VZCZCXRO3395
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHPF #1086/01 1601033
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091033Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6833
INFO RUEHZS/ASEAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1472

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 001086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CB
SUBJECT: TONLE BASSAC LAND DISPUTE CONTINUES 
 
REF:  PHNOM PENH 869 
 
¶1. (U)  Summary:  A land dispute in the heart of Phnom Penh 
is emblematic of the increasing number of land conflicts in 
Cambodia.  On June 6 and 7, local police evicted 500 
families from the Tonle Bassac community.  Another group of 
families with land documentation from the UNTAC days is 
being threatened with eviction, and has sought legal 
assistance from a USAID-funded NGO.  Eight protesters were 
arrested as well as a journalist; no violence was reported. 
Since the beginning of the month-long conflict, NGOs have 
offered to help but authorities have refused.  The Tonle 
Bassac case highlights the problems of unclear land titling, 
corruption, and a growing sense of injustice.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------------- 
RESIDENT INJURIES LEAD TO RIOTS 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U)  On May 30, 2006, remaining members of the Tonle 
Bassac community, who had watched their homes destroyed over 
the course of the past month, rioted when a local authority 
official injured an 11-year old girl and a pregnant woman. 
The remaining community members tore down buildings that 
served as offices for the village chief and the CPP as the 
police watched.  The small police presence was withdrawn as 
the rioting progressed. 
 
¶3.  (U)  Since this incident, villagers who were renters at 
the site began to subdivide the area once again and 
construct makeshift homes.  People who owned land at the 
site, but were compensated with new land 22 kilometers from 
Phnom Penh, began to return to reclaim their old land. 
Also, people living at other resettlement communities 
throughout Phnom Penh began to arrive at the site to try to 
claim land.  As the reconstruction continued, NGOs worried 
that another mass eviction was inevitable and warned of 
possible violence. 
 
----------------------- 
MASS EVICTIONS CONTINUE 
----------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U)  On the morning of June 6, twelve trucks rented by 
the Sour Srun Company and several hundred police officials 
arrived at the village.  Police then began to remove the 
estimated 400 families at the site.  Eight people who tried 
to protest were arrested, but NGOs reported no violence 
occurred.  The families were moved to a new one-hectare site 
outside Phnom Penh where no arrangements were made to divide 
land nor provide shelter, sanitation or electricity. 
 
¶5. (SBU) On June 7, NGOs reported that 100 more families 
were removed from the Tonle Bassac site.  These families had 
more substantial wooden houses (previously untouched by 
authorities), and lived on land bordering the site. 
According to the USAID-funded Community Legal Education 
Center (CLEC), some families have documentation suggesting a 
possible legal claim.  A third group of families whose 
houses also border the site have land documentation dating 
from the UNTAC era.  They are now being threatened with 
eviction by municipal authorities who claim the land belongs 
to the city of Phnom Penh, not Sour Srun.  The group has 
sought legal advice from the CLEC. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Also on June 7, the municipal authorities 
arrested a journalist from a Khmer language newspaper and 
briefly detained a Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) 
activist and his driver.  The authorities alleged that the 
journalist was a resident of Tonle Bassac posing as a 
journalist, who had helped incite the riot at the site a 
week ago.  CLEC also learned that the one-hectare relocation 
site was bought in March by municipal authorities, who 
promised the seller that they would buy two additional 
hectares later.  The seller now is concerned that one 
hectare is inadequate for 500 families and that people will 
begin to squat on adjacent land owned by him. 
 
----------------------- 
NGO ASSISTANCE REBUFFED 
----------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U)  At the outset of the land dispute, the NGO 
community offered to conduct a census of residents and 
renters living at the site but was rebuffed by the 
government during the initial eviction.  Instead, local 
authorities allotted plots of land outside Phnom Penh during 
the initial eviction not only to residents but also to non- 
residents with political connections to the authorities.  In 
 
PHNOM PENH 00001086  002 OF 002 
 
 
some cases, these people were given larger plots than 
residents.  Following the initial eviction, NGOs have also 
attempted to distribute tents and humanitarian aid to the 
remaining families of renters who were not included in the 
earlier relocation, but were stopped by the authorities. 
The NGO community also wrote two letters to the Prime 
Minister to ask for his intervention but never received a 
response. 
 
¶8.  (U)  Brian Rohan of CLEC commented that "the entire 
situation highlights the lack of transparency and proper 
process.  The most recent evictions show the government's 
ability to garner a massive show of force but complete lack 
of caring and planning when concerning the needs of those 
affected.  Since the beginning, the government has refused 
to involve community leaders or NGOs in the process."  Kek 
Galabru of LICADHO commented, " the government should have 
consulted the people living at Tonle Bassac before evicting 
them.  The evictions should not have been made using force. 
Also, the new site is completely inadequate."  Mith Samlanh, 
an organization that works with street children, noted that 
some of the Tonle Bassac children benefited from the 
schooling, feeding, and other services their NGO provides, 
but the new site outside town will prevent these children 
from receiving much-needed assistance. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
SOUR SRUN COMPANY A FRONT FOR CANADIA BANK? 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  According to the NGO community, Sour Srun company 
has been unable to produce its land title to the Tonle 
Bassac site.  This company is believed by many to be a front 
for Canadia Bank, whose General Manager Pung Kheav Se is an 
advisor to Hun Sen.  Last year, Canadia was involved in the 
Koh Pich land dispute where families were evicted in similar 
fashion to what is occurring at the Tonle Bassac site.  NGO 
members speculate that Canadia Bank may not want to be the 
center of bad publicity again, and therefore a front company 
was formed to keep government officials' names out of the 
press. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  Comment:  The NGO community's marginalization in 
this process has been unfortunate, given that the Prime 
Minister had stated he wanted NGO participation in the 
recently formed National Land Dispute Authority.  The Tonle 
Bassac land dispute is a complex issue, as there are a 
variety of different groups living at the site, which has 
grown haphazardly over the years since UNTAC times.  Most 
residents, even if they had a legal land claim, are unaware 
of the provisions of the 2001 Land Law and could not afford 
the fees (and bribes) required to get a land title -- and 
are helpless when a powerful individual/company has the 
means to buy a title, claim ownership, and access government 
support to begin evictions.  End Comment. 
 
MUSSOMELI