A truce agreement between Thailand and Cambodia has come into effect.
The leaders of Cambodia and Thailand had agreed to a ceasefire effective from midnight local time (6pm Irish time), in a bid to bring an end to their deadliest conflict in more than a decade after five days of fierce fighting.
The flare-up was the deadliest since violence raged sporadically from 2008-2011 over the territory, claimed by both because of a vague demarcation made by Cambodia’s French colonial administrators in 1907.
The peace deal is set to see military commanders from both sides meet at 7am local time (12am Irish time), before a cross-border committee is convened in Cambodia to further salve tensions on 4 August.
Thai and Cambodian leaders had held talks in Malaysia hosted by its Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the current chair of the ASEAN regional bloc, where both sides agreed to halt hostilities and resume direct communications.
Mr Anwar said when opening a press conference alongside the Thai and Cambodian leaders that there would be “an immediate and unconditional ceasefire with effect from midnight tonight. This is final.”
The Southeast Asian neighbours accused each other of starting the fighting last week, before escalating it with heavy artillery bombardment and Thai air strikes along their 817km land border.
Mr Anwar had proposed ceasefire talks soon after a long-running border dispute erupted into conflict on Thursday, and China and the United States also offered to assist in negotiations.
Cambodian soldiers ride a truck equipped with a Russian-made BM-21 rocket launcher
A spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement this evening that “he urges both countries to respect the agreement fully and to create an environment conducive to addressing long-standing issues and achieving lasting peace”.
Both sides are courting United States President Donald Trump for trade deals to avert his threat of eye-watering tariffs, and the US State Department said its officials had been “on the ground” to shepherd peace talks.
The joint statement said China also had “active participation” in the talks, hosted by Malaysian Prime Minister and ASEAN bloc chair Anwar Ibrahim in his country’s administrative capital Putrajaya.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet thanked Mr Trump for his “decisive” support, while his counterpart, Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, said it should be “carried out in good faith by both sides”.
“If they say they’ll stop firing, they must stop completely,” said 43-year-old Thai evacuee Prapakarn Samruamjit in the city of Surin
