Ethnic Banong Thwart Group of Illegal Loggers in Mondolkiri
More than 100 Banong ethic minority villagers in Mondolkiri province on Wednesday stopped and briefly apprehended a group of 11 outsiders who they say were caught illegally logging timber in the area, villagers said yesterday. The villagers say that they took it upon themselves to stop a group of loggers who were hired to fell trees on 1,000 hectares of state land in Preach Chreda district’s Bosra commune because help from authorities was not forthcoming. Khut Chantra, chief of the Poulu Forestry Community- a group of ethic Banong that conduct patrols to protect the forest on which they depend for their traditional livelihoods –said that loggers had cleared about 100 hectares of forest since the beginning of the month. … The loggers who were caught all told the villagers they were had been hired by an unnamed local businessman, who paid them 20,000 reil (about $5) a day. …
