Phnom Penh/Bangkok, Dec 14 (EFE).– Cambodia and Thailand marked one week of deadly border fighting on Sunday, with the death toll rising to 37 and nearly 400 people wounded.
Phnom Penh suspended all land crossings with Thailand, stranding thousands on both sides of the frontier.
Thailand has so far reported 26 deaths, 10 civilians and 16 soldiers, and 327 injured, while Cambodia has confirmed 11 civilians killed and nearly 60 wounded, with no military casualties reported.
Fighting remains active at several points along the border. It has already displaced more than 600,000 people in frontier provinces on both sides, some of which are currently under nighttime curfews imposed by the military.
The Cambodian Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the government “has decided to completely suspend all entry and exit movements at all border crossings between Cambodia and Thailand, with immediate effect and until further notice.”
According to Phnom Penh, the decision aims to protect civilians, including foreign nationals of various countries who have been unable to cross into Thailand, from the risks posed by the fighting, which over the past week has included the use of aircraft and rockets along the roughly 820-kilometer-long border.
Cambodia urged its citizens living in Thailand, as well as Thais waiting to return home, to remain where they are “until the ceasefire is fully implemented,” after Bangkok declined to formally announce a halt to hostilities despite mediation efforts by US President Donald Trump and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Thailand, meanwhile, expressed concern over Phnom Penh’s decision, noting that it had been expecting the return on Saturday of nearly 7,000 Thai nationals who have been waiting for days at the border and are now barred from crossing by land.
“These actions violate numerous provisions of international law, which Thailand respects,” Thai Foreign Ministry deputy spokesperson Maratee Nalita Andamo told reporters. “I assure you that Cambodians and other foreign citizens living in Thailand will receive assistance in accordance with international law.”
In a later statement, Bangkok said it is preparing repatriation flights from Siem Reap, offering an estimated 1,000 seats per day, to facilitate the return of stranded Thai nationals.
The two countries, which also experienced five days of similar clashes in July that killed around 50 people, dispute sovereignty over several border areas mapped by France in 1907, when Cambodia was part of French Indochina.
Trump, who mediated peace agreements signed in Malaysia in October, announced on Friday that a ceasefire had been reached following phone calls with the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia. Still, the truce has yet to take hold. EFE
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