Cambodians again refugees at home

Cambodians again refugees at home

By Gary Way

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (AFP): Three years ago, 37-year-old Ly Sameth was called a "refugee."

He was repatriated by the United Nations after the signing of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords along with 360,000 of his fellow Cambodians, promised safety and offered the chance of a new life.

But since then, very little has changed for Ly Sameth. Save the bureaucratic fact that he is no longer a "refugee," he is now called an "internally displaced person (IDP)."

He is one of the estimated 120,000 Cambodians who have fled their villages ahead of fighting and famine more than two years after the UN-sponsored elections that were supposed to bring peace and prosperity to a country devastated by 25 years of civil war.

Ly Sameth's story is similar to that of many sheltering on roadsides near major towns and cities in Cambodia's northwest provinces of Battambang and Banteay Meanchey where fighting between the government and Khmer Rouge guerrillas is the most intense.

Forced by the Khmer Rouge to work on the construction of a massive reservoir during their 1975 to 1979 reign of terror, Ly Sameth fled to Thailand in 1980 after the Maoist group was overthrown by the Vietnamese and famine hit the country.

Repatriated in February 1993, he returned to his former home south of Battambang, in Treng along National Route 10, hoping to start a new life. Since then he has been forced to flee his home five times ahead of advancing Khmer Rouge forces. Each time he lost all of his possessions.

He now lives with his family of six and other members of his commune under a blue tarpaulin on the dusty roadside about 16 kilometers (ten miles) from the front line.

"We had to leave, because if the Khmer Rouge saw us they would take us away, maybe they would kill us," he said, adding that he and others would not return until the army told them it was safe.

They fled at midnight to avoid being spotted by the Khmer Rouge. Ly Sameth is worried about the cattle and chickens they had to leave behind, and about his peanut crop -- his only income -- which he thinks will be destroyed by rampaging soldiers.

To support his family, Ly Sameth is hoping to join a food-for- work program, a scheme under which the internally displaced are encouraged to work on agricultural infrastructure projects, such as irrigation canals and community fish ponds, in return for rice.

But programs such as these do not allay the fear in camps and villages caused by repeated Khmer Rouge terror raids.

Recently, after continued harassment, some of the estimated 12,000 internally displaced people in central Kampong Thom province attacked a nearby Khmer Rouge regiment, beheading its commander and parading the head around the resettlement sites.

"These people have had enough, they finally found a place to live in peace and after repeated intimidation by the Khmer Rouge they formed a militia with the help of the military to deal with the problem," said Martyn Jordan, a de-miner working in Kampong Thom, who witnessed the parading of the head.

"As yet, there have been no repercussions (from the Khmer Rouge)," he said.

For the internally displaced living in Cambodia's northwest where the Khmer Rouge are still a powerful force though, such a show of vengeance would almost certainly result in retaliation. And it is there that the IDP population is highest.

Fighting over the past several weeks has driven an additional 35,000 people from their homes and the numbers continue to rise, according to government officials and aid agencies working in the region.

As the fighting shows little sign of abating, Ly Sameth and other former refugees appear to be facing a long wait for the peace that was promised them two years ago.