Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to a ceasefire aimed at ending weeks of intense border fighting that left more than 100 people dead and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, marking the worst violence between the two Southeast Asian neighbors in years.
The truce, announced Saturday, took effect at noon local time and halts nearly three weeks of clashes that included fighter jet sorties, rocket exchanges, and sustained artillery fire along disputed stretches of the shared border.
In a joint statement, the defense ministers of both countries said they had agreed to maintain current troop deployments and avoid further reinforcements, warning that additional military movements could escalate tensions and undermine long-term peace efforts.
“Both sides agree to maintain current troop deployments without further movement,” the statement said, adding that any reinforcements would negatively affect efforts to stabilize the situation.
The agreement was signed by Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Nakrphanit and his Cambodian counterpart, Tea Seiha, following days of negotiations at a border checkpoint.
Natthaphon told reporters that the ceasefire would be monitored by observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), alongside direct coordination between military leaders on both sides.
“At the policy level, there will be direct communication between the defense ministers and chiefs of the armed forces of both countries,” he said, underscoring efforts to prevent renewed hostilities.
According to officials, the fighting over the past 20 days killed at least 101 people and displaced more than 500,000 civilians across border regions in both countries.
Thailand and Cambodia have disputed sovereignty over several undemarcated sections of their 817-kilometer (508-mile) land border for more than a century. While tensions periodically flare, the latest violence was among the most severe in recent memory.
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The fighting reignited in early December after a previous ceasefire collapsed. That earlier truce had been brokered with support from U.S. President Donald Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who currently chairs ASEAN.
Tensions initially escalated in July, when five days of clashes killed at least 48 people and displaced about 300,000 residents before outside mediation helped secure a temporary truce.
However, after the ceasefire broke down, renewed attempts by Trump and Anwar to halt the violence were unsuccessful as clashes spread from forested border regions near Laos to coastal provinces along the Gulf of Thailand.
The latest breakthrough followed a special meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week, followed by three days of direct talks between Thai and Cambodian officials.
While the ceasefire has brought an immediate halt to fighting, officials acknowledged that the underlying border dispute remains unresolved. Regional observers say sustained diplomacy and confidence-building measures will be critical to preventing future escalations.
