Thailand’s leader vowed on Saturday, December 13, to keep fighting on the disputed border with Cambodia as fighter jets struck targets, hours after US President Donald Trump said he had brokered a new ceasefire.
Caretaker Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the Southeast Asian nation would “continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people.” Trump, who brokered a ceasefire in the long-running border dispute in October, spoke to Anutin and Cambodian premier Hun Manet on Friday and said they had agreed to “cease all shooting.”
Neither premier mentioned an agreement in statements after their calls with Trump, and Anutin explicitly denied there was a ceasefire.
“I want to make it clear. Our actions this morning already spoke,” Anutin posted on Facebook, and reports indicate that fighting, including air and rocket strikes, continued throughout Saturday.
At least four Thai soldiers were reported killed on Saturday, taking the death toll for the week’s clashes to at least 24 people.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet also did not confirm a ceasefire, though he welcomed a separate proposal by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the current chair of the 10-nation ASEAN grouping, to cease hostilities from Saturday evening.
Anwar’s plan included deploying an ASEAN Observer Team (AOT), led by the Malaysian Chief of Defence Forces, to monitor the situation, with support from US government satellite monitoring capabilities. The AOT’s findings are scheduled to be presented at an ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Tuesday, December 16.
Anutin, however, rejected the idea of an immediate, unconditional ceasefire, stating: “There has been no agreement on halting anything.” Thailand’s Foreign Minister added that while the country would cooperate with the observer team, any ceasefire must be preceded by talks.
Cambodia and Thailand have been exchanging heavy-weapons fire since Monday in some of the heaviest fighting since a July clash.
This latest round of violence was triggered by a skirmish on December 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers, which Thailand attributes to newly laid Cambodian landmines. Thailand suspended the earlier Trump-brokered truce after a Thai soldier was maimed by a landmine last month.
Cambodia denies the landmine allegations. Both sides have accused the other of escalating the conflict. Thai Defence Ministry spokesman Rear Adm. Surasant Kongsiri said clashes had taken place across seven border provinces, necessitating retaliation from Thailand. Cambodia, meanwhile, accused Thailand of continuing air strikes against its territory even after Trump’s announcement.
Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced since the fresh fighting broke out. Speaking from a camp on the Cambodian side, 62-year-old Mar Kly said she had fled “so many wars” in the past, adding that the current conflict is between the two governments, not the people.