KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign ministers from Southeast Asia are meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Monday in an effort to halt renewed fighting between Thailand and Cambodia along their disputed border, clashes that have killed at least 40 people and displaced more than half a million this month.
The meeting marks the first face-to-face engagement between the two governments since hostilities resumed on December 8. Both Thailand and Cambodia, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are attending the talks hosted by Malaysia, this year’s ASEAN chair, reports Turkey’s global news broadcaster, TRT World.
The United States has urged both sides to cease hostilities and fully implement the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords, following renewed violence along the 817-kilometre border. In a statement issued on Sunday, the US State Department called on Bangkok and Phnom Penh to withdraw heavy weapons, stop the use of landmines and accelerate humanitarian demining efforts.
Washington also welcomed the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting, saying it could help ensure both countries honour their commitments to end the conflict and address long-standing border disputes.
Thailand and Cambodia have accused each other of actions that led to the collapse of a July ceasefire and a broader peace deal reached in October. Heavy fighting has since spread across disputed areas, from inland forested regions near Laos to coastal provinces.
Thailand has carried out air strikes on Cambodian military positions and suspended fuel shipments through a Laotian border crossing, citing concerns that supplies were being diverted to Cambodia. The Thai military has also accused Cambodian forces of using drones to drop explosives and firing rockets into civilian areas, claims Phnom Penh has not publicly addressed.
The October peace agreement was signed during the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur in the presence of US President Donald Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, but was later suspended after Thai soldiers were seriously wounded in a landmine explosion near the border.
