PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who threatened Friday to use force over a border crisis with neighboring Laos, announced Saturday that the situation had been peacefully resolved after he made a lightning trip for face-to-face talks with his Laotian counterpart. News media close to Hun Sen’s government had shown troops in the Phnom Penh area mobilizing Friday night. Hun Sen’s critics have accused him of using past border crises with Thailand to boost his popularity. The state news agency of Laos, KPL, reported Thongloun’s remarks on the agreement by both sides to withdraw military forces from the disputed area between the Laotian province of Attapeu and Cambodia’s Stung Treng. He said he had ordered his country’s soldiers to withdraw no later than Sunday morning, and that Hun Sen was likewise ordering his troops to stand down.

Source: Washington Post August 12, 2017 08:37 UTC