The border fights between Cambodia and Thailand left 33 people dead on both sides of the border, according to the latest evaluations available this Saturday, July 26, the Cambodian government asked for a “high immediate fire.”
This long border dispute and degenerated on Thursday in clashes that involve combat airplanes, tanks, terrestrial troops and artillery. A level of violence never seen since 2011, which has led to the UN Security Council to meet urgently.
This Saturday, the Ministry of Defense in Phnom Penh said that 13 people had been killed and another 71 wounds on the Cambodian side. Thailand has 20 dead in his land, including six soldiers.
Donald Trump exchanged with the leaders of the two countries
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he interacted with the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand to reach a high fire between the two countries.
“I just talked to Cambodia’s Prime Minister to stop the war with Thailand. I am calling Thailand’s interim prime minister to ask for the fire and the end of the war at this time,” the US president wrote in his social social network.
In a separate publication published a few minutes later, Donald Trump praised “a very good conversation” with the Thai leader. “Thailand, as Cambodia, wants a stop the immediate fire and peace,” the US president wrote.
Artillery shots
In total, the balance exceeds the previous series of main border clashes between the two countries, which had killed 28 people between 2008 and 2011.
The confrontations exploded at the level of temples of several centuries, before the fight was extended along the border, a line of peak hills covered with trees, surrounded by the jungle and the rubber, rice and garlic crops.
The two camps reported fights around 5 am on the coast. Phnom Penh accused the Thai forces of having drawn “five heavy artillery shells” in several places in the province of Partyat, Border of Thailand.
The AFP journalists present in Samraong’s Cambodian city near the border, heard artillery fires this Saturday.
Tens of thousands of displaced
The clashes forced more than 138,000 people to evacuate the Thai regions backed by the border, while in Cambodia, more than 35,000 people had to flee from their home.
At the end of the UN Security Council meeting on Friday in New York, the Cambodian ambassador to the United Nations, Chhea Keo, said his country wanted a high fire. “Cambodia has requested a high immediate and unconditional fire and we also ask for a peaceful conflict agreement,” he told the press.
Thailand Foreign Minister Maris Sangiamposa called Cambodia on Saturday to show “real sincerity to end the conflict.”
“I urge Cambodia to stop violating Thai sovereignty” and resort to “bipartite dialogue,” the minister told the press.
Border disputes
On Friday, before the United Nations meeting, Thailand said that leaving the door open to negotiations, with Malaysia as a possible intermediary. This last country presides over the Southeast Asian Nations Association (ASEAN), of which Thailand and Cambodia are members.
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, an influential personality in the kingdom, was this Saturday to meet evacuated people.
“The army needs to complete its operations before any dialogue can take place,” said Thaksin Shinawatra in front of the press.
These fights constitute an important escalation in the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand over its common 800 kilometers border. The two states dispute their route, defined at the time of French Indochina.
A decision of the United Nations Court of Justice in 2013 resulted in the problem for more than a decade, but the current crisis broke out in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a night exchange in the “Emerald Triangle.”
The relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh have particularly deteriorated last month when former Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, disseminated the recording of words from the Thai government, then, Paetongtran Shinawatra, on the border dispute.
Source: BFM TV
