Tweet
Cambodia’s leader accused Thailand on Wednesday of loving war and said he wants to talk peace with his Thai counterpart at an upcoming regional meeting.
In his first comments since border fighting began last Friday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said he welcomes talks with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the meeting in Indonesia early next month.
The two countries traded fire for a sixth day Wednesday, after the death of a Thai civilian a day earlier brought the toll to 14. Tens of thousands of civilians on both sides have been forced to flee their homes.
“The current Thai leader likes war, provokes war,” Hun Sen said in a speech to a women’s group. “I have never met any Thai leader in the past who had bad behaviour like Abhisit.”
Both sides have accused the other of starting the fighting. “Cambodia is a small, poor country and has fewer forces (than Thailand), but don’t you forget that an ant can make an elephant not get any sleep,” Hun Sen said. “Cambodian’s weaponry is not just slingshots.”
Cambodia employed truck-mounted rocket launchers for the first time Tuesday, in what Hun Sen said was retaliation for Thailand’s use of heavy weapons.
Abhisit, meanwhile, said his government is not willing to have a meeting of the two countries’ defense ministers unless there is a cease-fire first.
In his first comments since border fighting began last Friday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said he welcomes talks with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the meeting in Indonesia early next month.
The two countries traded fire for a sixth day Wednesday, after the death of a Thai civilian a day earlier brought the toll to 14. Tens of thousands of civilians on both sides have been forced to flee their homes.
“The current Thai leader likes war, provokes war,” Hun Sen said in a speech to a women’s group. “I have never met any Thai leader in the past who had bad behaviour like Abhisit.”
Both sides have accused the other of starting the fighting. “Cambodia is a small, poor country and has fewer forces (than Thailand), but don’t you forget that an ant can make an elephant not get any sleep,” Hun Sen said. “Cambodian’s weaponry is not just slingshots.”
Cambodia employed truck-mounted rocket launchers for the first time Tuesday, in what Hun Sen said was retaliation for Thailand’s use of heavy weapons.
Abhisit, meanwhile, said his government is not willing to have a meeting of the two countries’ defense ministers unless there is a cease-fire first.
