Thailand’s leader said on Saturday the country would continue military operations along its disputed border with Cambodia, even as fighter jets struck targets hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had helped broker 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 helped secure a ceasefire in the long-running border dispute in October, said he spoke on Friday with Anutin and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, and that the two sides had agreed to “cease all shooting”.
Neither leader referred to any agreement in public statements after the calls, and Anutin said there was no ceasefire in place. “I want to make it clear. Our actions this morning already spoke,” Anutin said in a Facebook post.
A White House spokeswoman said in a statement: “The President expects all parties to fully honor the commitments they have made in signing these agreements, and he will hold anyone accountable as necessary to stop the killing and ensure durable peace.”
Hun Manet said in a Facebook statement on Saturday that he welcomed a proposal by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who has been mediating peace talks, to halt hostilities from Saturday evening.
Anwar, who chairs the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), urged both sides in a Facebook post to “refrain from any further military actions including the use of force or forward movement of armed units” starting at 15:00 GMT.
He said an ASEAN observer team led by the Malaysian chief of defence forces would be deployed to the border, and that the U.S. government would provide satellite monitoring capabilities.
Anutin said “there has been no agreement on halting anything” when asked by reporters about the Malaysian proposal.
Thailand’s foreign minister told a press conference the country would cooperate with the observer team, but said any ceasefire would need to be preceded by talks.
“We can’t just announce a ceasefire while the fighting is going on,” he said.
Suspended Ceasefire
Cambodia and Thailand have exchanged heavy-weapons fire at multiple locations along their 817-km (508-mile) border since Monday, in some of the heaviest clashes since a five-day confrontation in July. That fighting was halted after Trump spoke with both leaders.
Trump, who has repeatedly said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, has sought to intervene again to restore the truce.
Thailand suspended the ceasefire last month after a Thai soldier was seriously injured by a landmine, one of several that Bangkok says were recently laid by Cambodia.
Cambodia, which nominated Trump for the peace prize in August, has denied the landmine allegations.
Thai Defence Ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri said on Saturday that fighting had occurred across seven border provinces and that Cambodian forces had fired heavy weapons, “making it necessary for Thailand to retaliate”.
The Thai army said two civilians were seriously injured after a rocket landed in Sisaket province.
Cambodia’s Information Ministry said Thai forces had struck bridges and buildings and fired artillery from a naval vessel.
Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced since the latest fighting began.
Speaking late on Friday from a torchlit camp on the Cambodian side of the border, 62-year-old Mar Kly said she had fled “so many wars” in her life, including the Khmer Rouge period.
“At one time I cut part of my skirt to wrap my children’s feet to stop burning from walking in the heat barefoot,” she said, adding that the conflict was between governments rather than civilians.
