The Centre for Development of Disabled Soldiers in Kampot province. (PHOTO SUPPLIED)Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Written by Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post
On the fringes of Bokor, a dispute is raging between Brigade 31 soldiers, who say they're redistributing land to the poor, and local villagers who say they're losing their homes
A VILLAGE in Kampot province's Bokor National Park remains the focus of a land dispute that villagers say has resulted in members of Prime Minister Hun Sen's elite Brigade 31 evicting residents and preparing the land for sale to a private company.
The Centre for Development of Disabled Soldiers was begun in June this year, nominally to provide housing for veterans with disabilities at Kbal Damrei, located in the park.
But local residents say the military has used the pretense of the centre to expel them from their homes and sell the land for profit.
"We have been told that soldiers are preparing the land for sale to a private company," said Nhek Chanthol, who lives in Kbal Damrei.
Nhek Chanthol said about 1,000 families live on the land but that nearly 500 of them have been displaced and their crops destroyed by soldiers bulldozing the area.
Brigade 31 commander Sun Saroeun denied the claim and said his troops are only dividing the land with the villagers for the benefit of veterans.
"I don't have the right to sell any of this land," Sun Saroeun told the Post Sunday.
"The agreement to divide land into smaller plots was signed by the head of our government."
Sun Saroeun said those spreading the rumours of a private sale are themselves outsiders who purchased plots illegally from current residents and lost them when authorities redistributed the plots.
"We are trying to provide land for landless people," Sun Saroeun said.
Land redistribution
The dispute began on June 23, when Brigade 31 soldiers posted land redistribution signs throughout the village.
Residents responded by pulling them up. A later protest saw the arrest of four residents, including Nhek Chanthol's mother - all of whom remain in Kampot provincial prison on charges of robbery and destroying property.
Chin Lida, a lawyer from the human rights group Licadho who is defending the four prisoners, said the court is in the process of investigating the case and a trial is expected to start soon.
One resident, who gave her name as Thim, said the land the soldiers had allotted to villagers is being repossessed, according to a press release from the human rights group Adhoc.
"They let people onto new areas of land. Once it is cleared, they repossess it," she was quoted as saying.
A VILLAGE in Kampot province's Bokor National Park remains the focus of a land dispute that villagers say has resulted in members of Prime Minister Hun Sen's elite Brigade 31 evicting residents and preparing the land for sale to a private company.
The Centre for Development of Disabled Soldiers was begun in June this year, nominally to provide housing for veterans with disabilities at Kbal Damrei, located in the park.
But local residents say the military has used the pretense of the centre to expel them from their homes and sell the land for profit.
"We have been told that soldiers are preparing the land for sale to a private company," said Nhek Chanthol, who lives in Kbal Damrei.
Nhek Chanthol said about 1,000 families live on the land but that nearly 500 of them have been displaced and their crops destroyed by soldiers bulldozing the area.
Brigade 31 commander Sun Saroeun denied the claim and said his troops are only dividing the land with the villagers for the benefit of veterans.
"I don't have the right to sell any of this land," Sun Saroeun told the Post Sunday.
"The agreement to divide land into smaller plots was signed by the head of our government."
Sun Saroeun said those spreading the rumours of a private sale are themselves outsiders who purchased plots illegally from current residents and lost them when authorities redistributed the plots.
"We are trying to provide land for landless people," Sun Saroeun said.
Land redistribution
The dispute began on June 23, when Brigade 31 soldiers posted land redistribution signs throughout the village.
Residents responded by pulling them up. A later protest saw the arrest of four residents, including Nhek Chanthol's mother - all of whom remain in Kampot provincial prison on charges of robbery and destroying property.
Chin Lida, a lawyer from the human rights group Licadho who is defending the four prisoners, said the court is in the process of investigating the case and a trial is expected to start soon.
One resident, who gave her name as Thim, said the land the soldiers had allotted to villagers is being repossessed, according to a press release from the human rights group Adhoc.
"They let people onto new areas of land. Once it is cleared, they repossess it," she was quoted as saying.
7 comments:
It is suitable for all of you to die since you still voted for CPP.
People - Election is over! CPP won the majority! Funcinpec & Rannaridh Parties joined the CPP for their own benefit! These two parties are nothing but stupid and idiots people.
Hun Sen will not come out to give out gifts anymore. Hun Sen will not hear any complaint from the people anymore until another five years.
So between now and then you are under Hun Sen and his elite. So next time vote for him and his people again, your kids will always Hun Sen and his elite's slaves.
Kick Khmer ass and invite Youn & Siam to invade Khmer territory.
Good job CPP!!!!! Oh! by the way, most CPP miniters are Phd. How much is Phd cost without going to school?????
You're fucking coward! In the presense of foreign invasion of the cultural landmark, Preah Vihears and other temples, you're fucking coward; however, in the presense of these pregnable people, you're showing every muscles in your fucking coward body to forcibly evict them.
Don't worry, the Thai has already have your Tuol Krasaing fortress targeted with bunker-buster bombs.
Your days are numbered!
No real soldiers, commanders all over the karoke palors ...and when the last time they did military exercise? not to mention roads are in terribly poor conditions..very few soldiers along the border...sometimes don't really realize whether the temples exist!
That's khmer military's management under hun sen's rule? Concentration all around the lucrative $$$$dollar zones, say the development MY ASS!
tHE FUCKING cpp'S SOLDIER IS GOOD FOR LAND GRABING FROM CIVILIAN!
AH KWACK HUN XEN WILL GO UNDER PREAH THORONY SOON! FOR BETRAY THE RELIGION AND NATION!
All of you abroad Khmer are all talk lol. WHat can you do beside running your shit-stink mouths huh? NOTHING! lol I suggest to do something better with your life than coming online and be a negative nancy lol. Stop being a negative nancy or else your name will change from whatever it is to "Negative Nancy." Ok, negative Nancy? haha
Ah Chhke Hun Sen is the last Khmer leader to oppress its own people for serving a Foreign, Vietnamese interest. His name and his family will be documented in our Future Khmer History.
Here is my best wishes to him for his land slide election victory for 2008:
. I wish someone will assassinate Ah Chhke Dachtlay for Ah Youn Hanoi.
. CPP internal members will kicks him out of the party
. Die of lung Cancer
. Die of drug addition
. Someone will shoot him in the head in a very close range. Could be his wife, Bun Ranny coz she wants to fuck with Ah Hock
Lundy
. Have a stroke and become paralyzed for the rest of his life
. Plane crash and die as an animal
. Lethal injection or secretly poision by Vietnamese secret Agent when he become useless dog
. Fatally car accident
. Drown in his wife's pussy
. Hus Sen is the first person to be killed once his CPP party is crumbled
. Choke & Die as an animal during night time sleeping
. Heart Attach while screeming at opposition party
. Mutilated killed by a suicide bomb explosion assassination
. His life is miserable anywhere he goes
. He will be welcome by curses and hatred
. This traitor should be sentenced to death in a cruel way, so khmer new generation can live peacefully
I bet Ah Chhke Hun Sen will die in one of my curses.
Go to Hell You Hun Sen Traitor !!!
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