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Alleged ceasefire violations have been reported this week alongside the Cambodia-Thailand border days after the 2 international locations’ prime ministers met to protect a fragile truce following lethal border clashes final 12 months.
Cambodia on Thursday denied allegations reported in Thai media that its forces fired grenades from M79 launchers close to the Thai border in Preah Vihear province, calling the claims baseless, whereas Thailand’s protection minister reportedly ordered troops to keep up border positions.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Nationwide Protection stated the accusations have been unsupported and warned such experiences might undermine stability alongside the border. It stated it had submitted a protest letter to Thailand’s Joint Data Heart.
A day earlier, Thai media additionally reported gunfire close to O’Smach, a border city alongside the Oddar Meanchey-Surin border related to on-line rip-off operations and occupied by Thai forces after clashes in December.
Video posted on-line by a British pro-Cambodia content material creator appeared to seize gunfire within the background whereas he was filming within the space.
Thai media later cited the Thai military as saying Cambodian troops fired 11 photographs attributable to “indiscipline” slightly than as a part of a navy operation. Cambodia rejected the accusation.
There have been no experiences of renewed combating, in response to native media and official statements.
Cambodia additionally accused Thai forces on Thursday of detonating unexploded ordnance with out prior discover throughout a go to by a ceasefire observer staff of regional navy attaches to Preah Vihear Temple. It stated it lodged a proper protest over the matter.
Thai Protection Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri and Cambodian Protection Ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The observer staff, referred to as AOT and made up of navy attaches from the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has not issued public statements since being deployed final 12 months.
Greater than 100 individuals have been killed and tons of of hundreds displaced throughout combating between the neighbors in July and December earlier than the 2 sides agreed to ceasefires brokered first by america and later via bilateral talks.
The incidents got here lower than every week after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet met Thai counterpart Anutin Charnvirakul on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit within the Philippines, the place the leaders agreed on confidence-building measures and additional talks between overseas ministers aimed toward preserving the truce.
Hun Manet didn’t handle the current allegations throughout a Friday occasion for veterans, however stated Cambodia would at all times prioritize negotiations to keep away from renewed battle.
“If the door shouldn’t be fully closed, even when it is just 1% open, it’s mandatory to make use of all potentialities to achieve a peaceable answer slightly than combating one another,” he stated.
