BANGKOK – Thailand’s army said on Tuesday “hostilities still remain” with Cambodia, a day after Bangkok suspended the implementation of a US-backed peace deal over a landmine blast that wounded four troops.
The deal, brokered by US President Donald Trump in October, was meant to wind down a conflict that peaked with five days of clashes in July that killed at least 43 people and displaced about 300,000 civilians on both sides.
Both sides agreed under the pact to withdraw heavy weapons from the border region and to give access to ceasefire monitors. Thailand also pledged to return 18 captured Cambodian troops.
Cambodia said the situation on the border “remains calm”. However, Thailand’s response suggested that tensions have returned with the suspension of the pact’s implementation.
“The truth has become clear that hostilities still remain,” Royal Thai Army chief Pana Klaewblaudtuk said in a statement. AFP
“The Thai Army needs to suspend the joint declaration to safeguard our right to self-defense,” it said, referring to the pact.
Thailand has often accused Cambodia of laying new landmines along their border in breach of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines.
The RTA said four soldiers were wounded by Monday’s landmine blast in Sisaket province.
Apparent mine blasts wounding Thai troops were a key catalyst when tensions flared in July, igniting a long-standing territorial dispute over a smattering of century-old border temples. AFP
