US President Donald Trump’s much-publicized peace declaration between Thailand and Cambodia is falling apart on Wednesday, with both countries accusing each other of firing shots along their disputed border, leaving at least one person dead in skirmishes.
The brief clashes came two days after Thailand announced it would suspend a Trump-led peace deal reached between the two Southeast Asian kingdoms after several Thai soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion during a border patrol on Monday.
Thailand and Cambodia engaged in a five-day border conflict in July that left dozens of people dead and around 200,000 displaced on both sides of the border. President Trump hailed his intervention in the conflict as further proof of his ability to end wars, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The first ceasefire between the two countries was agreed on July 28, after the US president spoke by phone with the leaders of both countries. Thailand and Cambodia then signed a peace declaration in Kuala Lumpur in late October, in the presence of President Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Thai troops opened fire on civilians in a border village in northwestern Banteay Meanchey province, killing one person and wounding three others.
Thai forces opened fire at 3:50 p.m. and again about two hours later, ministry spokeswoman Lt. Gen. Marie Socheata said in a statement. Cambodia accused Thailand of violating the peace declaration and engaging in “provocative actions in recent days aimed at provoking conflict.”
The same village, claimed by both sides, was the site of clashes between Thai security personnel and Cambodian villagers in September. According to Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thai police deployed tear gas and rubber bullets to quell the protesters.
Contradicting developments on the Cambodian side, a Thai military spokesperson said that at 4pm on Wednesday, Cambodian troops opened fire on the Thai side in the eastern province of Sa Kaew.
“Thai troops provided cover in accordance with the rules of engagement and fired warning shots in the direction of the artillery fire,” military spokesman Maj. Gen. Winthai Suwari said.
There were no Thai casualties and the incident lasted about 10 minutes, Win Thai added.
The clashes came after Thailand announced on Monday that it would “suspend all agreements” with Cambodia and explain its decision to the U.S. government after a landmine explosion injured four Thai soldiers in northeastern Thailand’s Si Saket province. Thailand accused Cambodia of planting new landmines, a claim denied by the Cambodian government.
Although Wednesday’s clashes were brief, they marked a significant flare-up in hostilities following peace declarations from Bangkok and Phnom Penh, with both sides pledging to de-escalate tensions, remove heavy weapons from the border and carry out demining operations.
Cambodia’s Hun Manet “strongly condemned” the clashes as a violation of international law and called for an independent investigation into the incident.
“We call on the Thai side to immediately stop the use of force against innocent Cambodian civilians,” Hun Manet said in a Facebook post, adding that Cambodia would continue to abide by the ceasefire agreement.
Thailand and Cambodia have been fighting over a border dispute for decades, but July’s fighting was one of the most serious in years. Both sides accused the other of starting the border violence.
The two countries share a 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border, and the territorial dispute over the demarcated portion of the border largely stems from a map drawn by France when it ruled Cambodia as a colony, which Thailand does not accept.
