Thailand and Cambodia sign truce to halt fierce border conflict
Baku, December 27, AZERTAC
Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Saturday to halt weeks of fierce border clashes, the worst fighting in years between the Southeast Asian countries that has included fighter jets sorties, exchange of rocket fire and artillery barrages, according to Reuters.
"Both sides agree to maintain current troop deployments without further movement," their defence ministers said in a joint statement on the ceasefire, to take effect at noon (0500 GMT).
"Any reinforcement would heighten tensions and negatively affect long-term efforts to resolve the situation," according to the statement released on social media by Cambodia's Defence Ministry.
The agreement, signed by Thai Defence Minister Natthaphon Nakrphanit and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Seiha, ended 20 days of fighting that has killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million on both sides.
The clashes were re-ignited in early December after a breakdown in a ceasefire that U.S. President Donald Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had helped broker to halt a previous round of fighting.
For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia have contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points along their 817 km (508 miles) land border - a dispute that has occasionally exploded into skirmishes and fighting.
The latest ceasefire would be monitored by an observer team from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc as well as direct coordination between both countries, Natthaphon said.
"At the same time, at the policy level, there will be direct communication between the minister of defence and chief of the armed forces of both sides," he told reporters.
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