Hun Sen fires forestry director

Ty Sokun (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Wednesday, 07 April 2010
Cheang Sokha and Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

PRIME Minister Hun Sen announced Tuesday that Ty Sokun, director of the Forestry Administration, has been removed from his post for failing to successfully crack down on illegal logging.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the premier said Ty Sokun had taken insufficiently swift action against logging offenders across the Kingdom.

“I think Ty Sokun has no more ability to resolve this issue. I’m beginning to despair ... [so] it is time to remove,” Hun Sen told an audience of several hundred government officials.

“If he is not removed, Ty Sokun would work until he died and still not resolve this problem. Ty Sokun, don’t feel disappointed – consider this a life lesson and try to work harder,” Hun Sen added.

Ty Sokun will be moved to the position of undersecretary of state at the MAFF, Hun Sen said, replaced as Forestry Administration director by his current deputy, Cheng Kimsun.

Ty Sokun said Tuesday that the chances for success in his former position had been limited, and that many illegal loggers have connections to rich men and high-ranking officials who threaten forestry officers.

“I am proud to have been given a new position by the prime minister, and I will make an effort to work harder to combat forest crime and illegal fishing and to support law enforcement,” he said.

Cheng Kimsun, the former deputy director of the Forestry Administration, said he was “surprised” by his promotion, and pledged to continue the fight against illegal logging.

“My first job is to continue to combat illegal logging and find and arrest the perpetrators who are receiving bribes from the illegal loggers,” Cheng Kimsun said.

Cheng Kimsun will face the possibility of punishment and jail if he, too, performs inadequately, Hun Sen said Tuesday.

Ty Sokun was implicated in Family Trees, a 2007 report on the logging trade by the watchdog group Global Witness, which said that under his leadership, the Forestry Administration “played a key role in facilitating ... illegal logging and other criminal activities”.

“There is substantial evidence that [Minister of Agriculture] Chan Sarun and Ty Sokun have illegally sold 500 or more jobs in the Forest Administration,” the report stated, estimating that Ty Sokun had made hundreds of thousands of dollars from bribes paid to him.

Hang Chhaya, executive director of the Khmer Institute for Democracy, said the sacking of Ty Sokun “comes as a bit of a surprise”, though he noted that it is of a piece with the government’s recent efforts to publicly crack down on illegal logging. Hun Sen issued a directive in January calling on government agencies to step up their efforts against the illicit timber trade, referring to its practitioners last month as “national traitors”.

“I think the prime minister is really waking up to this issue and realising he must tackle this problem in Cambodia,” Hang Chhaya said, though he added that Ty Sokun “should not be used as a scapegoat for the whole issue”.

“It’s systematic in the way these things operate,” Hang Chhaya said.

In his speech, Hun Sen warned that government officials who attempt to flee warrants for their arrest could face life imprisonment.

“You cannot hide or escape anymore,” Hun Sen said.

Ty Sokun said last week that since Hun Sen’s January directive, government officials had conducted more than 100 raids and collected more than 3,000 cubic metres of timber. He said that prosecutions are pending against more than 100 government officials and businessmen involved in the illegal logging trade, though military police spokesman Kheng Tito said Tuesday that only 14 people had been arrested as a result of the crackdown as of the end of March.

Three forestry officials were arrested in Pursat province last week for allegedly transporting lumber illegally into Koh Kong province, and four forestry officials in Kampong Cham province were questioned last Thursday in connection with a similar case.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KHOUTH SOPHAK CHAKRYA AND JAMES O’TOOLE

Cambodia, FAO start series of market forums on bird flu

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), with the help from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will hold a series of market forums on avian influenza to prevent and control the disease, said a press release on Tuesday.

The first forum will be held in Kampong Thom province on Aug. 13 and another 13 forums will be organized in major live bird markets this year, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Germany.

In the joint release issued by MAFF and FAO, Kao Phal, director of MAFF's Department of Animal Health and Production (DAHP) said "The forums will help market managers, poultry vendors, butchers and middlemen understand the importance of practicing bio-security measures in order to protect their source of livelihood from the threat of avian influenza."

Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked MAFF to focus on bird flu control and prevention in poultry in order to reduce the risk of human infection, he added.

Meanwhile, Lotfi Allal, FAO chief technical adviser, said that "most live bird markets have poor hygienic practices posing the greatest potential health threat to traders and consumers alike."

A market study commissioned by FAO found that only 40 percent of market sellers interviewed packed and took their poultry waste to the disposal bins.

"Human activity through trade and markets is one way of spreading avian influenza so it is important that poultry traders understand the risk posed by live bird markets and by common practice such as mixing ducks and chickens," said the advisor.

"Ducks are natural reservoir for avian influenza. They can be infectious without looking sick and can spread the disease to other poultry and humans," the advisor added.

