Koh Kong reps deliver UDG petition

Kiri Sakor district community representative Eang Chan is interviewed outside the National Assembly in Phnom Penh yesterday. Ten Koh Kong families have filed a petition in a land dispute with Chinese company Union Development Group. Pech Sotheary

Ten representatives of 318 families in Koh Kong yesterday filed a petition with the Senate and the National Assembly, asking the government to intervene in their land dispute with Chinese company Union Development Group.

UDG holds some 45,000 hectares of concessions in Koh Kong, and yesterday’s petition urged Prime Minister Hun Sen to cut off 1,000 hectares of the company’s land and give it to the families.

The petitioners also requested the censure of a representative of ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat, a shareholder in the project, who they maintain is pressuring villagers to leave their land.

‘We hope and trust in only Samdech Techo [Hun Sen], who can cut off the land for the people,’ the petition stated.

Kiri Sakor district community representative Eang Chan said that the new petition was issued because the authorities keep prolonging the dispute. Eng Chhay Eang, head of the assembly’s human rights commission, said the request will be passed on to the premier.

A UDG spokesman declined to comment.

Contact author: Pech Sotheary

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