BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH (Reuters) -The leaders of Thailand and Cambodia were set to hold talks in Malaysia on Monday to reach a ceasefire in their deadly border dispute, with the United States saying its officials would be assisting in the peace process.
Thailand’s government said it was attending talks arranged by Malaysia in its role as chair of the regional ASEAN bloc, while Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said the talks were co-organised by the United States with the participation of China.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said State Department officials were in Malaysia to assist peace efforts, after President Donald Trump had earlier said that he thought both leaders wanted to settle the conflict.
“We want this conflict to end as soon as possible,” Rubio said in statement released late on Sunday in the U.S. and early Monday in Asia.
“State Department officials are on the ground in Malaysia to assist these peace efforts.”
Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia have intensified since the killing in late May of a Cambodian soldier during a brief border skirmish. Border troops on both sides were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand’s fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse.
Hostilities broke out last Thursday and have escalated into the worst fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours in more than a decade.
The death toll has risen above 30, including more than 20 civilians, while authorities report that more than 200,000 people have been evacuated from border areas.
ANWAR TO CHAIR TALKS
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had proposed ceasefire talks soon after the border dispute erupted into conflict on Thursday, and China and the United States also offered to assist in negotiations.
Thailand had said it supported calls for a ceasefire in principle but wanted to negotiate bilaterally, while Cambodia had called for international involvement.
Anwar said he expected to chair the negotiations after being asked by representatives of the two governments to try to find a peace settlement, state media agency Bernama reported.
“So, I’m discussing the parameters, the conditions, but what is important is (an) immediate ceasefire,” he said late on Sunday.
(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Panu Wongcha-um, and Devjyot Ghoshal in Bangkok, Chantha Lach in Phnom Penh; Danial Azhar in Kuala Lumpur and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Writing by John Mair; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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