31/07/2025

THURSDAY | JULY 31, 2025

7 Thailand reports second truce violation

abandoned their jobs in Thailand and headed back to their Cambodian homeland last week amid fears that vicious border fighting between the two countries would spill over into violence against Cambodian citizens. “They all worked in Thailand before the fighting broke out,” he said from a campsite consisting of several rows of tents hitched up in a field. “I asked them that we all go back home because of the fighting between the two countries to avoid an attack on us there (in Thailand).” He said he saw social media videos depicting attacks on Cambodian citizens by Thai nationalists and feared that the situation could escalate. Luot, who spent 15 years as a construction worker in Thailand, said he is worried about his family’s prospects, since they now have no jobs or homes, and still owe money to the bank. “If the situation improves, they could return to work in Thailand or find jobs in Phnom Penh,” he said. “But right now, we don’t even have the money to travel to Phnom Penh to look for work.” Luot and his family were among thousands of Cambodian migrant workers to return home from Thailand as a result of the fighting. Before the conflict began, over 520,000 Cambodians worked in Thailand yesterday Cambodian forces fired on positions in northeastern Thailand’s Sisaket province on Cambodia’s northern border. “Cambodian forces used small arms and grenade launchers, prompting Thailand to respond in self-defence,” Thai army spokesman Major-General Winthai Suvaree told reporters. “This was the second incident since the agreement and reflects a behaviour that does not respect agreements, destroys de-escalation efforts and hampers trust between the two countries.” Cambodia rejected the allegations, saying it was committed to the ceasefire and called for observers. “Cambodia strongly rejects the ceasefire accusations as false, misleading and harmful to the fragile trust-building process,” Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Chum Sounry told reporters at a press conference, adding the government supports a monitoring mechanism and independent observation. The ceasefire, which also agreed to halt troop movement, paves the way for a high-level military meeting that includes defence ministers on Aug 4 in Cambodia. There have been no reports of any exchange of heavy artillery fire but also no reports of troop withdrawals by either side. – Reuters said

BANGKOK: Thailand’s military accused Cambodian forces yesterday of breaching a ceasefire agreement at three locations along the disputed border, warning that continued aggression could compel Thai forces to respond more decisively. The allegations come less than two days after both governments agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Malaysia, which came into effect at midnight on Monday, aimed to stop fighting and prevent escalation of their deadliest conflict in more than a decade following five days of intense fighting that has killed at least 43 people and displaced over 300,000 civilians on either side. The truce came after a sustained push from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and US President Donald Trump, with the latter warning Thai and Cambodian leaders that trade negotiations would not progress if fighting continued. Thailand and Cambodia face a tariff of 36% on their goods in the US, their biggest export market, unless a reduction can be negotiated. After the ceasefire deal was reached, Trump said he had spoken to both leaders and instructed his trade team to restart tariff talks. o Cambodia rejects allegations SEPT 9 VERDICT IN THAKSIN CASE BANGKOK: A Thai court will issue its verdict on Sept 9 in a case over the legitimacy of the prolonged hospitalisation of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in lieu of prison, his lawyer Winyat Chatmontree said yesterday. The former prime minister, who still wields tremendous influence in Thai politics, could potentially be sent back to jail as a result of the case. – Reuters SUSPENDED PM TO SUBMIT DEFENCE BANGKOK: Thailand’s Constitutional Court yesterday said suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra would have until Monday to submit her defence in a case seeking her removal from office. The case stems from a leaked audio recording of a call in June between her and former Cambodian leader Hun Sen about the border dispute between the two countries. – Reuters FIREWORKS FACTORY BLAST KILLS NINE BANGKOK: At least nine people died and two others were injured in a fireworks factory explosion in central Thailand yesterday. The factory ignited around 11am (noon in Malaysia) in Mueang district of Suphan Buri province, north of Bangkok. Thai police said nine people were confirmed dead and two others were being treated at a nearby hospital. “We are trying to identify the cause,” police chief Wanchai Khaoram told AFP.

Foreign military attaches and diplomats from 13 countries inspecting the An Ses border checkpoint, also known as Chong Arn Ma in Thailand yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Displaced Cambodians return home

Migrant workers count costs of conflict SAMROANG (Cambodia): In a makeshift refugee camp in the northwestern Cambodian province of Oddar Meanchey, a father and his extended family are now counting the costs of a five-day border conflict with Thailand that ended in an uneasy ceasefire on Monday. Yen Luot, 59, together with his four children and their spouses,

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KOUK KHPOS: As Cambodia and Thailand’s ceasefire held on Tuesday, farmer Lat Laem headed back home. Back in his Cambodian village of Kouk Khpos, about 10km from the Thai border, 30-year-old Lat Laem is grateful for his homecoming. “I feel happy to be back to my newly built home,” he said, after a two-hour trip on a tractor through shuttered villages. Lat Laem said he was working in his rice field when the first blasts broke out, heralding the start of fighting. When the strikes started raining down around his home, Lat Laem says he took refuge in his brother’s bunker. He was initially reluctant to abandon his recently constructed home. When the blasts became too much to bear, he fled with his wife and daughter, his sister-in-law and her children on a tractor-drawn wagon known locally as an “iron cow” – piled with a few scant belongings including cooking gear and a fan – and headed to a shelter 50km away. “I was worried that my house that I spent all my money to build might be damaged,” said Lat Laem. But pacing the perimeter of his own patch of land back near the contested frontier he confirms it is free of shrapnel scars – undamaged by the turmoil. “It was not hit, it is intact,” he marvelled. “Now I am happy that it is all good.” – AFP

Komsan Prachan (left), 40, who lost his wife and two children when an artillery shell slammed into a petrol station, stands in front of an destroyed store during a religious ceremony in Sisaket province, Thailand, yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

hostilities between the two countries could have put her in danger. She said she didn’t know what she would do next. “If I had the opportunity to find work in the country (Cambodia), I would stay, rather than returning to Thailand.” – Reuters

Thailand, accounting for 12% of the country’s foreign workforce, according to official data. Luot’s daughter Chharn Sarou, who worked in a Thai factory before fleeing across the border last week, said her manager wanted her to stay in Thailand but she was afraid the