Ek Chhuon

The EyeWitness Project (EWP) has been looking at the legacy of last year’s conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. Tensions remain high with opposing troops only metres apart. Many are still unable to return to their homes. Thma Da, in Cambodia’s Pursat province, is one of the most visible and tense legacies of last year’s Thai-Cambodian conflict. Thai military barricades, shipping containers and makeshift defensive positions now stretch deep into Cambodian territory, effectively splitting Thma Da in two. Just metres away, fully armed Thai soldiers and snipers remain positioned across the divide. International attention needs to be given to those civilians who have either lost or are unable to return to their homes due to the sustained presence of Thai military positions stretching inside Cambodian territory.

We first travelled to Prey Chan on Cambodia’s border with Thailand in December 2025, days before the war escalated. We spoke to residents forced from their homes as fighting intensified. Almost nine months after the ceasefire, the village remains cleared. Residents cannot return and some have no homes left to return to. Today, we returned to investigate the destruction. From the areas we could access, we saw around a dozen homes that appeared completely destroyed. Cambodian troops told us some were hit by shelling and that, after Thai troops reached the area, some empty homes were subsequently attacked with small-arms fire and further destroyed. They also told us one civilian was killed while attempting to flee. We cannot independently establish who destroyed each house. But what we saw, alongside the accounts we gathered, raises serious questions about whether Thai forces deliberately destroyed civilian homes. Many displaced families remain in a makeshift camp at a nearby pagoda. The same community we visited during our first trip. We tried to reach them again today, but severe flooding made the site inaccessible. We are now trying to establish whether the flooding is cutting families off from essential supplies and what help they may need. Nine months after the ceasefire, people remain displaced, homes remain destroyed, and families are now facing another threat: rising floodwaters.