26 December 2009
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer
Villagers from Romeas Hek district, Svay Rieng province, indicated that they are threatened with arrest and death when they stood up to protest against a company that cleared lands and destroyed the villagers’ crop.
About 100 Cambodian villagers from Ta Suos village, Tros commune, Romeas Hek district, Svay Rieng province, claimed that a number of villagers where threatened with shooting and killing, arrest, and sending to jail when they prevented machineries from the Peam Chaing rubber plantation company from clearing lands and destroying large number of hectares of their cassava and cashew crops.
Yea Yeng, a Ta Suos villager, declared that large number of hectares of cassava and cashew crops were destroyed from the rubber plantation company’s land clearing operation.
Yea Yeng said: “This morning, 70 to 80 villagers went to protest, to stop them from continuing their land clearing. They did not agree, they scorned us and they wanted to shoot us. They threatened to handcuff us.”
Chhum Chham, another villager, indicated that the situation is very tense right now: “Nowadays, it is very difficult. The villagers are not allowed to take their animals out for grazing. Where should we go look? There is no place for our buffaloes to graze, all our lands are gone, the villagers have nothing now. Our meager vegetable crops were destroyed, that’s why the villagers cannot take it anymore.”
Another villager chimed in: “Our cassava crops are destroyed, that was why we went to stop them. They wanted to beat us up. We surrounded them, not allowing them to beat us. They said that they will beat us and they will handcuff us and send us to jail.”
Regarding the villagers’ accusations above, Pen Ny Den, the deputy director of the Svay Rieng-based Peam Chaing rubber plantation company, said that he did not know about this case.
Pen Ny Den said: “I was actually near there, but I did not know the details. I don’t know if the land was cleared or not because I am in Kampong Som now.”
Nget Nara, a facilitator for the Adhoc human rights organization, said: “We call on the local authority to pay attention and provide appropriate safety to the villagers.”
Victims of the destruction indicated that they came to live in this area since 1979. In 2007, the Peam Chaing rubber plantation company came and laid claim to the ownership of the villagers’ lands.
The company brought in 3 mechanical land clearing equipments to clear the land and to destroy numerous hectares of grown cassava and cashew crops belonging to the villagers.
The villagers and the local authority indicated that the company laid claim to 3,960 hectares of land for rubber plantation. Several hundreds of families from 5 villages are currently concerned about the grabbing of their lands in the near future. The five villages include: Ta Suos, Boeung, Tros, M’reak Teab and Trapaing Peay villages. They are all located in Romeas Hek district, Svay Rieng province.
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