The border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia continued this Thursday for the fifth day in a row and left at least 22 dead: nine military personnel and three civilians on the Thai side, as well as ten civilians, according to Cambodian authorities, who did not confirm military casualty figures.
“A total of nine soldiers have died so far” and more than 120 have been injured, Thai Defense Ministry spokesman Surasant Kongsiri reported in a press conference.
The official gave the number of victims, while the Information Minister of Cambodia, Neth Pheaktrapublished the data on the civilian population of his country. Local media believe there were also Cambodian military casualties, although Phnom Penh has not released any official reports on this point.
The situation remains tense as governments await possible mediation efforts by the US President. Donald Trumpwho had offered to intervene during the recent spate of violence in July.
On Tuesday, Trump expressed his intention to communicate with the leaders of both countries:Anutin Charnvirakul from Thailand and Hun Manet of Cambodia – after the escalation of clashes, which represents the largest escalation of the historic territorial conflict since the last crisis months ago.
The dispute centers on the sovereignty of several areas along the nearly 820-kilometer-long border, which was demarcated by France in 1907 when Cambodia was part of French Indochina.
“I have to make a call,” Trump announced Tuesday during a political event in Pennsylvania, alluding to his role as a mediator.
The wave of violence in July left almost fifty dead in five days and was stopped by a ceasefire negotiated in Malaysia with the United States as the main mediator. That agreement was reinforced in October with a peace pact pushed by Trump at a Southeast Asia summit.
On Thursday morning in northeastern Thailand, hundreds of displaced families woke up in a university building in the city of Surin that was being used as an emergency shelter. Among them was Rat, a 61-year-old farmer who preferred not to give her last name and had to leave her home with her family just before the annual cassava planting began.
“I just want to come home and farm again,” Rat dem said AFP. “Every time the fighting starts again, it feels like life is on pause again.”
The current outbreak of violence, which began last Thursday, escalated the scale of operations, which now include air, sea and ground operations, and led to the displacement of more than 100,000 people half a million people on both sides of the border: around 400,000 in Thailand and more than 190,000 in Cambodia.
UNESCO called for ensuring the “protection of the region’s cultural heritage in all its forms.” during the fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. There are several temples in the disputed area that have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The organization recalled that in 2008 there were clashes between the two countries over control of land near a 900-year-old border temple. These and other outbreaks of violence between 2008 and 2011 resulted in at least twenty deaths and the displacement of tens of thousands of people.
(With information from EFE)
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