Malaysia currently has the chair of the Southeast Asian alliance asean, which both countries belong to. Anwar said that the expected talks focused on an immediate ceasefire between the two hostile neighboring countries. The government officials on both sides asked him to “try to negotiate a peace agreement,” quoted him, the National news agency Bernama.
“I am discussing the parameters that are (an) immediate ceasefire,” said Anwar. Cambodia has not yet commented on the discussions planned for 3 p.m. (local time, 9:00 a.m.).
US President Donald Trump had previously stated that the heads of Cambodia and Thailands had agreed to a meeting to work out an agreement on an ceasefire. They wanted to meet “immediately” and “quickly agree on a ceasefire, and, ultimately, peace”, Trump wrote in his online network work Truth Social after phone calls with the heads of government on both sides.
The battles that have been going on since Thursday continued the fourth day in a row. In the Cambodian town of Samraong, which was around 20 kilometers from the Thai border, regular artillery fire was heard on Sunday, as reporters from the AFP news agency reported.
According to the Cambodian Department of Defense, the Thai Army took up the border region controversial between the two countries in the early Sunday morning. A Thai army spokesman, on the other hand, said that Cambodian troops had recently started with artillery fire. According to him, the forces fought for the control of strategically important positions.
The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, accused the Cambodian armed forces of firing grenades on houses in the province of Surin. “As long as Cambodia is seriously lacking in sincerity, the hostility can not be attended,” said the Ministry.
The spokeswoman for the Cambodian Department of Defense, Maly Socheata, denied that her country’s forces first shot. She accused Thailand “intentional and coordinated aggression”.
After Trump’s announcement, the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet had agreed that his country had agreed with the proposal of an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” between the armed forces of both countries. He announced talks between Cambodia Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. At the same time, he warned Thailand against breaking possible agreements.
The Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said that he had generally agreed to the beginning of negotiations on a ceasefire. These should start “as soon as possible”, Cambodia has to show “honest will” to peace.
According to official information, at least 34 people have been killed in the fights between neighboring countries. The number of victims was exceeded during the last battles in the conflict around 15 years ago. More than 200,000 people fled from their villages, 138,000 on the Thai and 80,000 on the Cambodian side of the border.
The battles are the latest escalation in a dispute over the border in the so-called emerald triangle for decades, where the Thai province of Surin and the Cambodian province of Oddar Meanchey and the neighboring state of Laos are bordered.
Both Thailand and Cambodia attract millions of tourists every year. The border between the two countries runs around 130 kilometers away from the world -famous Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia, which is a popular travel destination. In view of the escalating conflict, the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin urgently advises against traveling to the border region between Thailand and Cambodia.
On Friday, a meeting of the UN Security Council had taken place on Friday, including the public. Both countries accused each other of having attacked first and referred to their right to self -defense.
