Cambodia Suspends China Dam Project to Silence Opposition + Cambodia’s Hun Sen Defends Deportation

[geovalin]

Cambodia Suspends China Dam Project to Silence Opposition
Move comes a day after the controversial deportation of a Spanish anti-dam activist.

By Prashanth Parameswaran

The construction of a controversial, Chinese-backed mega-dam in southwestern Cambodia will not start until at least 2018, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday in a bid to stem growing opposition to the project according to The Associated Press.

“From now until 2018, there will be no permission to build (the dam),” said Hun Sen, whose mandate as prime minister ends in 2018. “Now I beg you to stop talking about it.”

While reports had surfaced before about the project’s suspension, Hun Sen’s statement provides public confirmation that no decision will be made on whether to proceed with the project until 2018, when the country is scheduled to hold its next national election.

Hun Sen’s comments came a day after Spanish activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, who had campaigned against the Chinese-backed Chhay Areng hydropower dam in Koh Kong province, was deported following the government’s refusal to renew his visa. The decision marked the first time a foreign NGO worker was prevented from entering the country in a decade.

Gonzalez-Davidson, the co-founder of the NGO Mother Nature, is a fierce critic of the project, which has also sparked concerns among the country’s opposition and local environmental organizations. Activists have warned that the 108-megawatt, $400 million dam project, which is to be built by China’s Sinohydro Corporation, would destroy one of Southeast Asia’s last great wilderness areas by clearing protected forest areas, displacing thousands of people, and threatening the breeding sites of dozens of endangered species.

Opposition politicians and local rights groups had been trying over the past week to get the government to reverse its decision not to renew Gonzalez-Davidson’s visa, with opposition leaders even appealing to Cambodia’s king, Norodom Sihamoni. But the efforts fell short, with the government alleging that Gonzalez-Davidson had abused his NGO’s status last year when he set up road blocks that prevented local authorities from traveling in the district and failing to renew his visa, which led to his eventual deportation.

According to The Cambodia Daily, his NGO Mother Nature released a sharply-worded statement “deploring” its director’s arrest and accusing the government of not granting him the 37-day grace period Gonzalez-Davidson had by law after his visa expiry.

“This sends a powerful message to the international community that all foreigners working in Cambodia risk denial of visa or the threat of deportation for criticism of the government,” Mother Nature said. “It sets a dangerous precedent which further erodes Cambodia’s already shaky democratic freedoms.”

The group vowed to continue fighting against the project.

“Even without Alex we will continue to fight the Areng dam and call upon all nature activists in Cambodia and internationally to join our struggle,” the statement said.

http://thediplomat.com/2015/02/cambodia-suspends-china-dam-project-to-silence-opposition/

++++++++++++++++++++

Cambodia’s Hun Sen Defends Deportation of Spanish Activist

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday defended his government’s decision to deport a Spanish environmentalist who had led a campaign against a controversial dam project, though he reiterated a pledge that the dam would not be built under his watch.

Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, director of the NGO Mother Nature Cambodia, was put on a plane to Thailand Monday night—three days after his visa had expired—and placed on a black list that may prevent his return to the country, despite appeals from opposition politicians and civil society.

Speaking during an event to mark Clean Cities Day, Hun Sen criticized the Spanish activist for setting up road blocks with local villagers that prevented officials from traveling in Koh Kong province, where the Chhay Areng hydropower dam project is located.

“It was too much—he dared to detain government officials from conducting impact studies,” Hun Sen said, comparing the incident to an act of insurrection by Gonzalez-Davidson and Mother Nature.

“If you want to establish an autonomous zone, please go ahead. I will deploy BM21 [rocket launchers]. I will attack you because we just upgraded to new versions of BM21s.”

Gonzalez-Davidson told RFA at the time that villagers set up the road block after receiving information Chinese experts and officials were traveling to the province to conduct studies on the impact of the dam, adding they did not believe the studies would be conducted fairly.

Hun Sen on Tuesday also reiterated a promise he made to opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) President Sam Rainsy in October last year that he would let a “younger generation” of leaders decide on the fate of the Chhay Areng dam.

