200 Ex-Soldiers Construct Protest Camp Near NA

Veterans from Banteay Meanchey are protesting in front of the NA to recover land promised to them (Photo: RFA)

Thursday, August 31, 2006

By Pin Sisovann
THE CAMBODIA DAILY

Around 200 demobilized soldiers have camped since Monday in the park opposite the National Assembly in a bid to draw attention to their land dispute in the provinces, officials said. Meun Sak, a representative of 340 families of demobilized soldiers in Banteay Meanchey province, claimed on Wednesday that their commanding officers sold land earmarked for them when they left the military in 2000 and 2001. "We have waited for five years but we happened to hear that our land was sold," Meun Sak said. In a complaint letter delivered to several government offices in Phnom Penh, the retired troopers named Yall Sovuthy and Hun Tha, the chief and deputy chief of staff for RCAF’s Military Region 5, as being responsible for the sale of the land promised to them. The former soldiers said they will not return to the province until the government takes notice and gets their promised land back. Yall Sovuthy and Hun Tha could not be contacted. Banteay Meanchey Provincial Governor On Sum said the former soldiers should return to the province and negotiate as the land was not sold. Daun Penh district deputy governor Pich Socheata said she brought four protester representatives to meet Council of Ministers Undersecretary of State Svay Sitha, who is a member of the government's demobilization committee. However, Svay Sitha was too busy to meet with them on Wednesday, Pich Socheata added.