Thailand-Cambodia clashes: Trump, on Saturday said that he will call the acting Prime Minister of Thailand and request for a ceasefire, as the soaring tensions between Thailand and Cambodia continued to escalate, with the conflict entering its third day on Saturday.
He also said that he has already spoken to Cambodia PM Hun Manet. “The call with Cambodia has ended, but expect to call back regarding War stoppage and Ceasefire based on what Thailand has to say. I am trying to simplify a complex situation!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Both Parties are looking for an immediate Ceasefire and Peace,” Trump wrote as he gave a blow-by-blow account of his diplomatic efforts.
Before Trump spoke to the two leaders, clashes on the Thai-Cambodian border persisted into a third day and new flashpoints emerged on Saturday as both sides said they had acted in self-defense in the border dispute and called on the other to cease fighting and start negotiations.
More than 30 people have been killed and more than 130,000 people displaced in the worst fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours in 13 years.
There were clashes early on Saturday, both sides said, in the neighbouring Thai coastal province of Trat and Cambodia’s Pursat Province, a new front more than 100 km (60 miles) from other conflict points along the long-contested border.
The two countries have faced off since the killing of a Cambodian soldier late in May during a brief skirmish. Troops on both sides of the border were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand’s fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse.
As of Saturday, Thailand said seven soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed in the clashes, while in Cambodia five soldiers and eight civilians had been killed, said Defense Ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata.
Following calls for restraint on both sides from Trump’s senior aides, he became directly involved on Saturday, speaking to each leader and saying he relayed messages back and forth.
“When all is done, and Peace is at hand, I look forward to concluding our Trading Agreements with both!” Trump said.
He offered no details on the ceasefire negotiations he said Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to hold.
The Thai and Cambodian embassies in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the Thai border province of Sisaket, a university compound has been converted into temporary accommodation, where a volunteer said more than 5,000 people were staying.
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