After a few months of rapid deforestation, tree-cutting activity at Kampong Speu’s Metta forest has slowed down in recent days as clearings reach the boundary limits of land allocated to families from the military’s tank unit.
As Kampong Speu’s Metta forest is rapidly destroyed, locals’ allegations against Brigade 70 soldiers are multiplying: a monk’s phone confiscated to prevent photos of forest clearing, seven Buddha statues destroyed, and the land sold to tycoons for dirt mining.
Locals attempting to protect the Kampong Speu forest say ten trailers full of logs per day are being removed with the oversight of soldiers.
Villagers said members of the elite Brigade 70 overseeing a Tuesday land clearance in Aoral district beat them and fired warning shots.
An international rights group has criticized the local Australian Embassy for participating in an event involving the military’s Brigade 70, which has been accused of being part of a grenade attack in 1997 against Sam Rainsy, among other alleged rights violations.
A big piece of a so far untouched area in the middle of Boeng Tamok lake has been granted to the Interior Ministry, while businesswoman Say Sorphea — understood to be the wife of a high-ranking Brigade 70 military official — has received a further two plots on the lake.
VOD is an independent media outlet producing radio programs and disseminating information to the public via the Internet.
© 2019 VOD. All Rights Reserved.
