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A former RCAF soldier accused of leading a group of Cambodians across the Thai border to log luxury wood – an incident that left two dead – is awaiting trial in Oddar Meanchey province, officials said yesterday. Ngoun Thyrith, district military police chief for the Anlong ...

Just days ahead of Sunday’s commune elections, Prime Minister Hun Sen again broke his pledge to remain silent during his party’s campaign period and sought to ease the concerns of communities whose livelihoods have been threatened by land disputes. Speaking to villagers through a mobile telephone, ...

A Ministry of Agriculture official said yesterday he was aware of allegations of illegal logging by Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers within protected community forests in Oddar Meanchey province and was looking into it. “I am following this case, but I haven’t received their petition yet,” ...

Over the past half year, the military has established dozens of bases in protected community forests in Oddar Meanchey province and used them as an inroad for rampant illegal logging, villagers and forestry administration officials said yesterday. Nearly 2,000 villagers from local forest communities have thumbprinted ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday implored authorities along Cambodia’s northern border to redouble their efforts at stopping illegal loggers from sneaking into Thailand, where more than a dozen have been shot dead by Thai soldiers so far this year. The 13 Cambodians fatally shot by Thai ...

One man was killed and one injured in two separate shooting incidents that took place last week at the borders with Thailand and Laos, officials said yesterday. In both cases, the Cambodians are believed to have been shot while illegally logging highly coveted luxury rosewood in ...

About 70 monks and nuns embarked on the 22nd Dhammayietra peace walk yesterday in Oddar Meanchey province’s Samraong City to promote nonviolence and honor the legacy of the walk’s late founder, Venerable Maha Ghosananda. The six-day pilgrimage, during which participants will walk 135 km through five ...

It was a big gamble for Khun Savy, travelling hundreds of kilometres and spending thousands of Thai baht for broker fees and bribes he said he paid to be smuggled into Thailand. At the O’Smach International Border Checkpoint in Oddar Meanchey province, the 29-year-old was one ...

Residents involved in a long-running land dispute in Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng district have been prevented from registering to vote in next year’s commune elections, village representatives said yesterday. The village, Oambel, is not recognized by authorities as it forms part of a conservation area ...

Almost 30,000 hectares of a wildlife sanctuary in Oddar Meanchey, Siem Reap and Preah Vihear provinces have been reclassified as state private land for agricultural development, drawing sharp criticism from rights groups. Four sub-decrees signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on July 22 reclassify land ...