(Dec 31): Thailand on Wednesday repatriated 18 Cambodian soldiers captured in July, one of the few signs of progress towards defusing tensions between the neighbours since fighting erupted along their shared border earlier this year.
“Thailand hopes that Cambodia will reciprocate this goodwill through its concrete actions to promote sustained peace between the two countries,” Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
A Cambodian Ministry of National Defense spokesman said in a separate statement that the release “will contribute to building mutual trust and confidence between the two countries.”
As part of the most recent agreement to pause fighting, which took effect Saturday, Bangkok said it would consider repatriating the POWs if the peace holds for 72 hours. Bangkok slightly delayed the release after that deadline passed on Tuesday, accusing Cambodia of breaching the terms of the ceasefire with drones.
Officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross and an Asean observer team were present during the return, at around 10am local time, both countries said in statements. Cambodia said they were handed over at the Prum border crossing in Pailin province, adjacent to Ban Pak Kard in Thailand’s Chanthaburi province.
Thailand captured the soldiers shortly after a late-July ceasefire was declared, and has maintained that they would only be released after hostilities cease. Cambodia has said the soldiers were unlawfully detained.
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Fighting in July and again earlier this month along their shared 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier has left dozens dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of people living close to the border.
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