Battambang: As armed clashes intensify along the Thailand–Cambodia border, the Catholic Church in Cambodia says fear and displacement are spreading rapidly, even as young people and faith communities respond by renewing appeals for peace and reconciliation during the Advent season.

Fighting flared again in early December, with artillery fire and aerial bombardments reported on both sides of the border. By the early hours of Saturday, December 13, exchanges of shelling and bombing were continuing, leaving at least 21 people dead and forcing nearly 700,000 residents in border regions of both countries to flee their homes. The renewed violence follows the collapse of a fragile peace arrangement reached just weeks earlier.

Fr. Enrique Figaredo Alvargonzález, Apostolic Prefect of Battambang

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