General Ouk Kosa’s business card. General Ouk Kosa is head of Cambodia’s military development zones. He is also reported to be the CEO of the Southern Mining project in Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary
A worker at the Southern Mining site wearing a Geosimco logo jacket. Geosimco is a branch of Vietnam’s Coal and Mineral Industries Group, which reportedly bought 70 percent of the Southern Mining Company in 2008Cambodian soldiers, Vietnamese owners?
Excerpt from "Country for Sale"
Global Witness
Global Witness investigators attempted to visit the Southern Mining concession in mid-2008, but their access was blocked by guards, some of whom were wearing the RCAF military uniform. The guards had radios which they said were capable of communicating with the head office in Phnom Penh. When asked why they needed to talk with Phnom Penh, the Global Witness team were told by the guards that the company bosses were furious that environmentalists were previously able to access the site and blamed them. Thereafter, the guards have been told to carry radios and to contact headquarters if anyone tried to access the site again.
The site is guarded by approximately 100 RCAF soldiers from Battalion 501. A senior guard on site claimed to represent the interests of General Meas Sophea, the commander of the RCAF infantry forces.
Workers at the mine also claimed that General Ouk Kosa – the head of Cambodia’s military development zones – is the president and CEO of the mine. Global Witness investigators were given his phone number to obtain permission to visit the site and that of his deputy, Colonel Aoch Chany. When Global Witness contacted General Ouk Kosa, he said that the mine had been sold to the Vietnamese, but would not give a name or contact number for the new owners.
According to the soldiers guarding the site, the Southern Mining concession had been previously owned by a Chinese company, and had only been taken over by the Vietnamese owners around April 2008. The guards were pleased with the new arrangements, claiming that the former owners had not paid their salaries on time, while the Vietnamese company regularly paid them US$150 a month, including medical insurance.
On site visits Global Witness investigators noted that one of the mine employees was wearing a jacket with the Geosimco logo and Vietnamese writing. Geosimco is a branch of the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries group, otherwise known as Vinacomin.
In August 2008, the The Cambodia Daily reported that Vinacomin had bought a 70 per cent share of the Southern Mining Company. The beneficial owners of the remaining 30 per cent are still unclear.
The site is guarded by approximately 100 RCAF soldiers from Battalion 501. A senior guard on site claimed to represent the interests of General Meas Sophea, the commander of the RCAF infantry forces.
Workers at the mine also claimed that General Ouk Kosa – the head of Cambodia’s military development zones – is the president and CEO of the mine. Global Witness investigators were given his phone number to obtain permission to visit the site and that of his deputy, Colonel Aoch Chany. When Global Witness contacted General Ouk Kosa, he said that the mine had been sold to the Vietnamese, but would not give a name or contact number for the new owners.
According to the soldiers guarding the site, the Southern Mining concession had been previously owned by a Chinese company, and had only been taken over by the Vietnamese owners around April 2008. The guards were pleased with the new arrangements, claiming that the former owners had not paid their salaries on time, while the Vietnamese company regularly paid them US$150 a month, including medical insurance.
On site visits Global Witness investigators noted that one of the mine employees was wearing a jacket with the Geosimco logo and Vietnamese writing. Geosimco is a branch of the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries group, otherwise known as Vinacomin.
In August 2008, the The Cambodia Daily reported that Vinacomin had bought a 70 per cent share of the Southern Mining Company. The beneficial owners of the remaining 30 per cent are still unclear.
8 comments:
Au pays khmer on dit IL FAUT INTERDIRE DES QU'IL N'Y AURA RIEN A RECUPERER exemple deboiser et interdire des qu'on ne peut plus récuper le bois c'est simple non
why let body khmer with youn-dependend disguise and run the country? b/c thousands are low-educated and khmers have been too long oppressed and this make them weak and idle!
let's figure out!
Who care about who the mining concession? Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai makes no difference. Ah Global Witness thinks they can stir up problem by using Viet, but they are wrong.
Don't listen to the loser.
11:48Pm for the three you are mention above, sure there is make no difference!
What ah Kwack should do, is not to let the fucking foreigners own more than 50% of a company!
And ah Kwack should know that not to let Vietname , Thai, or Lao to rent land near to their borders!
Can you understand that mother fucker, faked Ph D from England????
Fuck you, asshole (1:52). The Khmer people ain't gonna suffer on your stupid racist account. Investment is investment, and we can't never have enough, no matter where it came from. You got that?
To 3:50AM
What investment? It seems these Cambodian soldiers are more concern about getting pay 150 dollars a month including medical insurance than the million and million of dollars that the Viet Company can extract from Cambodian mine!
This is a sad life for Cambodian soldiers and once they were a soldier and now they became a guard which is more like a guard dog for AH HUN SEN's house!
These Cambodian soldiers get pay 40 dollars a month from AH HUN SEN and whoever can pay them higher and they will become their master!
I am not surprise because this is the same old master and slave relationship!
Well, no one works for free. It's still better than nothing. People are getting good jobs from it, and they are happy with it as it reflect in the last pre-election survey by the IRA.
military should do military duty, even in peace time, not work for private company on military time and pay. This is completely wrong for military duty. Cambodian general should be sent back to military school again re-train on military law.
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