Thailand and Cambodia Reach Cease-Fire in Brutal Border War

The 72-hour cease-fire could pave the way for an end to the fighting, which has killed dozens and displaced thousands over nearly three weeks.

The defense ministers of Thailand and Cambodia said on Saturday that they had agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire, possibly paving the way for an end to a brutal 20-day border war that killed dozens of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

The surprise announcement followed two days of tense negotiations between the two countries’ militaries and came amid growing pressure from the United States and China to halt the fighting. The cease-fire was scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. on Saturday, according to Cambodian state television.

As part of the deal, Thailand said that it would release 18 Cambodian soldiers who were detained in July during an earlier round of armed conflict between the two countries, once the 72-hour cease-fire period had passed. Both nations also said they would commit to clearing land mines along their shared border, which have figured prominently in the recent clashes.

At a news conference after the cease-fire was announced, Nattaphon Narkphanit, the Thai defense minister, described the 72-hour truce as a testing period to evaluate whether a more enduring peace could begin.

“The cease-fire will be monitored and observed for 72 hours to confirm that it is real and continuous,” he said. “Once the situation stabilizes, civilians will be able to safely return to their homes.”

Later Saturday, the U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, issued a statement welcoming the announcement of the cease-fire and referred back to an earlier agreement that President Trump oversaw in October. “We urge Cambodia and Thailand to immediately honor this commitment and fully implement the terms of the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords.”

In effect, the cease-fire returns both sides to the terms of that deal. There is no guarantee that the accord will hold, however, chiefly because it does not resolve the core issue between Thailand and Cambodia: that large stretches of their nearly 500-mile long border remain undefined.

The enmity between the two sides has only hardened this year.

Fighting continued up until the hours leading to the agreement. Cambodia’s Defense Ministry said that Thailand had deployed F-16 fighter jets to drop four bombs in the Kompong Svay District of Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey Province. Thailand’s air force did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but multiple Thai news outlets reported that airstrikes had targeted weapons storage sites.

The United States and China have in recent days launched near-simultaneous diplomatic efforts to mediate the crisis. Mr. Trump, who has styled himself as a global peacemaker, has included the war between Thailand and Cambodia as one of eight conflicts that he says he has ended around the world. On Dec. 12, he prematurely announced that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to a cease-fire, but Thailand disputed it and the fighting continued for weeks after.

Last week, Mr. Rubio and the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, spoke to their Thai and Cambodian counterparts, calling on them to ease tensions.

It was unclear until Friday whether Thailand and Cambodia were making progress toward a truce. An initial meeting between the sides lasted only 30 minutes before the Cambodian officials walked out. On the second day of talks, Cambodia rejected Thailand’s conditions for a cease-fire, including demands that Cambodia announce a unilateral cease-fire first and commit to clear land mines along the border.

Thailand has accused Cambodia of planting new land mines that it says have killed and wounded Thai soldiers, citing the frequency of such explosions as a sign of Cambodia’s lack of good faith in earlier negotiations.

The latest round of fighting erupted in early December after a brief skirmish between Thai and Cambodian soldiers left two Thai soldiers wounded. Thailand, which has a more modern military, responded with a barrage of airstrikes. Cambodia fired back with rockets, setting Thai homes on fire.

In recent weeks, the Thai armed forces have expanded their air war, bombing scam compounds and bridges that they say pose a threat to Thai sovereignty.

Kittiphum Sringammuang, Sun Narin and Edward Wong contributed reporting.

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