Oddar
\nThailand has accused Cambodia of \u201cdeliberately\u201d violating a ceasefire the two countries agreed on Monday to end border clashes that have killed at least 33 people and displaced thousands.
\nIt\u2019s a shaky start for the ceasefire, which is aimed at bringing an end to five days of bombardment and rocket attacks along their shared border.
\nThe Thai military says it stopped firing after midnight, but that it continued to receive gunfire from the Cambodian side \u201cat multiple locations\u201d up until this morning.
\nBut Cambodia\u2019s defence ministry told the AFP news agency that there had been \u201cno armed clashes\u201d between the two sides since the ceasefire began at midnight.
\nDespite the accusations, meetings between local commanders from both sides took place earlier on Tuesday as part of the ceasefire agreement. They agreed to stop shooting and halt the movement of troops on the frontline. They will also allow each other to collect their dead.
\nTensions between the South East Asian countries over their century-old disputed border ramped up in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash.
\nThey escalated into a full-scale conflict last week after five Thai soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion. Thailand closed some of its border crossings, expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own from Phnom Penh.
\nAfter the two sides exchanged gunfire early last Thursday, Cambodia fired multiple rockets into Thailand, killing several civilians.
\nMore civilians died on both sides in the following days, and tens of thousands more were evacuated to shelters.
\nIntense exchanges of fire between the two armies continued up to midnight on Monday, the deadline for the ceasefire, with Thailand launching more air strikes on Cambodian positions.
\nBut on Tuesday morning, before Thailand alleged the ceasefire had been violated, Cambodia\u2019s Prime Minister Hun Manet said that the \u201cfrontlines have eased\u201d since midnight.
\nUnder the ceasefire agreement, both sides are meant to pull back their armies and accept some kind of independent monitoring to prevent further clashes.
\nHun Manet and his Thai counterpart Phumtham Wechayachai had met on Monday in Malaysia in a meeting brokered by its leader Anwar Ibrahim.
\nAn outgunned Cambodia had been pushing for a ceasefire and its leader called it a \u201cvery good meeting\u201d.
\nThailand, which had initially been reluctant to negotiate, agreed to the talks after US President Donald Trump threatened to halt negotiations over tariffs until Thailand and Cambodia stopped fighting.
\nA dispute going back decades
\nRelations between Thailand and Cambodia took a turn for the worse in 2008 when Cambodia tried to register an 11th Century temple located in the disputed area as a Unesco World Heritage Site – a move that was met with heated protest from Thailand.
\nOver the years there have been sporadic clashes that have seen soldiers and civilians killed on both sides.
\nWhen tensions ramped up in May, the relationship between the two countries hit its lowest point in more than a decade.
\nIn the past two months, both countries have imposed border restrictions on one another. Cambodia banned imports from Thailand such as fruits and vegetables, and stopped importing power and internet services.
\nBoth countries have also strengthened their troop presence along the border in recent weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oddar Thailand has accused Cambodia of \u201cdeliberately\u201d violating a ceasefire the two countries agreed on Monday to end border clashes that have killed at least 33 people and displaced thousands. It\u2019s a shaky start for the ceasefire, which is aimed at bringing an end to five days of bombardment and rocket attacks along their shared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n