Nearly 300 families have fled to old displacement camps from the Cambodia-Thailand border in Preah Vihear province, officials said on Friday. The departures come amid fresh reports of gunfire and alleged troop buildups.
Cambodia admitted “accidental” shots near the Preah Vihear border on Tuesday, saying the incident was quickly resolved. Its National Defense Ministry then issued another statement Thursday saying gunfire was heard once again in the area throughout the day, but claiming it originated from the Thai side.
The Thai military also accused Cambodian forces this week of deploying drones, building direct-fire support weapons near Preah Vihear Temple, and throwing grenades near the border of Thailand’s Surin province. Cambodia denied the allegations. Under their ceasefire agreement, both sides agreed to halt troop buildups along the border, and Thailand’s new foreign minister has called for a reduction of military presence along the shared frontier.
Hundreds of villagers in Preah Vihear who returned to displacement camps this week had only gone back to their homes and farms along the border earlier this month, since the July conflict, several told CamboJA News.
Kam Moeun, 63, who lives in Chheu Teal Kong village about 10 km from the Thai border with seven family members, said they left after seeing unverified social media posts warning clashes could erupt on Friday.
“The reason we left is fear, we don’t dare stay,” she said, adding that the family plans to return if fighting does not flare again by early October.
Similar unverified reports of planned Thai attacks despite a ceasefire have circulated before but never materialized, though they triggered brief flurries of concern along the border.
Moeun, like others who returned to the camps, voiced concern over managing their livestock and crops that had already gone untended during the conflict.
“I don’t want to stay here for long because our rice will be ready to harvest soon,” said Ouch Sokha, a farmer from Sra Em village, adding that she had exhausted her finances on fuel traveling back and forth after being displaced during the initial conflict to tend her fields.
“If there is no one to take care of it, it will be spoiled,” she lamented.
Mol Kosal, another resident of Sokha’s commune, said his father, a soldier stationed along the border, told him Wednesday to leave home and find a safe place since the Dongrek Mountain – a range forming a natural border between the countries – had been “declared an emergency.”
Most of the 300 families – nearly 830 people – who recently fled are now at Kompong Srake Pagoda in Chhep district, about 100 km from the border, according to Preah Vihear provincial administration spokesperson Kim Chanpanha.
Chanpanha said there are four “safety centers” in the province, housing more than 2,000 families. He urged residents to rely on official channels for updates on the border, adding that the camps have enough supplies to support the returnees.
Food shortages, poor living conditions and alleged sexual harassment have been reported at the camps.
As allegations of potential ceasefire violations and escalatory actions are traded, the Malaysian-led Interim Observer Team (IOT), tasked with monitoring the ceasefire, visited Chouk Chey village along Banteay Meanchey province’s border on Friday.
The village and surrounding area, where fighting did not occur during the border conflict, has become a contentious site over the past month, with Thai troops installing razor wire that cut villagers off from their homes and farms, sparking violent clashes with locals.
Region analysts meanwhile have speculated that a larger conflagration between Cambodia and Thailand is unlikely with the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Malaysia only weeks away.
