By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI AND SOPHENG CHEANG
BANGKOK (AP) — The army chiefs of Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Thursday for a mutual withdrawal from the disputed border area where a brief clash a day earlier killed one Cambodian soldier.
Cambodian troops were conducting a routine patrol along the border when the Thai side opened fire, Cambodia said Wednesday. The Thai army said that the Cambodian soldiers entered a disputed area and opened fire when Thai soldiers approached to negotiate.
The clash lasted about 10 minutes until local commanders spoke to each other and ordered a ceasefire, the Thai army said.
Gen. Pana Claewplodtook, the Thai army chief, met with Cambodian counterpart Gen. Mao Sophan at a border checkpoint and expressed his condolences over the death of the Cambodian soldier, Thai army spokesperson Winthai Suvaree said.
Winthai said both sides agreed to a withdrawal and will seek peaceful solutions together through special joint committees on border situations between the two countries in the coming weeks. He said that the troops from both sides had already stepped back from the area of the clash.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Thursday before the talks that she was confident of a positive development for the border situation, and that both sides agreed that they don’t wish for violence.
Prime Minister Hun Manet of Cambodia posted on his Facebook that officials of the two countries wanted to prevent further clashes and normalize the situation. But he also said Cambodia has sent troops and weapons as reinforcement to the disputed border.
“I do not want to see any fighting between armies that does not bring any benefits to our two countries and peoples, especially those who are fighting directly on the front lines.” He said.
Neighboring Thailand and Cambodia have a long history of land disputes. The most prominent involved the Preah Vihear promontory, an area around a 1,000-year-old temple that was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2008. The U.N.’s International Court of Justice granted sovereignty over the area to Cambodia in 2013.
There have been recent border incidents between the two countries, including in February when Cambodian troops and their family members entered an ancient temple along the border and sang the Cambodian national anthem, leading to a brief argument with Thai troops.
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