Thailand has put its recently reached peace agreement with Cambodia, which was negotiated last month with American President Donald Trump, on hold after a land mine blast injured the lives of several Thai troops near the same borderline.
On Tuesday, the National Security Council held a meeting at which Defense Minister Nattaphon Narkphanit announced the suspension and stated that all conditions in the joint declaration would be suspended and the plan to release Cambodian detainees would be canceled. His words reiterated the previous ones of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul who had declared his strong apprehension on the tension that was increasing at the frontier.
Government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat told them that the suspension would only be lifted when there is peace between the two neighboring countries. Siripong, the deputy prime minister informed the media that the defense ministry has been ordered to increase military activities in order to defend the sovereignty of Thailand and to provide security along the border after a cabinet meeting. He further warned that Thailand could contemplate totally withdrawing the peace treaty unless Cambodia act officially to its diplomatic outcry.
Prime Minister Anutin will visit Si Sa Ket province later this week to meet soldiers injured in the explosion which the Thai army alleged was the result of land mines planted recently along one of the contentious sections of the border.
The latest explosion is the seventh in the last four months, and it is one that is raising the concerns of the renewed instability in the area. Several fatal confrontations broke out in July killing several troops on both sides and forcing Washington to intervene in the situation, which resulted in the agreements reached last month.
As the situation again worsens, analysts fear that the already weak truce between Thailand and Cambodia is on the verge of falling completely apart unless some intensive diplomatic efforts are made to bring the situation under control and avoid further bloodshed.
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