The border between Thailand and Cambodia has once again descended into violence, reviving a conflict that has never really ended despite the ceasefire signed at the end of October under American mediation. During the night from Sunday to Monday, exchanges of fire broke out at several points of the border line, causing the death of a Thai soldier and four Cambodian civilians, and pushing tens of thousands of residents to abandon their homes in a hurry.
Each camp passes the responsibility for this sudden return of hostilities to each other: Bangkok assures that Cambodian forces attacked first in the province of Ubon Ratchathani, while Phnom Penh affirms that the Thai army launched an offensive in the early morning in the provinces of Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey. For Thailand, the airstrikes carried out subsequently only targeted military positions to silence enemy fire, a precision disputed on the Cambodian side where several localities reported civilian victims.
On the ground, populations fled en masse, fearing a repeat of the five days of deadly fighting in July which had already caused the death of 43 people and displaced more than 300,000 others. This time, more than 35,000 individuals were evacuated on the Thai side, while hundreds of families left their villages in Cambodia, particularly around the ancestral temples of Ta Krabei and Tamone Thom, once again caught in the turmoil. The resumption of tensions comes as the ceasefire, described as “ historical » by Donald Trump when he signed it, was suspended in November after a mine explosion injuring four Thai soldiers.
Divergences on the route of the colonial border
Bangkok accuses its neighbor of posing new ones, an accusation rejected by Phnom Penh, which evokes remnants of old conflicts. Despite the commitments made to remove heavy weapons, clear mines in disputed areas and relaunch dialogue, deep differences over the route of the colonial border remain, fueled by the presence of religious sites whose sovereignty is contested. As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations calls for a “ maximum restraint “, the two governments persist in inflexible rhetoric, raising fears of an escalation that will be difficult to stop if diplomacy fails to regain the upper hand.