At the forum, speakers from MAFF, the Ministry of Health and FAO will explain how bird flu can be transmitted through the live bird markets and what can poultry traders do to prevent and control its spread, said the press release.

To prevent bird flu transmission in the market, poultry traders will be encouraged to adopt measures including "buy and sell only healthy poultry, always keep ducks and chickens separate on the farm, on transport and in the market, keep transport cages, egg boxes and market stalls clean," said the press release.

The fourth of all Cambodia's seven human death cases so far over bird flu was a chicken seller who reportedly collected some dead chickens from the area surrounding her school and was sellingthem. The 20-year-old woman from Banteay Meas District in Kampot province died on April 19, 2005.

Call for five land concession contracts to be abolished

By Cheang Sokha
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 16 / 13, June 29 - July 128, 2007

"You can see that most of the land disputes occurred on the concession land" - SRP MP Yim Sovann

In a June 19 speech delivered at the Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF), Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries(MAFF) Chan Sarun announced that the government has decided to cancel land concession contracts to five companies and several others were advised to reform their activities.

"The MAFF plans to end negotiations with the five companies in 2007," Sarun said in a statement.

The move came as donor countries criticized the government for land disputes issues at the CDCF, but opposition lawmakers and civil society activists are calling for land concessions to be abolished claiming they have a negative impact on the livelihoods of the rural poor.

Yim Sovann, chairman of the investigation and anti-corruption commission at the National Assembly, said some companies do not produce agriculture after receiving licenses from the government, but instead use the awarded land for logging or transfer the land to another company for development.

"In my opinion, the government should stop providing land concession," Sovann said. "I am very concerned that most of the land is occupied by groups of people and they do not use the land for the interest of the poor."

Sovann said the government doesn't reap much benefit from land concessions, and it's better to keep the land for an increasing rural population that may otherwise flock to cities to search for jobs.

"You can see that most of the land disputes occurred on the concession land," he said.

On August 2, 2006, the MAFF signed a 90-year lease of 9,700 hectares in Sre Ambel to the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Company and 9,400 hectares in Botum Sakor district to the Koh Kong Plantation Company. Both companies belonged to Cambodian People's Party senator and casino tycoon Oknha Ly Yong Phat.

Locals claim that 5,000 hectares of the concession was occupied by people engaged in rotating slash-and-burn agriculture. Kek Galabru, president of local human rights NGO Licadho, said the government provided the land concession because the company planned to develop the local economy and provide jobs, but in reality it has exacerbated the suffering of local people.

Galabru said the dispute between villagers in Sre Ambel and Yong Phat still continues without resolution and the company has been bulldozing the villagers' land.

"We do not oppose the development," Galabru said. "But we have to look to whether the people benefit from the development or if it's just for a small group of rich people while the poor become poorer."

Galabru said the government should study the potential impacts before providing land for investment. Local people should be called in for discussion, she said. The government never informs people that their land is being conceded and people are shocked when firms arrive to bulldoze their land.

"We have the law but the government itself and the companies never enforce it," she said. "It is abuse of power."

The government, at least in part, has made overtures to address the issue. Some companies, which have invested in economic land concessions will face suspension or cancellation of contracts, an official at MAFF said.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said that a MAFF investigation completed in early June found that some companies were inactive or were conducting improper activities on land concessions. He said the government is considering suspending their contracts.

"MAFF is still continuing to investigate their activities," the official said. "Some companies were called to correct their activities."

On June 8, Chan Sarun wrote a letter to the directors of the Vietnamese companies Tay Nam, located in Kratie province, and Tay Nam BPM located in Mondulkiri province, to temporarily stop their activities on a land concession because MAFF found negative conditions and serious implementation violations in both sites.

MAFF granted for 70-year licenses to Tay Nam and Tay Nam BPM in July 2006, to invest in plantations of cassava, rubber, cashew and the construction of a processing factory.

According to the report from MAFF, since 1992 until February 2007, the government has granted economic land concessions at 97 different locations to 96 companies in 16 provinces. Of these, 39 were foreign companies. But due to inactivity and contract violations between 2000 and 2006, 30 companies-which acquired a total of 265,230 hectares of land-have had their contracts canceled. There are presently 57 "active" companies covering 943,069 hectares of Cambodian land-another 66 companies have not yet signed contracts.

A high-ranking official at MAFF, who led a delegation to investigate the companies in the northeastern provinces, said the government should not put too much pressure on the companies because there have many factors which have led to inactivity and delays . He cited, among other factors, problems with not importing machinery and protests by villagers who claim the land belongs to them.

"The demarcation of the land is the responsibility of the MAFF, but they never do it," the official said. "They're always speaking about the rich and powerful people grabbing the land, but they never ever speak about the local people who grab company land."