Le Vietnam construit des routes au Cambodge

Nouvelles du Cambodge N° 0744-F

LE DÉPUTÉ DE L'OPPOSITION REVENDIQUE LE VIETNAM POUR LA CONSTRUCTION ILLÉGALES DES ROUTES SUR LE TERRITOIRE CAMBODGIEN

Khemara Jati
Montréal, Québec
Le 3 décembre 2007

Nous diffusons ci-dessous une déclaration de Son Chhai sur la construction des routes par les Vietnamiens à nos frontières et l'intérieur de notre pays. Nous souhaitons que Son Chhai demande la construction rapide des bonnes routes asphaltées entre Phnom Penh et nos villes et villages à nos frontières et à l'intérieur de notre pays pour permettre les communications faciles de marchandises et de personnes à l'intérieur de notre pays. La facilité des communications routières accélère le développement de la cohésion nationale et du commerce interne. Il est curieux de développer des centres de développement économiques à nos frontières sans des bonnes routes entre Phnom Penh et ces centres de développement économique. D’autre part, il faudrait une bonne route vers Preah Vihear pour développer le tourisme de notre côté, au lieu de laisser à la Thailande le monopole du tourisme vers ce monument. Déjà 1 500 à 2 000 tonnes par jour sont exportés illégalement au Vietnam qui seront exportés par le port de Prey Nokor et comptabilisés comme riz vietnamien !

Nous souhaitons que Son Chhai dénonce aussi les constructions des barrages hydroélectriques dans nos provinces du Nord-Est qui nous rendent dépendant énergétique en électricité du Vietnam. L’indépendance énergétique est un des facteurs indispensables de notre indépendance nationale. Pourquoi des lignes électriques à haute tension en provenance du Vietnam et du Laos, alors que nous allons avoir du pétrole et du gaz naturel. Quand un projet pour construire une usine de raffinerie de pétrole pour notre pétrole ? Avant 1970, il y avait une telle raffinerie à Sihanoukville.

D’autre part où en est de la construction du chemin de fer Battambang – Phnom Penh – Sihanoukville ? Alors que le tronçon Poi Pet – Sisophon est en construction, favorisant le commerce de cette région de notre pays avec la Thailande.

Opposition MP Claims Vietnamese Road Building Trespasses On Cambodian Territory

SEP20071126045007 Phnom Penh
Samleng Yuveakchon Khmer in Cambodian
15 Nov 07 pp 1, 4 [Report by Sovannarit]

A reliable source of information contended that Vietnam recently built a road that intruded more than 10 kilometers deep into Cambodian territory of Mondol Kiri province. Cambodia's Border Affairs Commission [CBAC] headed by Va Kimhong that plans to soon go to the border to inspect the situation of the border markers installing process has had no reaction to this report. Moreover, the provincial authorities seemed to be trying to cover up this news, an act that has generated varied opinions because this is not the first time that Vietnam has bulldozed land and cut roads into Cambodian territory.

[Opposition MP] Son Chhai said that the Vietnamese authorities frequently built roads along the border, some of them straying deep into Cambodian territory. The construction work has been going on day and night, said the MP who personally witnessed these activities of the Vietnamese authorities. Son Chhai went on to say that the road building activities that encroached into Cambodian territory were in full swing in the provinces of Mondol Kiri and Rotanakiri. MP Son Chhai said that he used to seek intervention from the government, especially from Va Kimhong's CBAC but has received no positive responses as nothing has been done to stop these encroaching activities of the Vietnamese authorities.

It is claimed that the provincial authorities, especially Deputy Provincial Governor Kev Han--who reportedly crosses back and forth between Cambodia and Vietnam two-three times a week--have been trying to cover up these road bulldozing activities in Mondol Kiri province at this time. This has elicited more suspicion because the local authorities who are aware of such incident should have reported to the specialized department so that the latter would also be aware of what was taking place at the border. However, Kev Han instead has pretended not to know anything while it is reported that he has been making frequent trips to Vietnam but has feigned ignorance of what was going on.

The CBAC chairman said that Cambodia had plans to install the border markers with the Vietnamese side along the borderline in the country's northeast encompassing the provinces of Mondol Kiri and Rotanakiri and this operation at points already agreed upon would be completed by the next dry season.

CBAC Chairman Va Kimhong affirmed that two teams of CBAC technical experts will be dispatched to Rotanakiri and Mondol Kiri provinces in December this year.

“Two teams will go to Mondol Kiri and Rotanakiri. We have set goals for them to achieve. If one team encounters any problem in one place we will change its objectives... and let the other team take over. Besides, what we have already agreed upon we will complete it in the coming dry season,” said Va Kimhong.

In September 2007 the Cambodian and Vietnamese border commissions reached agreement with each other and succeeded in planting five border markers along the border of Rotanakiri opposite the Vietnamese province of Kontum.

Li Sovannara, commander of the border defense battalion of the Rotanakiri provincial forces, confirmed: “We have managed to plant only five markers, No. 17 to 21. On our side these markers are in Andong Meas district and on the Vietnamese side they are in the adjacent province of Kantum.”

The CBAC chairman, however, did not specify how many markers are remaining to be planted or when they are going to be planted between now and the next dry season. However, he affirmed that there were some disagreements that have stalled the process, especially regarding the locations of the border markers at the international border gate in O Ya Dav district, Rotanakiri province, and at Dak Dam in Mondol Kiri province.

Son Chhai, president of the National Assembly's Fifth Commission from the Sam Rainsy Party quota, also affirmed: “We observed that Vietnam was building a road along the border around the clock when we went there in January earlier this year and that this road trespassed upon Cambodia. Because of this we are very worried that the marker planting in these two provinces would be problematic because the planting was made without the participation of the National Assembly's commission and some national media. There is suspicion that the operation might not be correctly carried out.”

Cambodia started planting historic border markers with the Vietnamese side for the first time in September 2006 at the international border gate of Bavet in Svay Rieng province as part of a project to install more than 300 markers along the 1,270-kilometer borderline with Vietnam. So far, according to Son Chhai, only 20 percent of this operation has been done.

[Description of Source: Phnom Penh Samleng Yuveakchon Khmer in Cambodian -- Daily aligned with the Norodom Ranariddh Party, a royalist party founded by ousted FUNCINPEC leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh. It was formerly affiliated with the royalist FUNCINPEC Party.]