Displaced people in Thailand voice doubts that Donald Trump can stop the fighting as violence flares on the border
Half a million flee as deadly Cambodia-Thailand border clashes escalate
Rangsan Angda and many of his neighbours in border areas of Thailand had already packed their bags, fearing that a ceasefire with neighbouring Cambodia would soon collapse.
The ceasefire deal – brokered by Donald Trump, who proclaimed himself “President of PEACE” after he helped end five days of deadly clashes in July – had seemed precarious from the start. “Both sides are confronting one another all the time,” said Angda, 50.
On Sunday, the announcement he had feared rang out on loudspeakers across his village, warning that fighting had again erupted. For the second time this year, everyone was ordered to evacuate immediately. Families piled into their cars or waited for lifts with local officials. For hours they queued on traffic-clogged roads, making their way to temples, schools and government buildings.
