The First Army Region has sent a letter to the commander of Cambodia’s Military Region 5, requesting an evacuation plan for Cambodian civilians living in three border communities in Sa Kaeo province by Tuesday.
The areas listed are Ban Nong Chan and Ban Nong Ya Kaeo in Khok Sung district and Ban Ta Phraya in Ta Phraya district. The letter was signed by Lt Gen Worayot Luengsuwan, commander of the First Army Region.
The First Army Region demands the evacuation plan be submitted by Oct 7 and be presented to a Regional Border Committee meeting on for Oct 10-12 in Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province.
The meeting is being prepared by Cambodia’s Military Region 5.
Lt Gen Worayot, in the letter, said the First Army Region will attend the meeting only if Cambodia’s Military Region 5 accepts these conditions.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suchart Chomklin said the land near Ban Nong Chan, once the site of a camp for Cambodian refugees fleeing a civil war, belongs to the Royal Forest Department.
So, the department has been instructed to file criminal complaints against Cambodian encroachers to protect the state’s claim under the Forest Act, he said.
He said the forest land cannot be unlawfully occupied by anyone, regardless of nationality, and warned martial law is in effect, and the security forces are responsible for enforcing it. “We must absolutely take back our territory. We will not give in on this,” he said.