Thailand said late Saturday it agrees in principle to entering a ceasefire with Cambodia and beginning a “bilateral dialogue” aimed at ending the nations’ deadliest fighting in more than a decade.
The Southeast Asian neighbours exchanged heavy artillery fire for a third straight day Saturday, as a border conflict that has killed at least 33 people and displaced more than 150,000 from their homes spread across the frontier.
“Thailand agrees in principle to have a ceasefire in place,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on X.
That followed a post by US President Donald Trump, who said he had spoken with Cambodian leader Hun Manet and Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and that the two sides have agreed to meet and “quickly work out” a ceasefire.
Thailand’s foreign ministry confirmed a phone call between Trump and Phumtham, and stressed that regarding a possible ceasefire, “Thailand would like to see sincere intention from the Cambodian side.”
It said Phumtham requested Trump to “convey to the Cambodian side that Thailand wants to convene a bilateral dialogue as soon as possible to bring forth measures and procedures for the ceasefire and the eventual peaceful resolution of the conflict.”
Hours earlier, clashes broke out in the countries’ coastal regions where they meet on the Gulf of Thailand, around 250 kilometres (160 miles) southwest of the main front lines, thumping with blasts on Saturday afternoon.
“It feels like I’m escaping a war zone,” 76-year-old Samlee Sornchai told AFP at a temple shelter for evacuees in the Thai town of Kanthararom, after abandoning his farm near the embattled frontier.
A long-running border dispute erupted into combat this week with jets, tanks and ground troops.
Tensions initially flared over long-contested ancient temple sites before fighting spread along the rural border region, marked by a ridge of hills surrounded by wild jungle and agricultural land where locals farm rubber and rice.
LND/SAE
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