PHNOM PENH
By Lauren Crothers
Eleven people were arrested in Cambodia’s Koh Kong province on Monday after they tried to prevent local authorities from accessing the site of a highly controversial dam project.
Chhoun Chhundy, a program manager for the Cambodian Legal Education Center, told the Anadolu Agency that the group included representatives from the environmental NGO Mother Nature, which has been actively campaigning against the construction of the dam.
“Eleven people were arrested from Mother Nature and a youth group, including one community representative,” Chhundy said.
“They prevented the authorities from going into the area, because they are afraid the company will do some research…on building the hydropower dam on the Areng Valley. They prevented them, and the arrest happened.”
Chhundy said he was unaware of any charges being laid, but that Mother Nature co-founder, Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, had been taken to the Koh Kong provincial police station for further questioning.
Gonzalez-Davidson could not be reached on Monday.
The 108-megawatt Stung Chhay Areng hydropower dam project is to be built by a Chinese company called Sinohydro. But villagers and members from the Chong ethnic minority group say that construction would flood 20,000 hectares of forests and ancestral lands and displace at least 1,500 people.
In June, The Cambodia Daily reported that villagers were gifted with packages of shrimp paste and MSG during a meeting with local officials, who told them of plans to have people relocated to another area.
Since March, Chong community members—with the support of Mother Nature—have been manning a barricade to stop Sinohydro equipment from being taken in to the site, as well as stopping company engineers from gaining access.
However, the noose has been tightened over the past few months. In June, the Daily reported that the army created a new, 30-man platoon based about 10 kilometers from the site, which indigenous villagers said was a tactic to try and intimidate them.
www.aa.com.tr/en
