103 Villager Houses Burned Down in Oddar Meanchey

On May 25, 2010 in Prey Saak, O’Ampil village (Anglong Veng commune and district, Oddar Meanchey province), 103 poor villagers’ houses were burned to the ground, leaving them without shelter and destroying their belongings as well as thrusting them deeper into poverty. Almost all of the 103 homes were mainly made from wood with thatch or zinc roofs. The action was led by Siem Reap Court Prosecutor Ty Sovinthal and other joint armed forces, including police, solders, military police and various other officials. In all the party comprised of around 100 individuals.

With regard to the above event, Anlong Veng district governor Yim Phanna said that O’ Ampil is located in the protected area of Kulen Prumtep Wildlife Sanctuary. Prior to this, local authorities have held a series of meetings with the villagers to inform them that they were living in the conservation site and, therefore, should have left. The authorities stated that they had provided other plots of land on which the villagers were entitled to resettle. For the first phase of authority’s resettlement plan, each family would be granted a 20 by 30 meter plot for home construction, plus one hectare for agricultural practice. In accordance with these actions, he added that the authorities had transportation to send them to the reserved area. However, it was up to the villagers themselves if they wanted to go there or preferred to stay in their home town.

Whereas the evictee representative asserted that villagers had bought each plot of land, of 30 meters by 100, since 2000 from Environment Department officials in the worth of 1,000 to 1,200 US dollars, those same officials were the ones that sought to evict the families, prompting them to lodge a complaint with district officials.

To date, villagers’ concerns had been ignored by the authorities. In 2009 these villagers filed a complaint with Siem Reap Provincial Court against 5 Environment Department officials for illegally selling prohibited state land. On May 4, 2010 two of these offending officials were arrested, but the other three still remain at large.