President Trump said Saturday that Cambodia’s prime minister and the acting prime minister of Thailand had agreed to meet immediately and quickly work out a cease-fire as he sought to end the deadly conflict between the two Southeast Asian neighbors, which has entered a third day.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said he spoke by phone with Cambodia’s leader, Hun Manet, and Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai.
The president said that he told both leaders that it was inappropriate to “get back to the ‘Trading Table’ with the United States “until such time as the fighting STOPS.” Thailand and Cambodia are both negotiating trade deals with the United States.
“They will hopefully get along for many years to come,” Mr. Trump wrote. In an earlier post, he said he was “trying to simplify a complex situation!”
At least 34 people have died in the conflict, which began on Thursday with an eruption of violence near Prasat Ta Muen Thom, an ancient temple claimed by both nations. The clash began after two months of tension over contested territory. The current toll has surpassed the last previous deadly conflict, from 2008 to 2011, which killed at least 15 people.
It was unclear if Mr. Trump’s intervention would lead to a genuine breakthrough. Cambodia said Friday that it had agreed to a cease-fire brokered by Malaysia but accused Thailand of reneging on the deal. Thailand responded by saying that any cease-fire had to be based on “appropriate, on the ground conditions,” and that Cambodia’s continued attacks showed a lack of good faith.
On Saturday, Thai and Cambodian forces attacked each other in the Thai province of Trat, creating a new front in the battle in an area that is popular with tourists.
The Thai naval forces, who aid in land defense in that part of the country, said that within half an hour they had succeeded in pushing Cambodian forces back.
Cambodia said it was Thai troops who had expanded the conflict, including Cambodia’s Pursat Province, which borders Trat, according to a spokeswoman for Cambodia’s defense ministry. Pursat and Trat Provinces are about 200 miles south of where the conflict began on Thursday.
Pornphen, a Thai resident from the Muang district in Trat, said she had fled on Friday with her mother-in-law to a friend’s house in a central province. Pornphen asked to be identified by only her first name because she has Cambodian relatives and feared for her family’s safety. “I fear that both sides may lose all the reasoning and be blinded by hatred toward one another,” she said. “Thais and Cambodians used to be good neighbors. Don’t let this be the end.”
The governor of Surin, a Thai province that borders Cambodia and was one of the first targets of Thursday’s attack, warned residents to stay at least 75 miles from the border after a report that the Cambodian Army was moving the “PHL-03 missile,” a long-range multiple missile system, into Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey Province.
On Friday, representatives of Cambodia and Thailand spoke at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, with each side accusing the other of escalating the violence.
Both sides appealed to other countries to “not look away.” More than 131,000 people in Thailand have evacuated from areas along the border, while in Cambodia, 35,000 people have fled their homes.
“If this conflict escalates, the peace and stability of the entire Southeast Asian region will be at stake,” said Chhea Keo, Cambodia’s ambassador to the United Nations.
On Saturday morning, Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister and an influential player in Thai politics, visited evacuees at a shelter in Ubon Ratchathani Province.
A public rift between Mr. Thaksin and his longtime friend Hun Sen, Cambodia’s de facto leader, has inflamed their countries’ conflict. On Saturday, Mr. Thaksin denied there being any problem between the men but then said that Mr. Hun Sun was the “type of person that starts things on suspicion and builds a nationalistic trend in the country beyond the normal level.”
Mr. Hun Sen had earlier accused Mr. Thaksin of “resorting to war” out of personal revenge, “the ultimate consequence of which will be the suffering of the people.”
Chairat Jongjaroenlarp, 28, a resident of Trat’s Muang district, said he fled his home on Saturday morning to his cousin’s house in central Thailand.
“I’m glad that I’m safe, but also sad that this clash is getting out of hand,” he said. “War shouldn’t exist in this day and age. Why can’t we just be nice and be kind to one another?”
Sun Narin contributed reporting from Kralanh, Cambodia, Phuriphat Dejsuphong from Surin, and Kittiphum Sringammuang from Bangkok.
Sui-Lee Wee is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region.
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