The leaders of Thailand and Cambodia formally signed an expanded ceasefire agreement on Sunday at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur, witnessed by Donald Trump as part of his Asia visit.
The renewed pact, which builds on an earlier truce from three months ago, aims to curb the recent surge in violence along the Thailand-Cambodia border and provides a foundation for restoring stability.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet described the deal as the beginning of “the process of mending our ties,” noting that “our border communities have been divided by conflict, and innocent civilians have suffered immense losses.”
At the ceremony, Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul pledged that both nations would remove heavy weapons from border areas and that Thailand would free 18 detained Cambodian soldiers as part of the agreement.
President Trump, spotlighting US involvement, said the United States would maintain “robust commerce and cooperation” with both countries as long as peace holds. “The United States will have a robust commerce and cooperation, transactions, lots of them, with both nations, as long as they live in peace,” he said.
He also announced forthcoming trade deals: a critical minerals agreement with Thailand and broader trade pacts with Cambodia and Malaysia.
The border clash in July ranks among the deadliest and most disruptive episodes between the two neighbours in recent memory. Across several days of bombardments, both sides traded heavy artillery and rocket fire that tore through villages and farmland near contested frontier zones.
At least 48 people lost their lives during the violence. Hospitals on both sides struggled to cope with hundreds of wounded civilians and soldiers. Roughly 300,000 residents were uprooted from their homes and pushed into overcrowded shelters.
The original truce was brokered in July after international pressure, including calls from Trump on both nations to halt hostilities or face setbacks in their trade talks with the U.S.
Malaysia, as ASEAN chair, played a key mediation role ahead of the October summit.
For Thailand and Cambodia, the next months will test whether this ceasefire can be sustained and translated into returned stability for border communities.
Africa Digital News, New York
