Opposition Attacks Two New Border Markers

Sam Rainsy Party officials visited border post Nos. 125 and 128 in Kak commune Ponhea Krek district, Kampong Cham.

By Heng Reaksmey,
VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Wednesday, 23 June 2010

Opposition lawmakers in Kampong Cham province say two new border markers with Vietnam have been placed kilometers inside Cambodia’s original boundary.

The Sam Rainsy Party officials say the markers, set up by a joint border commission between the two countries in Ponhear Krek district, encroach on land in three different villages.

The opposition party in recent months has been deeply critical of recent government efforts to mark the once-contested border, including the posting of a map on its website that led to criminal charges of falsification against party leader Sam Rainsy.

Var Kimhong, head of the Cambodian border commission, said the new border markers had not ceded any land to Vietnam and that the opposition need not worry about the loss of territory.

But Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Thak Lany, a representative for Kampong Cham, said she had never seen markers set in place as they are now, near the villages of Anlong Chrey, Ta Am and Preach Sre.

“People have told me that the new border markers are inside Cambodia about 2 kilometers,” she said.