Thailand, Cambodia agree to ‘unconditional' ceasefire
Thailand and
Cambodia agreed to an 'unconditional' ceasefire from midnight on Monday to end a deadly border conflict, after talks in Kuala Lumpur that followed mounting pressure from China and the United States, which said the fighting risked derailing trade talks with both nations.
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At least 35 people, most of them civilians, have been killed
since Thursday , when a long-simmering territorial dispute boiled over into open conflict along the nations' shared frontier.
More than 300,000 people in both countries have been forced from their homes by the relentless gunfights, artillery barrages and Thai air strikes, while tens of thousands of Cambodian migrant labourers have fled Thailand, fearing reprisals as nationalist sentiment intensifies on both sides.
Fresh clashes were reported on Monday, even as Thailand's acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, prepared to meet Cambodia's leader, Hun Manet, in Kuala Lumpur.
Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai (front) departs for Malaysia from a military airport in Bangkok on Monday. Photo: Thai Government Spokesman Office / AP
Phumtham sought to temper hopes of a swift ceasefire, telling reporters as he departed for the Malaysian capital: 'We do not believe Cambodia is acting in good faith, based on their actions.'
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