Villagers in R’kiri dispute block road
Villagers in Ratanakkiri province blocked National Road 78A on Thursday for more than three hours as authorities tried to push through to evict them in favor of a rubber company, police and villagers said. About 400 villagers blocked the section of the road that links O’Chum district to Banlung City, according to provincial police chief Ray Rai, who called the roadblock illegal. … Ngen Borin, a representative of Swift Rubber, said the land unequivocally belongs to the company and must be cleared. “Those people want to illegally live on that land which belongs to the company,” said Mr. Borin. He said some of the families involved in the dispute moved to the land recently and should not receive compensation, while others had lived there for many years. He said the company would talk to authorities about possible solutions for this tenured group. One option is to create a social land concession for these families, said Mr. Rai, the police chief. …
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-rkiri-dispute-block-road-59442/
