Cambodia escorts observer team to disputed border ahead of Thai eviction deadline
Cambodia escorts observer team to disputed area opposite Sa Kaeo ahead of Thailand’s October 10 eviction deadline for Cambodian settlers.
Cambodia on Monday escorted its Interim Observer Team (IOT) to the disputed border area near Ban Nong Chan village in Khok Sung district of Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province, just four days before Thailand’s eviction deadline for Cambodian settlers encroaching on forest land.
The move came after Thailand’s forestry officials and Sa Kaeo provincial authorities installed official notices ordering Cambodian villagers who had settled in forest reserve areas near Ban Nong Chan to prepare relocation plans and leave the area by October 10.
CCTV footage from the Thai side of the barbed-wire boundary line on Monday morning showed Cambodian officers leading the IOT into the Chok Chey area of O’Bei Choan commune in Banteay Meanchey province.
Lt Gen Maly Socheata, spokesperson for Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence, confirmed that the ministry had facilitated the IOT’s field inspection to “observe, verify, and report on the border situation” under the framework of the existing ceasefire agreement.
