Xmer authority prevents civil society from visiting border post no. 270 in Takeo

Rong Chhun (Photo: Ayuthyea, RFA)

13 June 2010
By Den Ayuthyea
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Click here to listen to the audio program in Khmer (MP3)

On 13 June 2010, the Takeo provincial authority prevented the visit by Ron Chhun, the representative of the Cambodia Watchdog Council (CWC), to the location where border post no. 270 is currently planted in Borey Chulsa district, Takeo province.

Rong Chhun, CWC representative and President of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA), said that the trip by CWC to visit the planting of border stake no. 270 in Anh-chanh village, Chey Chauk commune, Borey Chulsa district, was aborted by the authority.

Rong Chhun condemned the prevention by the authority and by government leaders to the visit to the suspicious border post no. 270 that could lead to the loss of territories or rice fields, just like what the villagers claimed.

Rong Chhun said: “This prevention is suspicious, it must be that the planting of this post is irregular. What the villagers claimed must be true. Therefore, we want the Cambodian [government] border committee, as well as the Cambodian government leaders, to rethink about all the border post planting between Cambodia and Vietnam. They must avoid having Cambodia losing lands from these border plantings.”

Anonymous villagers in Takeo province who saw the authority preventing the CWC delegation’s visit in the morning of 13 June, indicated that several dozen of cops and soldiers were stationed in almost all entrance access to border post no. 270 in Anh-chanh village, Chey Chauk commune.

The villagers indicated that the CWC delegation attempted to travel by boat to reach the border between Cambodia and Vietnam at the location of border post no. 270, but they were stopped by the authority.

The villagers said: “They were many soldiers who came over, but the 4 or 5 delegates who came over were stopped when they were boarding the boat.”

Rong Chhun quoted the Takeo authority as saying that the prevention by the cops to the CWC delegation’s visit to border post no. 270 was the doing of orders issued by upper level leaders.

Sin Sotheany, the chairman of the no. 4 land border planting committee, told RFA that nobody is allowed to visit the planting of border post no. 270, because the government is afraid that it could disturb the work of border post planting experts.

This is the second time that the Takeo authority prevented such visits. The opposition party attempted to visit the planting of this border stake once already on 3 June.