringing an end to five days of bombardment and rocket attacks along their shared border.
The Thai military says it stopped firing after midnight, but that it continued to receive gunfire from the Cambodian side “at multiple locations” up until this morning.
But Cambodia’s defence ministry told the AFP news agency that there had been “no armed clashes” between the two sides since the ceasefire began at midnight.
Despite the accusations, meetings between local commanders from both sides took place earlier on Tuesday as part of the ceasefire agreement. They agreed to stop shooting and halt the movement of troops on the frontline. They will also allow each other to collect their dead.
Tensions between the South East Asian countries over their century-old disputed border ramped up in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash.
They escalated into a full-scale conflict last week after five Thai soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion. Thailand closed some of its border crossings, expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own from Phnom Penh.
After the two sides exchanged gunfire early last Thursday, Cambodia fired multiple rockets into Thailand, killing several civilians.
More civilians died on both sides in the following days, and tens of thousands more were evacuated to shelters.
Intense exchanges of fire between the two armies continued up to midnight on Monday, the deadline for the ceasefire, with Thailand launching more air strikes on Cambodian positions.
But on Tuesday morning, before Thailand alleged the ceasefire had been violated, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet said that the “frontlines have eased” since midnight.
Under the ceasefire agreement, both sides are meant to pull back their armies and accept some kind of independent monitoring to prevent further clashes.
Hun Manet and his Thai counterpart Phumtham Wechayachai had met on Monday in Malaysia in a meeting brokered by its leader Anwar Ibrahim.
An outgunned Cambodia had been pushing for a ceasefire and its leader called it a “very good meeting”.
Thailand, which had initially been reluctant to negotiate, agreed to the talks after US President Donald Trump threatened to halt negotiations over tariffs until Thailand and Cambodia stopped fighting.
Relations between Thailand and Cambodia took a turn for the worse in 2008 when Cambodia tried to register an 11th Century temple located in the disputed area as a Unesco World Heritage Site – a move that was met with heated protest from Thailand.
Over the years there have been sporadic clashes that have seen soldiers and civilians killed on both sides.
When tensions ramped up in May, the relationship between the two countries hit its lowest point in more than a decade.
In the past two months, both countries have imposed border restrictions on one another. Cambodia banned imports from Thailand such as fruits and vegetables, and stopped importing power and internet services.
Both countries have also strengthened their troop presence along the border in recent weeks.
Credit: BBC.com
