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Thailand
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Deadly Thai-Cambodia border conflict ends with new ceasefire deal

Thailand and Cambodia also agreed to release captured troops and protect civilians, with delegations from China, the US, and Malaysia present

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A tank drives on a road toward Thailand-Cambodia’s border in Sisaket province, Thailand ahead of a ceasefire talks on July 28. Photo: Reuters
Joseph Sipalan
Thailand and Cambodia signed a ceasefire deal on Thursday aimed at de-escalating a deadly border conflict, agreeing to maintain their current troop deployments along their shared frontier and to prevent any “unprovoked firing” by either side.
The deal, finalised after four days of intensive meetings in Kuala Lumpur, builds on a truce established by the leaders of both countries last week. The truce follows five days of fighting that killed at least 43 people and displaced over 300,000 on both sides of the border.

To ease tensions, the two neighbours agreed to freeze troop numbers stationed along the border at the time when the ceasefire took effect on July 28, with no additional troop deployments allowed.

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They also agreed to stop the use of force against civilians and civilian structures, and to release any captured soldiers immediately.

Both sides blame each other for sparking the conflict and deliberately targeting civilians. Officially, most of the dead and wounded on both sides during the intense clashes were civilians caught in rocket and missile strikes.

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“Our ultimate goal is to enable people on both sides of the border to return to their normal lives in peace and security,” Thailand’s Acting Defence Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit told reporters.

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