Thailand has repatriated 18 Cambodian soldiers it had held captive since July, officials from both governments said, marking a hopeful turn in weeks of fighting that has killed dozens of people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.
Lt. Gen. Maly Socheata, a spokeswoman for the Cambodian Defense Ministry, confirmed that the 18 soldiers had safely returned to Cambodia on Wednesday morning.
“Cambodia remains hopeful that this release will significantly contribute to building mutual trust and confidence,” she said in a statement. “We believe this creates an environment conducive to peace, stability and the full normalization of relations for the benefit of both nations and their people in the near future.”
In its own statement, Thailand’s foreign ministry said that the repatriation was a demonstration of its good will.
“Thailand hopes that Cambodia will reciprocate this good will through its concrete actions to promote sustained peace between the two countries,” the statement said.
Tensions along the countries’ shared border date back decades, stemming from a 1907 map created during French colonial rule of Cambodia that each nation interprets differently.
The latest bout of fighting flared up in July, when Thailand deployed F-16 fighter jets to strike targets in Cambodia, which the Thais said had fired rockets over the border. Cambodian officials claimed that Thai soldiers had opened fire first, at a temple that both countries claim as their own.
Since then, Thailand has expanded its air attacks, which it has at times framed as a crackdown on Cambodia’s online scam compounds. Cambodia, with a much less advanced military, has in turn continued to fire rockets.
Though earlier efforts to broker peace had failed to stick, Thailand had promised to repatriate the 18 Cambodian soldiers as part of the latest attempt: a 72-hour cease-fire agreement reached on Saturday amid growing pressure from the United States and China.
That agreement does not resolve the core territorial disagreements hanging over the almost 500-mile-long border.
Still, for those like Men Kimly, a resident of Kouk Phnov Village in Siem Reap Province whose 28-year-old son is among the released prisoners, it is a relief that it has held at all.
“I am so excited that I am completely speechless,” she said, adding that she was ready to take a government-funded flight to Phnom Penh to welcome her son home. “It’s very good news for my family before the New Year.”
Sun Narin contributed reporting from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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