An RCAF major embroiled in a dispute with 28 Tompoun minority families over 100 hectares of land in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district was accused yesterday of deploying soldiers who threatened to shoot the villagers if they tried to farm the land.
But RCAF district commander Major Chhun Naren dismissed the claims, saying they were damaging his unit’s reputation.
“The fact is that the villagers are the land-grabbers who are taking our military unit’s farmland,” he said, adding that he was seeking district council director Ha Nen’s intervention on the matter.
Villager representative Brong Meng alleged that four armed RCAF soldiers and a few day laborers hired by RCAF prevented about a dozen villagers from cultivating cassava on the land.
“They warned the villagers that they were going to shoot if they tried farming the land,” said Mr Meng. “The villagers were afraid of being killed or injured…so they returned home with no hopes.”
Many of the villagers’ cassava plants have been damaged, as the farmers were unable to plant them before the rainy season began.
“The commune and district authorities are on our side, because we have been farming the land since 1982,” Mr Meng said. “But they seem hesitant to ask Major Naren to give the land back.”
Major Naren insists that his unit has owned the land since 2005, when villagers from neighboring Kaleng commune granted 100 hectares for collective benefits.
Lumphat district governor Kong Srun said local officials had informed him of the threats to shoot. Mr Srun said he has repeatedly instructed commune officials to submit a formal complaint with the thumbprints of the affected families.
“If I have a formal complaint, I have basic information about the villagers’ ownership history, which means I can ask the soldiers to suspend plowing the disputed land,” he said.
He confirmed that the Kaleng commune residents had offered the RCAF unit land in 2005 but said they granted only 25 hectares, not the 100 hectares claimed by Major Naren.
