Khmer-Thai border checkpoint at Boeng Trokuon closed after dispute with the planting of border post no. 37-38

By Khmerization
Source: Kampuchea Thmey

Cambodian troops inspect one of the border posts in dispute.

Thai troops have ordered the Boeng Trokuon border checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province closed on Sunday 13th June after they got angry with Cambodian troops who uprooted border post no. 37 and 38 they had earlier planted, reports Kampuchea Thmey.

Mr. Nou Yath, chief of Boeng Trokuon Checkpoint, said that a few days earlier Thai troops had unilaterally planted border post No. 37 and 38 at the old location which was disputed by the Cambodian side. He added that Thai soldiers planted the border posts in order to build a village for Thai people to live. The Cambodian side said the Thai side had violated the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding and ordered Border Guard Unit No. 807 to uproot the posts.

Mr. Nou Yath said on 13th June, a group of Thai soldiers came to stop Cambodian farmers from farming on their lands near border post No. 34 and 35 and then they closed the border at that point.

Mr. Sar Chamrong, Deputy Governor of Banteay Meanchey province, confirmed that Thai troops had closed the border, but re-opened it the same day after negotiation. However, Mr. Chamrong did not elaborate on what decision was reached at the negotiation.

Boeng Trokuon Checkpoint is situated 50 kilometres north of Poipet International Checkpoint in O’Bei Choan commune in Thmor Puok district of Banteay Meanchey province. It is an important point of border trades between the two countries where Cambodian rice, cassava and other primary produce are exported to Thailand, as well as an important point for Thailand’s exports of numerous products to Cambodia.Here.here.here

Thai troops’ brutality

Thai troops beat villagers: officer

Cheang Sokha

The Phnom Penh Post

May 13,2010 at 1:35 pm

Mao Kleung injured from Thai soldier shooting (KSN)

A MILITARY commander in Banteay Meanchey province said Tuesday that he is preparing to file a complaint with the Thailand-

Cambodia border relations office in Poipet after Thai soldiers allegedly beat three Cambodian villagers who had crossed the border to work on a sugarcane plantation, causing two to fall unconscious.

Neang Saret, a deputy battalion commander based at Poipet, said that the two villagers had crossed the border illegally into Sa Kaew province on May 7 when they encountered the Thai soldiers.

“After arresting the villagers, [the soldiers] took off their clothes and handcuffed them and beat them with a stick,” he said. “They have kept them since the morning, and released them on the evening of the same day.”

The following day, Neang Saret said, the two men joined another villager in crossing the border to look for vegetables. Again they encountered Thai soldiers, and again they were beaten, he said. He added that two of them suffered serious injuries during the second altercation.

“They live close to the border, and they have nothing to do besides entering Thailand for work, even though they have learned that it is dangerous,” Neang Saret said, and added that he planned to file a complaint with the border relations office soon.

Soum Chankea, Banteay Meanchey provincial coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, identified the two men who were beaten unconscious as Ros Sary, 35, and Nou Ban, 30. He said the man who accompanied them on the second cross-border excursion – and who sustained only light injuries – was known only as Det, 35.

“The information I got is that these villagers entered Thailand to seek rattan and vegetables,” Soum Chankea said.y

Veerachon Sukondhadhpatipak, deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Army, said Tuesday that he had heard nothing about either altercation.

NOTE: This brutality must be stopped and Thai troops should have understood that those Cambodian people are living close to the border lines of the two countries and they have a very close relation with Thai people who live along the border, too. Their relation and economic dependence are more considerable to push them to work for each another daily without caring about the artificial and bureaucratic permission from the authority. So why don’t these soldiers just let them go in and go out freely to help each another on a daily basis? The thing is the Thai farmers need helpers and the Cambodian farmers can provide forces and when they are cooperated, THEY ALL AT LAST MAKE THE INCOME FOR THEIR LIVING.