TONLE BASSAC LAND DISPUTE CONTINUES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 001086

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS; GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CB
SUBJECT: TONLE BASSAC LAND DISPUTE CONTINUES

REF: PHNOM PENH 869


1. (U) Summary: A land dispute in the heart of Phnom Penh
is emblematic of the increasing number of land conflicts in
Cambodia. On June 6 and 7, local police evicted 500
families from the Tonle Bassac community. Another group of
families with land documentation from the UNTAC days is
being threatened with eviction, and has sought legal
assistance from a USAID-funded NGO. Eight protesters were
arrested as well as a journalist; no violence was reported.
Since the beginning of the month-long conflict, NGOs have
offered to help but authorities have refused. The Tonle
Bassac case highlights the problems of unclear land titling,
corruption, and a growing sense of injustice. End Summary.

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RESIDENT INJURIES LEAD TO RIOTS
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2. (U) On May 30, 2006, remaining members of the Tonle
Bassac community, who had watched their homes destroyed over
the course of the past month, rioted when a local authority
official injured an 11-year old girl and a pregnant woman.
The remaining community members tore down buildings that
served as offices for the village chief and the CPP as the
police watched. The small police presence was withdrawn as
the rioting progressed.


3. (U) Since this incident, villagers who were renters at
the site began to subdivide the area once again and
construct makeshift homes. People who owned land at the
site, but were compensated with new land 22 kilometers from
Phnom Penh, began to return to reclaim their old land.
Also, people living at other resettlement communities
throughout Phnom Penh began to arrive at the site to try to
claim land. As the reconstruction continued, NGOs worried
that another mass eviction was inevitable and warned of
possible violence.

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MASS EVICTIONS CONTINUE
--------------


4. (U) On the morning of June 6, twelve trucks rented by
the Sour Srun Company and several hundred police officials
arrived at the village. Police then began to remove the
estimated 400 families at the site. Eight people who tried
to protest were arrested, but NGOs reported no violence
occurred. The families were moved to a new one-hectare site
outside Phnom Penh where no arrangements were made to divide
land nor provide shelter, sanitation or electricity.


5. (SBU) On June 7, NGOs reported that 100 more families
were removed from the Tonle Bassac site. These families had
more substantial wooden houses (previously untouched by
authorities),and lived on land bordering the site.
According to the USAID-funded Community Legal Education
Center (CLEC),some families have documentation suggesting a
possible legal claim. A third group of families whose
houses also border the site have land documentation dating
from the UNTAC era. They are now being threatened with
eviction by municipal authorities who claim the land belongs
to the city of Phnom Penh, not Sour Srun. The group has
sought legal advice from the CLEC.


6. (SBU) Also on June 7, the municipal authorities
arrested a journalist from a Khmer language newspaper and
briefly detained a Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)
activist and his driver. The authorities alleged that the
journalist was a resident of Tonle Bassac posing as a
journalist, who had helped incite the riot at the site a
week ago. CLEC also learned that the one-hectare relocation
site was bought in March by municipal authorities, who
promised the seller that they would buy two additional
hectares later. The seller now is concerned that one
hectare is inadequate for 500 families and that people will
begin to squat on adjacent land owned by him.

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NGO ASSISTANCE REBUFFED
--------------


7. (U) At the outset of the land dispute, the NGO
community offered to conduct a census of residents and
renters living at the site but was rebuffed by the
government during the initial eviction. Instead, local
authorities allotted plots of land outside Phnom Penh during
the initial eviction not only to residents but also to non-
residents with political connections to the authorities. In

PHNOM PENH 00001086 002 OF 002


some cases, these people were given larger plots than
residents. Following the initial eviction, NGOs have also
attempted to distribute tents and humanitarian aid to the
remaining families of renters who were not included in the
earlier relocation, but were stopped by the authorities.
The NGO community also wrote two letters to the Prime
Minister to ask for his intervention but never received a
response.


8. (U) Brian Rohan of CLEC commented that "the entire
situation highlights the lack of transparency and proper
process. The most recent evictions show the government's
ability to garner a massive show of force but complete lack
of caring and planning when concerning the needs of those
affected. Since the beginning, the government has refused
to involve community leaders or NGOs in the process." Kek
Galabru of LICADHO commented, " the government should have
consulted the people living at Tonle Bassac before evicting
them. The evictions should not have been made using force.
Also, the new site is completely inadequate." Mith Samlanh,
an organization that works with street children, noted that
some of the Tonle Bassac children benefited from the
schooling, feeding, and other services their NGO provides,
but the new site outside town will prevent these children
from receiving much-needed assistance.

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SOUR SRUN COMPANY A FRONT FOR CANADIA BANK?
--------------


9. (SBU) According to the NGO community, Sour Srun company
has been unable to produce its land title to the Tonle
Bassac site. This company is believed by many to be a front
for Canadia Bank, whose General Manager Pung Kheav Se is an
advisor to Hun Sen. Last year, Canadia was involved in the
Koh Pich land dispute where families were evicted in similar
fashion to what is occurring at the Tonle Bassac site. NGO
members speculate that Canadia Bank may not want to be the
center of bad publicity again, and therefore a front company
was formed to keep government officials' names out of the
press.


10. (SBU) Comment: The NGO community's marginalization in
this process has been unfortunate, given that the Prime
Minister had stated he wanted NGO participation in the
recently formed National Land Dispute Authority. The Tonle
Bassac land dispute is a complex issue, as there are a
variety of different groups living at the site, which has
grown haphazardly over the years since UNTAC times. Most
residents, even if they had a legal land claim, are unaware
of the provisions of the 2001 Land Law and could not afford
the fees (and bribes) required to get a land title -- and
are helpless when a powerful individual/company has the
means to buy a title, claim ownership, and access government
support to begin evictions. End Comment.

MUSSOMELI