Cambodian Border Police Ordered by Vietnamese Authorities Not To Build Houses

How Should Hun Sen Resolve the Border Dispute in O Yadav District, Ratanakiri Province?

30 Apr 07
By Mut Sruoch
Moneakseka Khmer
Translted from Khmer and posted online

This is something that calls for Hun Sen in his capacity as the Prime Minister to resolve as soon as possible so that the Cambodian border defense police in Lom village, O Yadav district, Ratanakiri can build houses for their families to live in because the Vietnamese authorities have obstructed them, shamelessly claiming that the land on which the houses are to be build belongs to them.

According to a report, Cambodian border defense police attached to the station in Lom village, O Yadav district, had plans to build houses inside Cambodian territory some 500-800 meters from the border for their dependents to live in, but the Vietnamese authorities entered Cambodian territory and forbade the Cambodian border defense police to build those houses. These Vietnamese authorities vociferously claimed that the land on which the Cambodian police planned to build their houses was theirs.

The same report further revealed that the deputy chief of the border defense station in Lom village admitted that there was such an incident. He said that from the beginning of April the Vietnamese authorities frequently came over to prohibit them without taking the border between the two countries into consideration.

The deputy station chief in Lom village asserted, "Since the beginning of April 2007, the Vietnamese have frequently come over to forbid us not to build anything at that point, which is located inside Cambodian territory as far as 800 meters from the borderline."

The border of Ratanakiri province is adjacent to the Vietnam's Gia Lai province. Several cases have been reported over the years about the Vietnamese encroachments, moving their outposts into Cambodia and clearing and grading land to build roads and bridges in the White Zone. The constructions from these acts of violation by the Vietnamese side have never been pulled down or moved back.

The police commissioner of Ratanakiri province said that he did authorize the border defense police posted along the border to build houses for their dependents only inside Cambodian territory, which did not affect the currently contentious borderline.

It was reported that when the Vietnamese authorities came in to forbid the construction of the houses by the Cambodian police inside the Cambodian territory, the Ratanakiri provincial authorities did not show up to confront the Vietnamese side in order to find what was right and what as wrong. In other words, the responsible authorities of Ratanakiri province were good only at finding fault with fellow Cambodians and at destroying the forests that now have been reduced almost completely depleted.

In the past, map-confused Va Kimhong whose title is chairman of the committee for resolving border disputes frequently announced forcefully that the Cambodian and Vietnamese sides had agreed to temporarily keep the status quo of the 1997 borderline pending official resolution, delimitation, and border-post planting.

However, since the day Va Kimhong made that assurance, only the Cambodian side has respected the agreement. The Vietnamese side has paid it not the least attention. This means that Cambodia continues to be victim of Vietnamese aggression as before. Although not long ago strongman Hun Sen and Vietnamese Communist Pham Van Khai signed the treaty supplemental to the 1985 state border treaty, border problems between the two countries have not subsided.

Last Saturday, Va Kimhong--Hun Sen's eyes and ears in resolving border problems--claimed that "the technical teams of the Cambodian-Vietnames e border affairs commission have met for about a week in order to find a solution to end the border disputes in Ratanakiri. However, the great Va Kimhong did not reveal any detail."

As a matter of fact, it is rare to see the border violations provoked by the Vietnamese authorities settled on an equal footing. On the contrary, after the Vietnamese authorities have built roads, bridges, outposts, and so on, no matter how deep into Cambodian territory, they never pull them back. Cambodia should feel fortunate that they did not push even deeper.

In such a situation, the local people are puzzled to note that the Cambodian and Vietnamese Prime Ministers have already signed their agreement and the border post planting is in progress but the Vietnamese authorities in Gia Lai province adjacent to O Yadav district Ratanakiri province still continue to be arrogant.

Some reports said that land was cleared and graded to build a road into the White Zone and a bridge was also built inside this White Zone, which is a forbidden area, but not a single Cambodian authority dared to stand up against the Vietnamese.

But when the border defense police had plans to build houses for their families at a spot 800 meters from the border, the Vietnamese side insolently told us to stop all activities by claiming that the piece of land was theirs.

Monitors have said that the Vietnamese side never has any good intention toward Cambodia. Hun Sen, who is chairman of the national authority in charge of border affairs, should take the initiative to go to Ratanakiri province and find a solution to the problem in O Yadav once and for all. The person responsible for the loss of Cambodian territory at present is no one but Hun Sen because he personally signed with his Vietnamese Big Brother Pham Van Khai the resoundingly condemned supplemental treaty to the 1985 state border treaty.