LAND DISPUTES IN KANDAL PROVINCE LEAD TO VIOLENCE

UNCLAS PHNOM PENH 001452 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP AND DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL CB SUBJECT: LAND DISPUTES IN KANDAL PROVINCE LEAD TO VIOLENCE ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Two recent land disputes involving Kandal province have resulted in low-level violence. On August 7, 60 armed police officers clashed with a group of 200 hundred villagers from Kandal province who tried to enter Phnom Penh to protest a land dispute in their community. The ensuing melee injured 30 people; several required medical treatment. In a separate incident, three Kandal villagers were injured in a rock throwing conflict with workers of a private company. Violence caused by land disputes has become more common throughout Cambodia. The government is aware of the potential for social unrest due to land conflicts, but remains concerned with maintaining public order - not with expeditiously and equitably settling disputes. End Summary. Dispute Over Land in Ang Snoul District, Kandal -------------- -- ¶2. (U) On August 7, a fight between 60 police officers and more than 200 villagers from Kandal province's Ang Snoul district erupted on a Phnom Penh road; this was the climax of an ongoing land dispute in Kandal province. Thirty villagers were injured and a few needed minor medical treatment. Police reportedly used electric batons and tear gas, and fired automatic rifles into the air to prevent people from entering the city. No one was injured from the shooting. Phnom Penh Police commissioner Touch Naroth said that villagers who came into Phnom Penh in seven trucks were drunk and armed with machetes and axes. However, Chan Soveth, investigator for local human rights NGO ADHOC, disputed police claims and said the villagers were neither drunk nor armed. ¶3. (U) The confrontation began on August 5, when one of the twelve representatives of the villagers was arrested. The villagers flocked to the local police station and made several attempts to come to Phnom Penh to plead for the release of their representative. ¶4. (U) The villagers claim ownership of more than 200 hectares of land that they have farmed since the 1980s. ADHOC's investigator told the Embassy that the villagers sold the land in 1993 to an unidentified Chinese company that had planned to develop the area. The company left the land vacant, so people reoccupied the land. In 2005, another private company started fencing off the land; and the villagers reacted by taking out the fence. The company submitted a complaint to the provincial court, after which twelve people were charged and arrest warrants issued. On August 5, local authorities arrested and detained one of the villagers' representatives. Phanimex vs. Kandal Villagers -------------- ¶5. (U) In a separate incident on August 6, three Kandal province villagers were injured while trying to stop Phanimex, a private company, from building a fence surrounding disputed land claimed by the villagers. Local police and construction workers employed by the company fired guns into the air and threw rocks at people attempting to dismantle the fence. ¶6. (U) The Phanimex company claims ownership over more than 100 hectares of land in Kien Svay district, Kandal province where 168 families have been residing. According to Radio Free Asia, the local people claim that they never sold the land to the company. ADHOC's Chan Soveth confirmed that the company did buy some pieces of land in the disputed area, but not all the land in dispute belongs to the company. Soveth reported that two villagers were arrested on July 22 for confronting with the company, but were released a day later after paying 200,000 riels, about USD 50, to authorities. ¶7. (SBU) The owner of Phanimex company, Madam Suy Siphan, is well connected to senior government officials and has been involved in a number of land disputes throughout the country. There have been at least ten land dispute cases involving the company in Kandal province alone, according to ADHOC's Soveth. (Note: Phanimex also tried to claim land owned by Amcit philanthropist Doris Johnson, but Embassy intervention with MOI Sar Kheng resulted in Phanimex withdrawing from the dispute. End Note.) ¶8. (SBU) Comment: As land-related violence has grown more common, the government has become increasingly aware of the potential for social unrest due to land disputes. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy's threat of a peaceful demonstration to highlight illegal land grabs got the RGC's attention, but Rainsy tabled his plans for a demonstration. As the government has yet to come up with an acceptable solution to mediate such disputes, authorities have resorted to strong-arm tactics to suppress the tension and keep protesters out of Phnom Penh. This is in stark contrast to the peaceful protests that occurred only last year in front of the National Assembly. End Comment. MUSSOMELI