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Southeast Asian foreign ministers gathered on Monday Malaysian capital kuala lumpur for a special meeting to discuss the ongoing border conflict between Thailand And cambodia Which turned into a deadly war two weeks ago.
This meeting was held for the second time this year at the regional level. Association of Southeast Asian Nationsor ASEAN, served as a forum to promote the reduction of tensions between its two member countries.
The new fighting derailed a ceasefire promoted by US President Donald Trump that ended five days of fighting in July.
The agreement was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through under pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. The ceasefire was formalized with more detail in Trump’s presence at a regional summit in Malaysia in October.
This fight has created concern at the international level. The US State Department issued a statement on Sunday calling on Thailand and Cambodia to “cease hostilities, withdraw heavy weapons, stop laying landmines, and fully implement the Kuala Lumpur Peace Agreement, including mechanisms to expedite humanitarian demilitarization and address border issues.”
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phungketkaew said on social media on Sunday that he spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and “conveyed Thailand’s strong intention to work toward a ceasefire and outlined our clear path forward.”
Thailand will engage constructively in the meeting to be held in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, he said.
Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon plans to attend the meeting, the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday, reaffirming its position to “resolve differences and disputes through all peaceful means, dialogue and diplomacy.”
The fighting is a result of a dispute over parts of territory claimed by both countries on their shared border.
The latest round of fighting began on 8 December, a day after two Thai soldiers were injured in a border clash. The war has since erupted on multiple fronts, with Thailand carrying out airstrikes with F-16 fighter jets into Cambodia and Cambodia firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets from truck-mounted launchers that can launch 40 rockets simultaneously.
More than two dozen people on both sides of the border are officially reported to have been killed in last week’s fighting, while more than half a million people have been displaced, according to officials.
Under the October ceasefire, Thailand was to release 18 captured Cambodian soldiers and both sides were to begin removing heavy weapons and landmines along the border. But the two countries continue a bitter propaganda war with minor cross-border violence.
Land mine explosions have been a particularly sensitive issue for Thailand, which has lodged several protests after accusing Cambodia of laying new mines, injuring soldiers patrolling the border. Cambodia says the mines are remnants of its decades-long civil war, which ended in 1999.
The Thai Navy said Sunday that one of its frontline sailors suffered serious injuries to his right leg after stepping on a landmine.
The navy also claimed to have discovered a large number of abandoned weapons and explosive ordnance while securing an area it described as a Cambodian stronghold, indicating “deliberate planning and deliberate use of anti-personnel landmines” against Thai troops.
The Thai Foreign Ministry said it would send letters of protest to Cambodia and Zambia, the current presidents of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, also known as the Ottawa Convention, to pursue further action under the convention’s mechanism.
Cambodia did not immediately respond to the Thai claims.