Cambodia demands Thailand withdraw troops, week into border truce

Agencies :

Cambodia called on neighboring Thailand on Saturday to pull out its forces from areas Phnom Penh claims as its own, one week since a truce halted deadly clashes along their disputed border.

The decades-old dispute between the Southeast Asian neighbors erupted into military clashes several times last year, with fighting in December killing dozens of people and displacing around one million on both sides.

The two countries agreed a truce on December 27, ending three weeks of clashes.
Cambodia says that during that period, Thailand seized several areas across four border provinces.

In a statement on Saturday, Phnom Penh’s foreign ministry demanded the withdrawal of “all Thai military personnel and equipment from the territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia to positions fully consistent with the legally established boundary.”

The Thai army has rejected claims it had used force to seize Cambodia territory, insisting its forces were present in areas that had always belonged to Thailand.