Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to an “unconditional ceasefire” after a long-simmering border conflict erupted into days of intense fighting, the worst in over a decade. But the five-day clash that forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes along the border will continue to reverberate across Southeast Asia.
At the United States’ urging, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai met in Malaysia, which currently holds the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chair. They agreed to stop fighting at midnight on Monday, local time, and the militaries are set to meet Tuesday.
The news comes as a relief to displaced people huddled in the shadow of a 125-foot Golden Buddha in Thailand’s Det Udom county, about 40 miles north of the border, where nearly a hundred displaced families gathered Sunday to pray for peace.
Why We Wrote This
The ceasefire reached between Thailand and Cambodia on Monday could help hundreds of thousands of displaced people return home – but it will not end the countries’ long-simmering border dispute, or address the troubling precedents set during the latest bout of fighting.
Yet analysts warn that this brief period of fighting has set unsettling precedents for the future of Thai-Cambodian relations and the rules of warfare in the region. Land mines and cluster bomb treaties that affect millions globally have been challenged further, and the front line has expanded since the last bout of conflict in 2011, when fighting was largely limited to Thailand’s Sisaket province. The conflict has also generated intense nationalist fervor that shows little sign of slowing down.
“There has been a significant increase in the lethality and type of weaponry used, reflecting military modernization on both sides,” says Greg Raymond of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at Australia National University, pointing to the use of drones, land mines, rocket launchers, and cluster munitions. Casualties have been relatively light, he says, but it’s a “disturbing development” nonetheless, especially considering the widespread use of social media today compared with 2011.
Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters
Online, young Cambodians and Thais are engaging in hostile exchanges that amplify misinformation.
“For many Thais and Cambodians without a sense of history, this will … likely have a significant impact” on how the next generation navigates cross-border tensions, says Dr. Raymond. “ASEAN’s norms of resolving disputes peacefully have been trampled on, and reinstating them should be a priority for both governments.”
Two warfare conventions under threat
The recent Thailand-Cambodia clash marks a rare moment of armed fighting between ASEAN allies, and is part of a century-old conflict over colonial borders. It was sparked, in this instance, by the detonation of a land mine in the Chok Bok border area of Thailand.
Along the border of Cambodia and Thailand, land mines had largely been viewed as a relic of the past. But a probe by Thailand Mine Action Centre confirmed that this area had been thoroughly cleared of old mines, suggesting that Cambodia – a signatory of the 1997 Ottawa Treaty that bans the use of antipersonnel land mines – is going back on its commitment. This comes after Ukraine and several other European countries have announced plans to pull out of the treaty.
On Monday, Thailand’s 2nd Army Region added to concerns, stating it detected Cambodia forces planting land mines – and Chinese-made rockets – along the front line.
Cambodia, for its part, has denied using land mines, and criticizes Thailand for its use of cluster munitions – another kind of weapon that scatters explosive “bomblets” across an area. Similar to antipersonnel land mines, cluster munitions have been criticized for causing indiscriminate damage, and unexploded submunitions can pose a threat decades after fighting ends.
A spokesperson for the Cambodia Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) reports that Thai forces launched cluster munitions twice July 25 – on the Phnom Khmouch mountain, located along the border of Preah Vihear, and in Techo Thammachart village in Choam Ksant District – but officials have been unable to determine casualties amid fighting.
“The use of cluster munitions – especially in or near civilian-populated border areas – is an unacceptable escalation,” said Senior Minister Ly Thuch, first vice president of CMAA, in a statement. “It shows complete disregard for human life, humanitarian principles, and regional peace.”
Bangkok stated over the weekend that it was acceptable to use cluster weapons against military targets, as it is not a signatory of the 2008 Clusters Munitions Convention.
Pongsak Seanhor, a retired legal attaché and translator in the province of Ubon Ratchathani bordering Cambodia and Laos, says that Thai people have rallied around the military and its use of cluster munitions.
“Before, normal Thai people thought land mines were over, but these past few days they support any kind of bombing from us to save the nation from attack,” he says.
Support for the military remains high
It was 8 a.m. last Thursday, in the lush border village of Nam Yuen, when Yan Yen Selatee “heard explosions over and over again,” she says, waving her fingers. “It was terrifying.”
Soon after, community loudspeakers on trucks – the sort that usually carry messages for mayoral races or Muay Thai kickboxing matches – called on residents to evacuate.
“Our family drove here only in our clothes,” says Ms. Selatee, sitting under a mosquito net in Det Udom, where hundreds settled to wait out the fighting.
A few blocks away at the community meeting hall, people who have been displaced lie on reed mats, scrolling on their phones, as women sort through fresh donated baby clothes. At the front of the hall, young army cadets, most of them just 17 or 18 years old, are ready to fight, snapping to attention when asked if they fear the guns or rockets blazing.
As the cadets sound off, children and parents perk up, looks of approval beaming from every face. The community here is unsettled, expressing near-unanimous disdain for Cambodia’s political elite and military over what it considers an invasion, says Mr. Seanhor.
As the ceasefire is set to take effect Tuesday, both countries will look to their militaries for guidance. The cadets in Det Udom are willing to do whatever is asked of them – whether that means heading to the front lines, or staying in Det Udom to raise morale and help bring families home.
“We’ve been here for three days, and will stay for as long as it takes to help the people,” says army cadet Chaiyaphat Panla, as he hands out coloring books to children.
