“Fighting raged Saturday morning along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, even after U.S. President Trump, acting as a mediator, declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a ceasefire,” reports CBS News:
Thai officials have said they did not agree to a ceasefire, and Cambodia has not commented on Mr. Trump’s claim. Its defense ministry instead said Thai jets carried out airstrikes Saturday morning. Cambodian media reported Mr. Trump’s claim without elaborating.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Saturday that some of Mr. Trump’s remarks didn’t “reflect an accurate understanding of the situation.”
“We regret and we’re disappointed that some of the points made by President Trump have bearing upon the feeling of the Thai people, Thailand, because we consider ourselves — we are proud, in fact — to be the oldest treaty ally of the United States in the region,” he said.
The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish on Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire promoted by Mr. Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July over longstanding territorial disputes.
In other news, the U.S. is scolding Rwanda for breaking its peace deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as rebels backed by Rwanda seized a major city in the Congo: “more than 400 civilians have been killed since the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels escalated their offensive in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province,” seizing “the strategic city of Uvira.” U.S. Secretary of State Michael Waltz told the UN security council that the US was “profoundly concerned and incredibly disappointed with the renewed outbreak of violence” by M23.
“Rwanda is leading the region towards increased instability and war,” Waltz said. “We will use the tools at our disposal to hold to account spoilers to peace.” He asked Rwanda to respect Congo’s right to defend its territory and to not interfere with Congo’s inviting forces from Burundi to fight alongside Congolese forces.
(Burundi and Rwanda are small mountainous countries in east central Africa, that neighbor each other and have similar landscapes, but are controlled by different ethnic groups. Burundi’s ruler is a member of the Hutu ethnic group, who comprise the majority of Burundi’s population. Rwanda is also mostly Hutu but it has a dictator who is a member of the rival Tutsi ethnic group. Burundi is much poorer and more ill-governed than Rwanda, but also does not meddle much in its neighbors’ affairs, unlike Rwanda. Rwanda has subsidized rebels in the Congo who killed thousands of people. Rwanda’s dictator is reasonably good at running his own nation, making it more prosperous, but he preys on the neighboring Congo, messing it up further.)
Secretary of State Waltz also said the US was engaging with all sides “to urge restraint and to avoid further escalation”.
The M23 rebels’ latest offensive follows a US-mediated peace agreement signed last week by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washington.
