Thailand and Cambodia agree to halt fighting that has killed dozens

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, center, Prime Minister Hun Manet of Cambodia, left, and Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, taking part in talks on a possible cease-fire between Thailand and Cambodia, in Malaysia on Monday.

By Edward Wong and Sui-Lee Wee

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to a ceasefire starting at midnight Monday, the leaders of both countries said, after the deadliest conflict between their two countries in more than a decade killed at least 36 people and prompted hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee the area.

Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, and Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Manet, shook hands with each other after holding talks in person for the first time since the fighting broke out five days ago along the countries’ disputed border. Since Thursday, both countries have pounded each other with attacks, which at times included airstrikes and rockets fired.

But even on the morning of the talks, the fighting had continued, with sounds of explosions heard near the border. Things appeared to quiet down only in the afternoon as the Thai and Cambodian leaders sat down in Putrajaya, a city about a half-hour drive from Malaysia’s capital.

In the Thai province of Surin, Siriwut Wongcharoen, 59, a local official, who spoke by phone from a bunker in a temple where he was sheltering, said he was skeptical that the fighting would stop. He said he was still hearing gunshots as of Monday evening.

“I’m not leaving this bunker yet, as I don’t feel confident enough,” Siriwut said. “I will wait for another one to two days.”

As part of the agreement, Thailand and Cambodia said they would hold an informal meeting at the regional military command level on Tuesday as well as a broader meeting to discuss the border dispute on Aug. 4, according to a statement issued by both sides.

The talks in Putrajaya were organized by Malaysian and U.S. officials, at the official residence of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia. Edgard Kagan, the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia, was the top U.S. diplomat in the meeting.

Chinese diplomats attended as observers, according to Malaysian officials. The United States and China, both of which have strategic and economic interests in Thailand and Cambodia, have ratcheted up pressure on the Southeast Asian nations to stop fighting.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump said he had spoken to both leaders and that U.S. officials would not negotiate trade deals with either country unless the fighting stopped. The clashes continued through Sunday and early Monday.

It was unclear if Monday’s agreement would lead to a genuine truce. Cambodia said last week that it had agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Malaysia but accused Thailand of reneging on the deal. Thailand responded by saying that any ceasefire had to be based on “appropriate, on the ground conditions,” and that Cambodia’s continued attacks showed a lack of good faith.

As of Monday, the death toll exceeded that from the last outbreak of deadly battles between the two countries, from 2008 to 2011, during which 34 people were killed, according to an academic paper. This latest round of clashes erupted after two months of tension over contested territory.

Both sides continued to accuse the other of carrying out attacks. In a late-morning news conference, Lt. Gen. Maly Socheata, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s Defense Ministry, said Thai forces had fired at two ancient temples that are claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia, starting at 3 a.m.

She said Thailand had deployed planes to fire rockets and was “still aggressively attacking” Cambodia. Thailand’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ly Nam, 38, a farmer in Oddar Meanchey province in Cambodia, lives about 25 miles from where the fighting has been taking place. He said there had been constant booms and thuds since early Monday.

“It is two or three times more severe than yesterday,” he said, adding that he had not left the area because he needed to take care of his house and his 10 pigs.

“Now I am hiding in a trench,” Ly Nam said. “We are in misery. We don’t have enough food to eat.”

Some Cambodians have fled to the homes of family members and friends in Siem Reap, the site of the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex. Siem Reap has been untouched by the violence, but at Hindu and Buddhist shrines around Angkor Wat, people have held ceremonies to pray for a quick resolution to the war.

On Sunday, after Trump announced his diplomatic intervention, residents began talking in hopeful terms of a U.S. role in prodding the warring governments toward a ceasefire.

Trump recently set a new deadline of Aug. 1 for 12 nations, including Thailand and Cambodia, to reach trade deals with the U.S. government, saying he would otherwise impose tariffs of 36% on U.S. businesses that import their goods. He is now using that threat as leverage in an attempt to stop the fighting.

The State Department said Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken with the top diplomats of both Thailand and Cambodia.

“Both President Trump and I remain engaged with our respective counterparts for each country and are monitoring the situation very closely,” Rubio said in an announcement late Sunday in Washington, early Monday in Asia. “We want this conflict to end as soon as possible.”

Kagan is a career diplomat who was senior director for East Asia and Oceania on the White House National Security Council in the Biden administration.

Some analysts see diplomacy around the war as partly a test of American and Chinese influence in Southeast Asia, where Washington and Beijing are competing for dominance in military, economic and diplomatic spheres.

Thailand is a U.S. treaty ally and hosts dozens of military exercises with the United States; China is the largest trading partner of both Thailand and Cambodia, which hosts a naval base largely funded by Beijing. Nations in the region prefer to balance relations with both superpowers rather than be compelled to choose one side.