Thailand and Cambodia reached an agreement on Saturday, December 27, to end weeks of intense border fighting, marking the most serious clashes between the two Southeast Asian neighbours in years. The violence had involved fighter jet operations, rocket attacks, and heavy artillery exchanges. The defence ministers of both countries announced that the ceasefire would begin at noon, with each side agreeing to keep their troops in their current positions and avoid any further military movement. They warned that any additional troop deployments would increase tensions and undermine long-term peace efforts. The agreement was signed by Thailand’s Defence Minister Natthaphon Nakrphanit and Cambodia’s Defence Minister Tea Seiha.

The truce brings to an end nearly three weeks of conflict that has resulted in at least 101 deaths and forced more than 500,000 people to flee their homes on both sides of the border. The fighting resumed in early December after a previous ceasefire, brokered with the help of U.S. President Donald Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, collapsed.

Thailand and Cambodia have disputed control over sections of their 817-kilometre border for over a century, with tensions periodically erupting into armed confrontations. The latest ceasefire will be overseen by observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), alongside direct coordination between military leaders from both countries.

According to Thai officials, defence ministers and senior military commanders from both sides will remain in constant communication at the policy level. Tensions had escalated again in July, when five days of fighting left at least 48 people dead and displaced about 300,000 people before international mediation restored calm. However, that truce later collapsed, and renewed hostilities spread from the forested border areas near Laos to the coastal provinces along the Gulf of Thailand.

The renewed negotiations followed an emergency meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Kuala Lumpur and several days of discussions at a border checkpoint, culminating in Saturday’s agreement. Both sides committed to facilitating the return of displaced civilians and pledged not to use force against non-combatants. Thailand also agreed to release 18 Cambodian soldiers held since the July clashes, provided the ceasefire remains in effect for 72 hours.

While the agreement aims to restore peace, it does not alter ongoing border demarcation efforts, leaving the resolution of disputed territories to existing bilateral processes. Emphasizing the human cost of the conflict, Thailand’s Air Chief Marshal Prapas Sornjaidee said that war benefits neither nation and stressed that the people of Thailand and Cambodia are not enemies.