Thursday, June 01, 2006

Land disputes on the rise, can Hun Sen stick to his pledge of resolving these disputes?

Thursday, June 1, 2006

Fourteen families in conflict with the local CPP office

By Ky Soklim
Cambodge Soir

Translated from French by KI-Media

About 30 people from Sihanoukville arrived in Phnom Penh in an attempt to alert prime minister Hun Sen on the dispute which opposes 14 families and the local CPP office in the district of Mittapheap. The villagers have been accused by the CPP office of illegally occupying 1-hectare of land belonging to the CPP office, however the families affirmed that they have occupied the land parcel since the 80s. The case was brought to court in 2000, and four years later, the provincial court sided with the local CPP office chief. The families have appealed the court decision and are still waiting for the court verdict.

After hearing the speech given by the prime minister on Monday in which he pledges to resolve these land disputes, members from the 14 families have decided to come to Phnom Penh. “I have nobody else I can count on except for Hun Sen. Only Samdech can help the poor,” Mrs. Tourt Sophal explained. She assured that she established herself on the plot since 1986. Chat Setha said that she lived there since she was a child. Nowadays, she is a mother and she noted: “If my children claim a plot of land from me [for inheritance], I won’t have anything to give to them.”

At the same time as that of the 30 people [representing the 14 families], representatives of the 94 families locked in land dispute with the Attwood company had also come to Phnom Penh to try to make their case. Attwood will build a housing complex where these families had established. However, these families do not agree to the price proposed by the company to compensate for their loss of land.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And CPP still get votes from people? What a trick Hon Xen!