Asia-Pacific

Thai, Cambodia hold secret talks on ceasefire

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-19 13:41

BANGKOK - Thai army-chief-of staff Gen Daopong Rattanasuwon had on Saturday morning held ceasefire talks with Cambodian Deputy Supreme Commander Gen Jia Dara at Chong Sangam in border Surin province, a local website Bangkok Post reported.

The meeting was held about 10.30 am on Saturday, but it was kept secret, the Bangkok Post quoted some reports as saying.

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Thailand's Army Region 2 commander Lt-Gen Thawatchai Samutsakorn and Cambodia's Army Region 4 commander Lt-Gen Jia Mon were among those top brasses attending the meeting.

The most recent report from another local media INN quoted Thailand's Army Region 2 as saying at 11.30 am that the result of ceasefire talks was fruitful.

Following the latest cross-border fighting which erupted firstly on February 4 and carried on until February 7, there were still a few rounds of small skirmishes. Soon after both countries' foreign ministers, along with Indonesian FM, who is ASEAN's current chairman, had attended the UN Security Council meeting in New York on February 14 to discuss the conflicts, a fresh round of clash occurred. However, no further clash has been reported since February 16.

In the deadliest cross-border fighting during February 4-7, about two Thai soldiers and eight Cambodian troops were killed and over twenty thousands of residents along the border were forced to flee as the two countries exchanged both small arms firings and heavy shelling.