This week marks the first anniversary of the Thai-Cambodian border conflict, which erupted after a BM-21 rocket attack killed 11 Thai civilians, including a nine-year-old child, in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket. Although the two countries have observed a ceasefire since late December, the path to lasting peace remains long and difficult.
Understandably, the anniversary revives grief and anger among those who lost loved ones, as well as the wider public, over the events of July 24 last year. Yet such emotions should not obscure the fact that the conflict began in a handful of small overlapping border areas and could have been contained had all parties on both sides acted with restraint and reason instead of allowing ultranationalism to drive events out of control.
