"P Sihanouk land dispute agreement nullified ‘to prevent irregular issues’", 18 February 2019

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has reversed its previous order to allocate land to 48 families in Preah Sihanouk province… in order to follow procedure in trying to resolve a long-running land dispute.

The Supreme Court had issued a ruling over the 71ha of land that led to a violent confrontation between villagers and government joint forces ...

…, provincial governor Yun Min requested the ministry set aside more than 26ha from an area designated as protected forest in a 2002 sub-decree for the 48 families, who claimed to have lived in the area since 1992…

The nullification letter, signed by Minister of Agriculture Veng Sakhon and …, said the ministry had previously agreed with Min’s request to allocate the land to the families in the area but, after receiving guidance from Prime Minister Hun Sen, the ministry decided to rescind that agreement in order to prevent further confrontations.

“In order to prevent other irregular issues that might arise from the regulatory process, the ministry has decided to nullify the previous agreement,” the letter said.

Ministry spokesperson Chan Heng declined to comment and referred further questions to the Forestry Administration.

Forestry Administration director Keo Omalis could not be reached for comment ...

Governor Min told … it was the ministry’s right to nullify the request to set aside land.

“I would like to confirm once more that I was not personally involved in the disputed area. [The rumour] is not true.”…