Singapore: Barely a fortnight since the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand signed the so-called Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords in the presence of US President Donald Trump, fresh fighting at the contested point has turned deadly.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, a co-signee of the refreshed peace deal, said a Cambodian citizen had been killed and three others injured in “an unprovoked use of violence by the Thai side” on Wednesday afternoon in Banteay Meanchey province.
US President Donald Trump (right) with Cambodian leader Hun Manet (shaking hands) and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Credit: Getty Images
Thailand has accused Cambodian soldiers of firing first into the neighbouring Thai province of Sa Kaeo and providing an “entirely false” account.
The allegations come after Thailand this week blamed Cambodian forces for planting landmines that had injured several of its soldiers.
That incident, on Monday, prompted Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to declare a pause in the Kuala Lumpur accords brokered by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Association of South-East Asian Nations summit in Kuala Lumpur late last month.
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Trump had made the trip to Malaysia in large part to preside over the signing and bolster his peace-making credentials as part of his campaign to win next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
“I don’t need to do it, I guess. But if I can take time to save millions of lives … I can’t think of anything better to do,” Trump said at the peace signing, while praising both Manet and Anutin as great and consequential men.
But the accords were never as strong as Trump made out. While Cambodia, the weaker party, publicly embraced them, Thailand was later more circumspect, signalling that the deal was a starting point rather than an end.
