Sunday, November 21, 2010

Phnom Penh Sugar Co. Ltd Continued Clearing Villagers’ Land in Amleang

According to the report by a villager Men Pao, 40, in Amleang commune, on April 7 there were joint forces of about 20 soldiers and military police came to the above area in order to defend the clearing activity of Phnom Penh Sugar company on villagers’ land. He revealed that on April 7, about 9:30 am a group of armed forces, brought with AK 47 in hands, led by an unidentified forest official to protect the company against around 200 villagers, who were trying to protest and stop the activity. He also said that the company representative used to promise that they would not bulldoze villagers’ land, but in contrast they went back on their word over and over again.

The following day, April 8, 2010 about 400 villagers from those 11 affected villages rallied to ban their land from being cleared and razed, but it was impossible the company still continued the project though there was presence of commune chief, district governor and provincial representative, who came to intervene the case. That day also saw the appearance of approximately 40 soldiers and military police.

For the above reason, five villager representatives were planning to send a petition on April 12, 2010 to Prime Minister Hun Sen to seek his intervention in relation to the dispute; which those people asserted that they wanted the government to divide clearly between villagers’ land and the company’s. Enclosed with the above petition, there were 1,350 thumbprints from those 11 villages to submit to the premier.

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