VZCZCXRO0518
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHPF #1452 2270953
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 150953Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7150
INFO RUEHZS/ASEAN COLLECTIVE
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM

UNCLAS PHNOM PENH 001452 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL CB
SUBJECT: LAND DISPUTES IN KANDAL PROVINCE LEAD TO VIOLENCE 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  Two recent land disputes involving Kandal 
province have resulted in low-level violence.  On August 7, 60 armed 
police officers clashed with a group of 200 hundred villagers from 
Kandal province who tried to enter Phnom Penh to protest a land 
dispute in their community.  The ensuing melee injured 30 people; 
several required medical treatment.  In a separate incident, three 
Kandal villagers were injured in a rock throwing conflict with 
workers of a private company.  Violence caused by land disputes has 
become more common throughout Cambodia.  The government is aware of 
the potential for social unrest due to land conflicts, but remains 
concerned with maintaining public order - not with expeditiously and 
equitably settling disputes.  End Summary. 
 
Dispute Over Land in Ang Snoul District, Kandal 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2.  (U)  On August 7, a fight between 60 police officers and more 
than 200 villagers from Kandal province's Ang Snoul district erupted 
on a Phnom Penh road; this was the climax of an ongoing land dispute 
in Kandal province.  Thirty villagers were injured and a few needed 
minor medical treatment.  Police reportedly used electric batons and 
tear gas, and fired automatic rifles into the air to prevent people 
from entering the city.  No one was injured from the shooting. 
Phnom Penh Police commissioner Touch Naroth said that villagers who 
came into Phnom Penh in seven trucks were drunk and armed with 
machetes and axes.  However, Chan Soveth, investigator for local 
human rights NGO ADHOC, disputed police claims and said the 
villagers were neither drunk nor armed. 
 
¶3.  (U)  The confrontation began on August 5, when one of the twelve 
representatives of the villagers was arrested.  The villagers 
flocked to the local police station and made several attempts to 
come to Phnom Penh to plead for the release of their representative. 
 
 
¶4.  (U)  The villagers claim ownership of more than 200 hectares of 
land that they have farmed since the 1980s.  ADHOC's investigator 
told the Embassy that the villagers sold the land in 1993 to an 
unidentified Chinese company that had planned to develop the area. 
The company left the land vacant, so people reoccupied the land.  In 
2005, another private company started fencing off the land; and the 
villagers reacted by taking out the fence.  The company submitted a 
complaint to the provincial court, after which twelve people were 
charged and arrest warrants issued.  On August 5, local authorities 
arrested and detained one of the villagers' representatives. 
 
Phanimex vs. Kandal Villagers 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U)  In a separate incident on August 6, three Kandal province 
villagers were injured while trying to stop Phanimex, a private 
company, from building a fence surrounding disputed land claimed by 
the villagers.  Local police and construction workers employed by 
the company fired guns into the air and threw rocks at people 
attempting to dismantle the fence. 
 
¶6.  (U)  The Phanimex company claims ownership over more than 100 
hectares of land in Kien Svay district, Kandal province where 168 
families have been residing.  According to Radio Free Asia, the 
local people claim that they never sold the land to the company. 
ADHOC's Chan Soveth confirmed that the company did buy some pieces 
of land in the disputed area, but not all the land in dispute 
belongs to the company.  Soveth reported that two villagers were 
arrested on July 22 for confronting with the company, but were 
released a day later after paying 200,000 riels, about USD 50, to 
authorities. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The owner of Phanimex company, Madam Suy Siphan, is well 
connected to senior government officials and has been involved in a 
number of land disputes throughout the country.  There have been at 
least ten land dispute cases involving the company in Kandal 
province alone, according to ADHOC's Soveth.  (Note:  Phanimex also 
tried to claim land owned by  Amcit philanthropist Doris Johnson, 
but Embassy intervention with MOI Sar Kheng resulted in Phanimex 
withdrawing from the dispute.  End Note.) 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Comment:  As land-related violence has grown more common, 
the government has become increasingly aware of the potential for 
social unrest due to land disputes.  Opposition leader Sam Rainsy's 
threat of a peaceful demonstration to highlight illegal land grabs 
got the RGC's attention, but Rainsy tabled his plans for a 
demonstration.  As the government has yet to come up with an 
acceptable solution to mediate such disputes, authorities have 
resorted to strong-arm tactics to suppress the tension and keep 
protesters out of Phnom Penh.  This is in stark contrast to the 
peaceful protests that occurred only last year in front of the 
National Assembly.  End Comment. 
 
MUSSOMELI