Politics Border conflict: Cambodia calls for UN Security Council intervention
The Cambodian government is calling for the UN Security Council to intervene in the renewed border conflict with Thailand.
11.12.2025, 05:04
11.12.2025, 05:05
SDA
The most powerful body of the United Nations should call on the Thai military to "immediately stop all attacks" and send an independent UN fact-finding mission to investigate the situation on the ground. These are the words of a letter from the Cambodian UN ambassador to the chair of the Security Council. The letter criticizes the Thai military operations as a "serious violation of international humanitarian law".
The conflict between the two Southeast Asian neighboring countries, which appeared to have been pacified in the meantime, flared up again last week. Since Sunday, both sides have accused each other of first violating a recent ceasefire in the area along the approximately 800-kilometer-long shared border. Ongoing fighting has since cost several lives and forced over 500,000 inhabitants of the region to flee.
Trump wants to talk to parties to the conflict
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump announced that he had scheduled a telephone call with both sides for today, Thursday, after initially promising to do so on Wednesday. It remained unclear whether it would be one conversation or several. The specific parties involved were also not named. Trump told reporters at the White House that he believed he could persuade the two countries to stop fighting.
After heavy fighting, the two neighboring countries signed a ceasefire agreement in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur at the end of October in the presence of Trump. However, the agreed ceasefire was suspended for the time being in November following a new incident on the border. The situation has worsened again since Sunday.
The roots of the conflict lie in colonial times, when France determined the course of the border. The governments of the two neighboring countries interpret this border demarcation differently. At the center of the dispute is a centuries-old temple, which has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2008. Both the temple and the surrounding area are claimed by Thailand and Cambodia. In the past, there have been several skirmishes between the armed forces of the two countries.
