Thailand and Cambodia agree ceasefire to end weeks of border fighting

Neighbours agree to immediate halt to fighting, freeze on further military movements and ban on airspace violations

Thailand and Cambodia have agreed a new ceasefire after weeks of deadly fighting along their disputed border, halting the worst escalation in violence in more than a decade.

The agreement, signed on Saturday by their defence ministers, came after sustained clashes over competing territorial claims killed dozens of people, forced evacuations and heightened regional concern about instability in Southeast Asia.

The neighbours agreed to an immediate halt to fighting, a freeze on further military movements, and a ban on violations of each other’s airspaces for military purposes.

The ceasefire took effect at noon local time. Two hours later, a Thai defence ministry spokesman, Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, told Reuters that it was holding. ”So far, there's been no report of gunfire," he said.

Only Thailand had carried out airstrikes during the fighting, hitting sites inside Cambodia as recently as Saturday morning, Cambodia’s defence ministry said.

Cambodia's top diplomat Prak Sokhonn and his Thai counterpart Sihasak Phuangketkeow are meeting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Sunday and Monday to discuss the situation, according to statements from the Cambodian foreign ministry and a Thai official.

A key provision of the new deal requires Thailand to return 18 Cambodian soldiers, taken during clashes earlier in the year, once the truce completes 72 hours. Their release had been a central demand from Phnom Penh.

The ceasefire agreement was signed at a border checkpoint by Cambodia’s defence minister Tea Seiha and his Thai counterpart Nattaphon Narkphanit, following three days of talks by military officials under the framework of the long-standing General Border Committee.

Thai military fires artillery towards Cambodia on Friday (AP)

It reaffirms commitments made under a ceasefire deal reached in July following five days of fighting, as well as 16 agreed de-escalation measures. That earlier truce was brokered by Malaysia and enabled by pressure from US president Donald Trump, who threatened to suspend trade privileges unless both sides agreed to halt hostilities.

In spite of those efforts, relations deteriorated in the months that followed, with a war of words between the two governments and sporadic border incidents escalating into heavy fighting in early December.

Since 7 December, Thailand claims 26 of its soldiers and one civilian have been killed by the fighting. Bangkok has also reported a further 44 civilian deaths linked to the wider impact of the conflict.

Cambodia has not released military casualty figures but says at least 30 civilians have been killed, and 90 injured. Hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated from border areas on both sides.

Both sides have blamed the other for triggering the fighting and said they were acting in self-defence.

The truce deal also commits the neighbours to respecting international conventions banning landmines, an issue that has fuelled tensions.

Thai soldiers have been wounded in at least nine explosions along the border this year that Bangkok has claimed were caused by newly planted Cambodian mines. Cambodia denies this, saying the devices date back to its civil war, which ended in the late 1990s.

Another provision of the deal calls on both countries to refrain from spreading false information and to resume stalled efforts to formally demarcate the border. The deal also includes cooperation against transnational crime, a reference largely aimed at tackling organised online scam networks that have defrauded victims worldwide of billions of dollars, with Cambodia identified as a major hub for such operations.