Bangkok, Dec 13 (EFE).- Clashes between the armies of Thailand and Cambodia continued Saturday at several points along their border, a day after United States President Donald Trump announced that both countries had agreed to “CEASE all shooting” immediately.
Bangkok and Phnom Penh accused each other of continuing hostilities on Saturday, with the use of rockets and aircraft.
The continued hostilities has led to more evacuees, adding to more than half a million displaced since Sunday, when the latest clashes erupted at several points along the 820-kilometer (510-mile) border.
On Friday, Trump announced on his social media account, Truth Social, that the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia, Anutin Charnvirakul and Hun Manet, respectively, agreed to “go back to the original Peace Accord” signed in October in Kuala Lumpur, in which the US leader acted as mediator.
The president made this announcement after holding talks with both leaders in view of the resurgence of the fighting, which left a preliminary toll of 26 dead and more than 200 wounded on both sides.
However, Anutin confirmed on Facebook Saturday that Thailand “will continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people” from Cambodia, which he accuses of having broken the peace agreement by supposedly planting new anti-personnel mines in the border area.
Phnom Penh, for its part, accused Thailand of expanding its attacks Saturday into the province of Koh Kong (southwest), causing the displacement of hundreds of people in search of shelters, which has been recorded and posted on social media.
The Cambodian defense ministry claimed that, following Trump’s announcement, Thailand has used fighter jets in its operations and attacked bridges, shot down more infrastructure and fired on numerous occasions at villages.
The two Asian countries have a long-standing dispute over the sovereignty of several territories located on the border, demarcated by France in 1907, when Cambodia was part of French Indochina.
In July, Trump mediated the conflict between the two nations, when several days of border clashes left some 50 dead. The Republican president claimed that both countries then agreed to stop fighting after he threatened them with commercial retaliation.
In October, Trump presided over the signing of the peace accords between Thailand and Cambodia in Kuala Lumpur. EFE
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