Families Forced Out of Homes Ahead of Gov’t Deadline

Security forces and employees of a Vietnamese-owned rubber plantation in Mondolkiri province continued to drive families out of their homes yesterday ahead of today’s government-imposed eviction deadline. Officials and villagers say most of the roughly 200 families have already left. With more than 300 security personnel posted in and around the Koh Nhek district village, the situation appeared to be building up to a government action of the sort that unfolded last week in Kratie province, in which a 14-year-old girl was shot dead as 200 security personnel evicted 600 families. Mondolkiri deputy governor Svay Sam Ang said yesterday that only about 60 families remained in the area after 127 had left of their own accord. …