SISAKET, Thailand/PHNOM PENH (Reuters) -Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to Malaysia acting as a mediator in their border conflict, the Malaysian Foreign Minister said on Sunday, as the combatants each said the other had launched further artillery attacks across contested areas.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai are expected in Malaysia on Monday evening, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told state news agency Bernama.
“They have full confidence in Malaysia and asked me to be a mediator,” Mohamad said, adding he had talked with his Cambodian and Thai counterparts and they agreed no other country should be involved in the issue.
The talks in Malaysia come after Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, chair of the regional ASEAN forum, had proposed a ceasefire on Friday and U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the two leaders had agreed to work on a ceasefire.
Four days after the worst fighting in more than a decade broke out between the Southeast Asian neighbours, the death toll stood above 30, including 13 civilians in Thailand and eight in Cambodia. More than 200,000 people have been evacuated from border areas in the two countries, authorities said.
(Reporting by Shoon Naing and Artorn Pookasook in Sisaket, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Panu Wongcha-um, Chayut Setboonsarng, Panarat Thepgumpanat and Juarawee Kittisilpa in Bangkok, Chantha Lach and Zaw Naing Oo in Phnom Penh; Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; Writing by John Mair; Editing by William Mallard, Kate Mayberry and Clelia Oziel)
