CNRP planning to call Namhong to assembly

Fri, 8 May 2015 ppp

Pech Sotheary

Opposition lawmakers have announced that they are planning to summon Foreign Minister Hor Namhong to parliament over a cross-border land dispute in which Vietnamese authorities sprayed Cambodian-planted crops on Vietnamese land with herbicides.

Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker Om Sam An said that his party wants the foreign minister to clarify the events that took place in Tbong Khmum – a province that hugs the Vietnamese border and is at the centre of the issue – and whether or not the land is actually part of Vietnam.

“We want to … investigate whether or not [the villages] are on [Vietnamese] land,” he said.

Namhong recently sent a letter to the National Assembly to explain the incident and respond to 12 CNRP lawmakers. The letter clarified that the crops sprayed with “poisonous chemicals” by Vietnamese authorities had in fact been planted on Vietnam’s territory.

However, Sam An said he had conferred with fellow CNRP lawmaker Mao Monyvann about whether to start a petition to oust Namhong and Cambodia Border Committee chairman Var Kim Hong over the squabble.

According to the constitution, an impeachment letter needs at least 30 signatories in order to bring the issue to a vote.

Monyvann, meanwhile, maintained Namhong was using an outdated map when he made his claims, and said that he was conferring with party leaders about what action to take.