Leaders in Cambodia and Thailand agreed to a ceasefire that took effect at midnight on Monday in an attempt to end their deadliest clashes in more than a decade after five days of fierce fighting.
In an international effort to conflict, leaders of Thailand and Cambodia held talks in Malaysia, chaired by its Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the current chairman of the ASEAN regional group, both sides agreed to cease hostilities and resume direct communications.
Anwar said that when holding a press conference with Thai and Cambodian leaders, there will be “a direct and unconditional ceasefire starting from midnight tonight. This is the final.”
Southeast Asian neighbors accused each other of starting the battle last week, and then escalated along its 817-kilometer land border along the fire bombing and Thai air strikes.
After a long border dispute broke out on Thursday, Anwar proposed a ceasefire negotiation, and China and the United States also offered to assist in the negotiations.
A century-old border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia boiled after Thai and Cambodia forces opened fire on each other amid deadly exchanges. Andrew Chang explains the recent violence and why both sides are eager to back down.
U.S. President Donald Trump summoned two leaders over the weekend to urge them to resolve their differences, warning him that he would not make a deal with them unless they end the battle.
Tensions have intensified since a brief skirmish in late May.
Both sides strengthened the border troops in a mature diplomatic crisis, which put Thailand’s fragile coalition government on the brink of collapse.
The Cambodian Prime Minister Huns said: “Today, we held a very good meeting and a very good result… I hope to stop the battle that caused many lives, hurts and displaces people immediately.”
“We hope that Prime Minister Anwar just announced the solution will restore the normal state of this relationship for our bilateral discussions and establish conditions for future troops relegation.”
Acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, who had earlier expressed doubts about Cambodia’s sincerity before the Malaysian negotiations, said Thailand agreed to a ceasefire that “will both sides succeed in achieving it in sincerity.”
