PHNOM PENH: Cambodia on Thursday evacuated hundreds of people from a village along its disputed border with Thailand, a day after one of its residents was reported killed when shooting between the two nations broke out there.
Wednesday’s shooting occurred two days after a Thai soldier lost a foot to a land mine while patrolling another area of the border. Thailand blamed Cambodia for the blast and announced it was suspending honoring the terms of a ceasefire partly brokered by US President Donald Trump.
Territorial disputes over exactly where the border lies between the Southeast Asian neighbors led to five days of armed conflict in late July that killed dozens of soldiers and civilians. But tensions remained high. Many terms of a more detailed truce agreement signed last month have not yet been implemented.
A Cambodian man identified as Dy Nai was reportedly killed in shooting Wednesday, while three other people were wounded.
About 250 families from Prey Chan village in Cambodia’s northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey, where the shooting took place, were evacuated to a Buddhist temple about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border, said Ly Sovannarith, the provincial vice governor.
The same village was the site of a violent but not lethal confrontation in September between Thai security personnel and Cambodian villagers.
The Cambodian Defense Ministry on Thursday led members of a team assigned to monitor the ceasefire at the border. The observer team included officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Wednesday called for an independent investigation into the incident to bring justice to those affected by the shooting.
The ceasefire appeared to be breaking down after the land mine explosion earlier this week. Thailand accused Cambodia of laying new mines in violation of the truce, which Cambodia denied. Thailand said it would pause implementation of the agreement indefinitely. It also demanded that Cambodia apologize, conduct a thorough investigation and implement prevent such incidents in the future.
Hun Manet said the shooting occurred after Thai forces engaged in “numerous provocative actions for many days with the objective of instigating confrontations.” He added that Cambodia would still honor the ceasefire terms.
The Thai army alleged that Cambodian soldiers fired into a district in Thailand’s eastern province of Sa Kaeo, and that the Thai side “fired warning shots in response.”
“Cambodia’s accusations that Thailand initiated fire, provoked conflict, and violated the ceasefire are entirely false. Cambodia’s firing from a civilian area as cover constitutes using human shields, violating humanitarian principles and demonstrating complete disregard for Cambodian civilian lives.” army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Winthai Suvaree said in a statement Wednesday.
Thailand and Cambodia have a history of enmity going back centuries, when they were warring empires. Their competing territorial claims stem largely from a 1907 map drawn when Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand has argued is inaccurate.
The International Court of Justice in 1962 awarded sovereignty to Cambodia over an area that included the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear temple, which still rankles many Thais.
The October truce agreement does not spell out a path to resolve the underlying basis of the dispute.
Cambodia evacuates a village on disputed border with Thailand as tensions rise
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Cambodia evacuates a village on disputed border with Thailand as tensions rise
- The same village was the site of a violent but not lethal confrontation in September between Thai security personnel and Cambodian villagers
Philippines struggles to evacuate nationals from Middle East as attacks escalate across region
- Over 1,400 Philippine nationals in Middle East have requested for repatriation
- Filipinos are told to shelter in place, follow host government’s advice on situation
MANILA: The Philippines is in talks to evacuate its nationals from across the Middle East, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Tuesday, as an increasing number of Filipinos are seeking to leave amid growing destruction from US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s counterstrikes against US bases in Gulf countries.
More than 2.4 million Filipinos live and work in the Middle East, where tensions have been high since Saturday, after coordinated US-Israel strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior Iranian officials.
Tehran responded by targeting US military bases in Gulf countries, and violence has been widening across the region.
Evacuating Philippine nationals across the region is not yet possible, Marcos said, as countries closed their airspace, leading to airport shutdowns and the cancellation of thousands of flights throughout the Middle East.
“For now, we are depending on the advice that will be given to us by the local authorities in the place where our nationals — where our people — are,” Marcos told reporters in Manila on Tuesday.
The Philippine government has received requests for repatriation from more than 1,400 Filipino nationals in various Middle Eastern countries, including 872 from the UAE and almost 300 from Israel. Similar requests have also been made by Filipinos in Iran, Bahrain and Jordan.
“Right now, the most dangerous area for our people right now would be Israel as attacks there are continuous,” Marcos said.
“The problem now is that no planes are flying and airports are being hit. That’s why the situation is very fluid, our assessment is that it may be too dangerous to mount flights.
“Even if we could charter an aircraft, we cannot do anything because number one, the airports are closed. They are all no-fly zones.”
As the Philippine government prepares for multiple scenarios, officials have secured buses and other vehicles for possible evacuation by land.
Filipinos in “danger areas” have been moved to a safer place, Marcos said, citing the targeting of Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery by Iranian drones on Monday morning.
“But essentially our advice to them is shelter in place and follow the host government’s advice … For now it’s extremely difficult to enter or exit the region because the only aircraft flying are fighter jets and drones, and missiles.
“That’s why it is not a place that you would want to put in a civilian aircraft to take out our nationals,” he said.
“But again, as I said, the situation is changing by the minute, by the hour. We just have to be in very good and close contact with the local authorities.”
