Fighting surges in Congo and Cambodia-Thailand border
Residents in Ban Kruat District, Buriram Province in northeastern Thailand, who chose not to evacuate, take shelter in bunkers as fighting continues. Pic/Getty Images
At least two of several agreements aimed at ending global conflicts that US President Donald Trump has hailed as evidence of his negotiating prowess are in trouble and at risk of collapsing. Less than a week after Congo and Rwanda signed a deal in Trump’s presence in Washington that was meant to halt fighting in eastern Congo, and less than two months after he witnessed Cambodia and Thailand sign a ceasefire pact in Malaysia to end their border conflict, fighting has surged in both places.
The developments have caused international alarm, which on Tuesday resulted in urgent calls to halt the renewed violence from countries involved in the African Great Lakes region and from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In each case, the statements urged the combatants to live up to their commitments in the deals that Trump has touted in part as the rationale for casting himself as the “president of peace”.
Displaced residents from Cambodia’s Siem Reap province evacuate with their belongings, on Wednesday. PIC/AFP
Trump expressed confidence that once again he could end the fighting. “Tomorrow I’ll have to make a phone call,” Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania. “Who else could say, ‘I’m going to make a phone call and stop a war of two very powerful countries, Thailand and Cambodia?’”
Thai-Cambodia clashes along border continue
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating Wednesday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more moved to temporary shelters.
About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand, and around 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, Thai military spokesperson Rear Adm Surasant Kongsiri
said on Wednesday. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers, and hundreds of schools closed, the defence ministry said.
Thailand’s military announced that casualties this week include five soldiers killed and dozens wounded. Cambodia said seven civilians died and 20 others were wounded, though it did not update those figures on Wednesday.
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