‘I really hope this ceasefire will last long and we can return home.’
(FILE) CAMBODIA’S Defense Minister Tea Seiha (left) and his Thailand counterpart Nattaphon Narkphanit shake hands and exchange documents during ceasefire talks at a border checkpoint in Chanthaburi province.
HANDOUT/AGENCE KAMPUCHEA PRESS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — At a Thai university-turned-shelter for displaced people, Kanlaya Somjettana is reluctant to go home even after a truce halted weeks of border clashes with Cambodia, fearing the violence may not be over.
She said some people forced to flee the fighting began returning home on Sunday, a day after the ceasefire was announced, but many evacuees on both sides of the border preferred waiting for an official word that it was safe.
Some cited a lack of trust that the neighboring country would respect the truce, after previous ones had been broken.
“I really hope this ceasefire will last long and we can return home,” 21-year-old homemaker Kanlaya told Agence France-Presse (AFP) from the university campus in Thailand’s Surin city.
“But I will not go back home as long as authorities do not confirm that it is safe,” she said, adding that the evacuation center was now less crowded, although hundreds remained there.
On the Cambodian side, 35-year-old So Choeun said she expected to give birth within days and hoped to then take her baby home, about one kilometer from the border.
But not yet, said the woman sheltering with family under makeshift tents at a Buddhist pagoda in Banteay Meanchey province.
“Despite the ceasefire, we dare not return home yet. We are still frightened,” she told AFP.
“We will wait to see the situation for a few days, if it will stay calm.”
Officials on both sides said the day-old ceasefire was holding on Sunday, but for most areas, there has been no all-clear notice just yet.
The truce follows three weeks of renewed cross-border fighting that killed at least 47 people and displaced more than a million on both sides.
A previous round in the decades-old conflict -- five days of fighting in July -- killed dozens before a truce was brokered, and then broken.
Many of those displaced by the latest violence had evacuated in July, too.
‘Good sign’
Rice and cassava farmer Saichon Wongpitak said she could not afford to wait any longer, planning to return to her home in Thailand’s Sisaket province on Sunday afternoon.
“I talked to our neighbor who said there was no gunfire since yesterday,” Saichon, 38, told AFP, adding that her family would evacuate again if necessary.
“We have fear... but we have jobs to do at home, we have cattle at home, we have our farm,” she said.
Saichon said she was glad to hear of the truce, but did not expect it to last long “before Cambodia starts a new round of fighting.”
“I live on the border and what I have learned is not to trust Cambodia,” she said.
Under the truce, the two countries agreed to cease fire, freeze troop movements and allow civilians living in border areas to return home as soon as possible, while Thailand was to return 18 Cambodian soldiers captured in July within 72 hours.
Kot Ngik, 43, from another camp for displaced people in Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey, said she was thankful for the truce since it may allow children to soon return to school.
But “we don’t trust the Thai military yet,” she said.
“At this point, we are not sure about the situation. They can fight again at any time.”
While many evacuees, including Kot Ngik, were still too fearful to leave shelters, So Choeun said the ceasefire at least offered some hope.
“Yesterday morning, I could hear loud bangs, but I have not heard it since 12:00 p.m. yesterday,” she said.
“This is a good sign.”
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