After 20 days of clashes that left 101 people dead, and following the collapse of a ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump, Thailand and Cambodia said overnight Friday into Saturday that they had ended the fighting.
In a joint statement announcing the ceasefire, the two countries’ defense ministers said “both sides agree to maintain current troop deployments without further movement.”
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After 20 days of clashes and displaced people: ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia
(Photo: Agence Kampuchea Press/Handout via REUTERS, REUTERS/SOCIAL MEDIA)
The latest round of fighting began less than three weeks ago, when four Cambodian civilians and a Thai soldier were killed in an exchange of fire along the border — just five months after a Trump-brokered ceasefire had been declared. Each side accused the other of violating that truce.
In the days that followed, the clashes escalated, displacing more than 500,000 people in both countries. About two weeks ago, Trump said Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to halt the fighting and revert to the original peace framework, but the clashes continued. Thailand’s prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, said at the time that Thailand would keep up military operations until it determined the country was no longer at risk, adding that its conduct on the ground spoke for itself.
Trump pledged to end the fighting, two days after it broke out
(Credit: Reuters)
Thailand and Cambodia have been locked in a long-running border dispute that periodically flares into open fighting. In July, an unusually intense round of clashes killed 48 soldiers and civilians on both sides and forced about 300,000 residents to flee their homes. A ceasefire was declared after five days, and in October, the sides signed an agreement formalizing it, but tensions on the ground continued to simmer.
In November, Bangkok announced it was suspending the agreement after Thai soldiers were injured by land mine explosions. Trump intervened in an effort to prevent the ceasefire from collapsing, but it fell apart less than a month later.