The Thai military said ceasefire talks with Cambodia, set to begin yesterday, are expected to conclude with a meeting of the countries’ defense ministers on Saturday, as the two sides seek to end weeks of deadly clashes.
The talks started at 4pm in Thailand’s Chanthaburi Province, which borders Cambodia.
The Thai Ministry of Defense outlined several demands to be discussed ahead of the bilateral meeting of the General Border Committee (GBC) on Saturday.
Photo: AFP
If secretariat-level discussions fail to reach agreement on key technical frameworks such as troop deployments, the Thai side would not proceed with the GBC meeting or sign any agreement on Saturday, the ministry said.
The discussions mark the first bilateral dialogue since clashes erupted on Dec. 7, with at least 44 people killed and more than half a million civilians displaced on both sides of their 800km border.
Five days of clashes in July ended with an initial ceasefire agreement mediated by Malaysia and US President Donald Trump.
The Thai military plans to raise several issues at the talks, including the use of anti-personnel landmines, the use of historical sites as military positions, the firing of heavy weapons from civilian communities, and the use of civilian buildings as military positions or weapons storage facilities.
Both sides have denied targeting civilians, claiming they are only attacking military targets.
The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority has separately condemned what it called Thailand’s military aggression and campaign of misinformation, the Khmer Times reported.
Separately, a Cambodian official accused Thailand of destroying a Hindu statue in a disputed border area.
“The statue was inside our territory in the An Ses area,” said Kim Chanpanha, a government spokesman in the border province of Preah Vihear.
The demolition of the Vishnu statue, which was built in 2014, occurred on Monday about 100m from the border with Thailand, he said.
A Google Maps search showed the statue’s location was about 400m from the border line.
“We condemn the destruction of ancient temples and statues that are worshiped by Buddhist and Hindu followers,” Chanpanha said.
Videos showing the demolition of the Vishnu statue using a back-hoe loader circulated on Thai social media pages on Monday.
A spokesperson for the Thai army had not replied to a request for comment.
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
RUSHED: The US pushed for the October deal to be ready for a ceremony with Trump, but sometimes it takes time to create an agreement that can hold, a Thai official said Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia are to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of resuming a ceasefire between the two countries, Thailand’s top diplomat said yesterday, as border fighting entered a third week. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by US President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The two countries agreed to hold talks using their General Border Committee, an established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
RSS