Another forced evictions where the resident's homes were burnt down by the government
Cambodia may burn homes for Australian mine
Saturday, June 19, 2010
By South East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel ABC Radio Australia
The Cambodian government is threatening to burn the homes of almost 100 families who are living at the site of a gold deposit recently discovered by an Australian mining company.
The gold deposit that both exploration company OzMinerals and the Cambodian government are excited about lies in the remote Mondulkiri province, 500 kilometres from Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.
After 17 years of exploration the government believes this could be the biggest find so far in Cambodia, yielding at least 600,000 ounces of gold.
But even in sparsely populated Mondulkiri, people are in the way.
"We've been told to move out immediately and return to where we came from", says Sear Kim Yean, a resident and representative of 95 families who are living on and around the exploration site.
The project is in its infancy and will not be viable as a mine unless OzMinerals can do more small scale drilling and sampling to see if it can yield more than two million ounces of gold.
The company says the local people do not have to move for the continuing exploration to take place, but as part of a larger government plan to clean up illegal mining, logging and poaching they have been told to go.
"We have no idea where to go," said Sear Kim Yean. "We have no money. They threatened to burn our homes down if we don't move, but so far nothing like that has happened. They offered us no compensation."
But the government says most of those living in the area do not deserve help because they are opportunists who have moved into the area to mine illegally and they are not locals.
"It is true that the authority has requested people who live there to move out. There are 95 families that need to be relocated; only five people are Mondulkiri people with proper documents. The rest have migrated from other provinces," said district chief Len Vanna.
The government says the residents have deliberately built their homes on land owned by OzMinerals and will not be compensated, and if they do not move the government will burn their homes or bulldoze them.
"If they are not moving, we will have to use legal procedure to move them," Mr Vanna said.
The Cambodian government is notorious for forcibly evicting residents to make way for development.
The United Nations has repeatedly raised concerns about tens of thousands of people who have been evicted in recent years with lack of due process, inadequate compensation and the excessive use of force.
Melbourne based OzMinerals says it has urged local authorities to treat the residents with respect and dignity.
The gold deposit that both exploration company OzMinerals and the Cambodian government are excited about lies in the remote Mondulkiri province, 500 kilometres from Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.
After 17 years of exploration the government believes this could be the biggest find so far in Cambodia, yielding at least 600,000 ounces of gold.
But even in sparsely populated Mondulkiri, people are in the way.
"We've been told to move out immediately and return to where we came from", says Sear Kim Yean, a resident and representative of 95 families who are living on and around the exploration site.
The project is in its infancy and will not be viable as a mine unless OzMinerals can do more small scale drilling and sampling to see if it can yield more than two million ounces of gold.
The company says the local people do not have to move for the continuing exploration to take place, but as part of a larger government plan to clean up illegal mining, logging and poaching they have been told to go.
"We have no idea where to go," said Sear Kim Yean. "We have no money. They threatened to burn our homes down if we don't move, but so far nothing like that has happened. They offered us no compensation."
But the government says most of those living in the area do not deserve help because they are opportunists who have moved into the area to mine illegally and they are not locals.
"It is true that the authority has requested people who live there to move out. There are 95 families that need to be relocated; only five people are Mondulkiri people with proper documents. The rest have migrated from other provinces," said district chief Len Vanna.
The government says the residents have deliberately built their homes on land owned by OzMinerals and will not be compensated, and if they do not move the government will burn their homes or bulldoze them.
"If they are not moving, we will have to use legal procedure to move them," Mr Vanna said.
The Cambodian government is notorious for forcibly evicting residents to make way for development.
The United Nations has repeatedly raised concerns about tens of thousands of people who have been evicted in recent years with lack of due process, inadequate compensation and the excessive use of force.
Melbourne based OzMinerals says it has urged local authorities to treat the residents with respect and dignity.
7 comments:
Wild animals of Hun Xen government are hurting and harming the innocent poor.
Labeling these people as opportunists allows the government to avoid the reality of the situation and allows them to blame the poor for a problem that has been created by the government.
At the end of the day, the government has failed to provide jobs and security for the majority of the population. In such circumstances, what else are people supposed to do? Sit down and wait to die???? They sure won't get any help from their excellencies (excellent at what? Robbing people? Running the country?).
When everyone is agreeing, disagree.
A DICK-TATOR AH HUN XEN..THE KANGAROOOOOOOOOOOO MODDER FUCKER ....AH BEI SACH!!
Cambodia should fence the land that belong to private property or so call "private property" so people can't go in and live illegally there.
Near urban area poor khmer were told they cannotbuild and live in a dirty slum reserved for development.
Now poor peasants trying to build their livelyhood at the fringe of the country such as the norteast where nobody ever want to go before are being told to stay out of mineral lease land.
Dear Khmer does this story sound like the story of the Native American (Indians) where white settlers push the native out into reservation?
Are we going to run up the hillside like the Hmong or live on canoe like the Cham?
Or are we going to push back???????
the last i read, they claim these people are mining for gold on the state property. now they are just being told to relocate, that's all!
If OZ company has any moral at all they should protest of such action against the government of Cambodia.
But I have my doubt because of the love of money (gold,silver). These kind of company devour the poor and needy just for their gain.
Post a Comment