Fighter jets screamed over the disputed Thai-Cambodian border on Saturday, effectively drowning out US President Donald Trump’s premature declaration on social media that a ceasefire had been reached.

The jarring disconnect between a White House announcement and the deadly reality on the ground exposes the extreme volatility of this Southeast Asian conflict. For observers in Nairobi and beyond, the confusion underscores a critical lesson in modern geopolitics: diplomatic breakthroughs require more than digital proclamations to stop artillery fire.

Diplomacy Disconnected from Reality

The confusion began late Friday when President Trump took to his Truth Social platform. Following calls with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Trump announced that the leaders had agreed to "CEASE all shooting effective this evening."

He invoked the original peace accord brokered in October by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, framing the call as a successful diplomatic intervention. However, the silence Trump promised never materialized.

Instead of a truce, the Thai Prime Minister bluntly contradicted the US President. Anutin stated explicitly that there was "no ceasefire," and the Thai Foreign Ministry referred all inquiries back to his denial. This rare public rebuttal of a US President’s claim highlights the depth of the animosity currently simmering between Bangkok and Phnom Penh.

The Blame Game Intensifies

While Washington attempted to project calm, the situation on the border deteriorated rapidly. The Cambodian Ministry of Information alleged that Thai forces were conducting active bombing raids hours after the supposed agreement was struck.

The accusations are flying as fast as the shrapnel:

• Cambodia's Stance: Claims Thai fighter jets are striking targets across the border in violation of international norms.
• Thailand's Counter: Accuses Cambodian forces of targeting civilian locations and laying landmines, describing these as "repeated violations of international rules."
• The Verification Gap: Cambodian PM Hun Manet has challenged the US and Malaysia to use their intelligence capabilities to determine "which side fired first."

While Prime Minister Manet acknowledged the call with Trump in a Facebook statement, he notably stopped short of confirming the ceasefire. Instead, he reiterated a desire for a peaceful resolution in line with the October Kuala Lumpur agreement—a deal that currently appears to exist only on paper.

The request for intelligence verification suggests that trust between the two neighbors has evaporated completely. Until the shelling actually stops, the "agreement" touted by President Trump remains a diplomatic fiction, leaving civilians in the borderlands to bear the brunt of a war that was supposed to be over.