ASEAN defence attachés on Thursday visited the Cambodia–Thailand border in Banteay Meanchey province, where Thai armed forces illegally erected a fence using barbed wire and tires to block a road and encircle people’s houses in Prey Chan village, according to Cambodia’s National Defense Ministry.
“I don’t want anything. I just want my house and land back,” a villager told the defence attachés from Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam, who are part of the Interim Observer Team (IOT), at the site.
Led by Malaysian Defence Attaché to Cambodia Colonel Nazlee Abdul Rahim, the IOT visited the Boeung Trakoun border checkpoint and other places in the province, as well as Battambang province, to assess the security conditions and impact of the border conflict.
Since the latest incident, several hundred residents, who were displaced during the five-day border clash between Cambodia and Thailand on July 24, are evacuating again, following reports that Thai forces may launch another attack.
One of the affected residents, Hul Malis, 52, told CamboJA News that her home in Prey Chan village, O’Beichoan commune, was surrounded by Thai soldiers, who laid the fence before pulling her away from her house, which is about 500 meters from the Thai border.
She was sitting in a hammock around 3.30 p.m on Wednesday when around 100 Thai soldiers ordered her to leave immediately, disallowing her to take any of her belongings from the house she has lived in for over 20 years.
“I tried to go back into my house but the Thai soldiers wouldn’t allow it,” Malis said, her eyes filled with tears. “But, I secretly managed to pack some of my clothes and food, and take my motorbike.”
She said the soldiers laid barbed wire around her house and two other houses. “I didn’t dare confront them because they were armed,” Malis said.
“I don’t know what to do now that they have taken my home. Please help me get it back so I can live there again,” she pleaded.
Malis has sought shelter from local residents about 60 meters from her home, along with her husband and four children.
According to some officials and government-friendly online media outlets, Thai forces were allegedly planning to launch another attack on Cambodia on the night of August 13. Quoting “reliable sources”, the publications reported that Thai authorities closed schools, sent students home and evacuated residents in Dan Village, Kap Choeng district in Surin province in Thailand.
However, neither the Cambodian government spokesperson nor the National Defense Ministry issued an official statement to confirm the news reports alleging that the Thai Military Region 2 commander was “planning” another attack on Cambodia that night.
Meanwhile, residents living along the border in Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear are fleeing their homes again to temporary camps since Wednesday night.
Among them, Loun Lin from Preah Vihear, who initially returned home on August 10 after the border situation calmed down, left for the second time upon hearing talks of another conflict erupting. She went back to the shelter.
“I went home and came back again last night. If I don’t leave, what can I do? I’m afraid of the toxic [chemical] and the fighting. When the commune chief came to tell us that there might be fighting again in the morning or night on August 13 or 14, I left,” she said.
“They told all the villagers to leave the village. I packed my belongings and traveled all night because I was scared,” Lin said. “I came back to the shelter. Like me, many villagers came the same way – they returned to the previous shelter. More people are coming back here,” she said.
She traveled with her two children, including her pregnant daughter, and one grandchild. There are over a 1,000 people at the shelter – children, elderly people, men, women – including those who have never left for home yet.
Preah Vihear provincial deputy governor Kim Chanpanha said more than 5,500 families or roughly 10,000 citizens had returned home in the past three days.
However, due the fear of a flare-up, some 170 families or approximately 500 people returned to the shelters on August 13, he said, noting that there are 15 locations in the province.
“They can choose whichever shelter they want. We accept them all. We have been taking care of them from the beginning until now,” he said.
On August 13, the Thai paramilitary force and Thai border police inspected the area in front of the Choukchey checkpoint, and proceeded to build a fence of barbed wire and tires in O’ Beichoan commune, O’Chrov district in Banteay Meanchey which is within military region 5, according to spokesperson Maly Socheata.
Ministry spokesperson Socheata did not mention the number of families who were affected by the latest incident involving Thai troops but shared that the situation along the frontlines in Military Region 4 and 5 — covering Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey, and Banteay Meanchey — remained calm.
Cambodia reiterated its call to Thailand to fully respect the July 28 ceasefire agreement and the 13-point expanded ceasefire deal, seeking a peaceful and fair resolution, and the immediate release of 18 Cambodian personnel captured by Thai forces.
On the sidelines of the 10th Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Yunnan, Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Prak Sokhonn and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi pledged to strengthen Mekong regional cooperation and deepen bilateral ties.
