By Voha Cheat
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media
Villagers from Bak Day, near the Vietnamese border in the province of Takeo, had recently protested against a group of Vietnamese soldiers who came in to prevent them from digging a canal next to their village to channel water to their rice fields. The villagers are living about 300 meters from the border and are currently facing shortage of water.
Phay Sam At, a 36-year old villager claimed: "We are digging the canal in our land, and there is no [border] problem with our land, but the Vietnamese soldiers came in and prevented us. It makes life difficult and the [Cambodian] authorities did not intervene at all."
Boeung Saroeun, the deputy-chief of the village of Bak Day, Kok Thlok commune, Koh Andet district, Takeo province, made the same declaration on 16 Feb. Recently, the deputy-chief and other villagers took a mechanical engine to re-dig the bottom of a canal next to his home to bring water to the 10 hectare rice plot [owned by the villagers], but Vietnamese soldiers came to stop them. The villagers had asked the local authority to help resolve this issue because, otherwise, their rice crop will be lost due to lack of water.
Boeung Saroeun sais that: "We are re-digging an old canal near home, but the Vietnamese said that we did not let them know in advance. We re-dug this canal many years already and they never say anything, it is only this year that they prevented us from doing so."
RFA contacted Mr. Hoeung Sok, the Kok Thlok commune chief, who confirmed the work stop imposed by Vietnam. He indicated that areas along the border inside his commune as well as inside the Vietnamese commune of Giang Roi, An Phu district, An Giang province, have not been clearly settled, that is why both sides have decided that they have to inform each other before proceeding to any construction work on both sides.
The commune chief said that the digging of the Bak Day canal will not be prevented by both the Cambodian and the Vietnamese authorities, and they will authorize it, but it was the fault of the villagers who took the mechanical engine to dig it before informing the local authority, that is why he did not know about it and did not inform his Vietnamese counterpart beforehand.
On his part, Mr. Boeung Saroeun, the deputy-chief of Bak Day village, claimed that he already sent his request to the commune authority to continue digging the canal as soon as possible, however, he did not receive any reply yet and his rice crop is already starting to die.
Phay Sam At, a 36-year old villager claimed: "We are digging the canal in our land, and there is no [border] problem with our land, but the Vietnamese soldiers came in and prevented us. It makes life difficult and the [Cambodian] authorities did not intervene at all."
Boeung Saroeun, the deputy-chief of the village of Bak Day, Kok Thlok commune, Koh Andet district, Takeo province, made the same declaration on 16 Feb. Recently, the deputy-chief and other villagers took a mechanical engine to re-dig the bottom of a canal next to his home to bring water to the 10 hectare rice plot [owned by the villagers], but Vietnamese soldiers came to stop them. The villagers had asked the local authority to help resolve this issue because, otherwise, their rice crop will be lost due to lack of water.
Boeung Saroeun sais that: "We are re-digging an old canal near home, but the Vietnamese said that we did not let them know in advance. We re-dug this canal many years already and they never say anything, it is only this year that they prevented us from doing so."
RFA contacted Mr. Hoeung Sok, the Kok Thlok commune chief, who confirmed the work stop imposed by Vietnam. He indicated that areas along the border inside his commune as well as inside the Vietnamese commune of Giang Roi, An Phu district, An Giang province, have not been clearly settled, that is why both sides have decided that they have to inform each other before proceeding to any construction work on both sides.
The commune chief said that the digging of the Bak Day canal will not be prevented by both the Cambodian and the Vietnamese authorities, and they will authorize it, but it was the fault of the villagers who took the mechanical engine to dig it before informing the local authority, that is why he did not know about it and did not inform his Vietnamese counterpart beforehand.
On his part, Mr. Boeung Saroeun, the deputy-chief of Bak Day village, claimed that he already sent his request to the commune authority to continue digging the canal as soon as possible, however, he did not receive any reply yet and his rice crop is already starting to die.
No comments:
Post a Comment