“Regardless of any studies conducted from now until [my term ends in] 2018, there will be no dam construction,” he said of the U.S. $400 million project, to be built by Chinese construction and engineering giant Sinohydro Corporation.

“I don’t want to see the younger generation deal with problems from the dam. I want to inform you that I am mindful of the difference between economic benefits and environmental impacts.”

The prime minister called for further impact studies of the dam project and pledged to preserve the Areng Valley in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains, where the dam site is located.

The 108-megawatt dam is backed by ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) lawmaker Lao Meng Khin and his wife, who have evicted thousands of families from land around the country.

Gonzalez-Davidson’s supporters in the Cambodia NGO community say the dam would force more than 300 ethnic minority families off of their ancestral land and would destroy the habitat of endangered animals.

Ongoing campaign

Mother Nature coordinator Meng Heng told RFA’s Khmer Service that Cambodia’s youth would continue the fight to protect the Areng Valley, with or without Gonzalez-Davidson.

“For environmentalists, Hun Sen’s speech [about protecting Cambodia’s natural resources] is a kind of encouragement, but we will continue to preserve Areng because we want keep that area for the younger generations,” he said.

Speaking from Thailand, Gonzalez-Davidson welcomed Hun Sen’s pledge to protect Areng and hold off construction of the dam “if what he said was genuine,” but expressed doubt the central government could control local authorities who regularly benefit from companies that exploit natural resources.

He also expressed concerns about the staff of Mother Nature who he said face risks operating inside Cambodia.

“I am very concerned for their safety,” he told RFA, adding that he had been unjustly deported, and promising to return “soon, because Cambodia is my country.”

“This was a big mistake by the government—I am not a traitor or a drug lord. I love Cambodians and was helping to protect the forest from destruction,” he said.

“The government’s move to deport me will affect its reputation.”

In the meantime, he said, he would continue to work remotely with the youth of Areng to protect the area, adding that his presence in Cambodia was less important than the continuation of Mother Nature’s work.

Call for protection

Also on Tuesday, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) released a statement calling on the government to ensure the protection of the country’s rights campaigners and environmental activists, in light of Gonzalez-Davidson’s deportation.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia must ensure that human rights and environmental activists are able to carry out their work free from threats, acts of intimidation or attacks, and that the arrest of Gonzalez-Davidson is not used as a pretext to pressure local communities in the Areng Valley over the construction of the Chhay Areng dam,” the group said.

“CCHR reiterates that the Cambodian Constitution and binding international treaties to which Cambodia is a party, guarantee the right to freedom of expression … as well as the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.”

The group said the government’s decision not to renew Gonzalez-Davidson’s visa was “widely seen as a retaliatory measure” following Mother Nature’s campaign against the construction of the Chhay Areng hydropower dam.

It expressed concern that other members of Mother Nature based in Koh Kong will be “subjected to close control by the authorities, and that their actions could be arbitrarily restricted.”

Reported by Tep Soravy for RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/deportation-02242015163334.html

[geovalin]

‘Don’t talk about Areng’

Wed, 25 February 2015

May Titthara

Prime Minister Hun Sen for the first time yesterday publicly announced that construction of the Areng Valley dam would not go ahead in this mandate, issuing the promise in a speech that sought to curb the outpouring of criticism over the abrupt deportation of anti-dam activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson.

The premier yesterday said that the valley – home to one of the Kingdom’s most unspoiled forests, and a hotbed of biodiversity – should be left to younger generations.

However, he was also steadfast in his support for the continuation of controversial assessments of the dam site, admonishing critics to drop the matter; then, in the same breath, he expressed doubt that the project should ever move forward.

“I would like to say do not talk about the Areng Valley anymore,” he said. “Study it more clearly; and I think even if we study it clearly until 2018, we cannot develop it. And in my opinion, I want to leave it for the next generation.”

While opposition leader Sam Rainsy announced in October he had received the prime minister’s word the dam would not move ahead this mandate, yesterday’s announcement was the first from Hun Sen himself.

Hun Sen also took the opportunity yesterday to defend his decision to deport Gonzalez-Davidson, saying the deportation was a matter of law, not an attempt to score a political victory.

He accused the Spaniard of inciting Cambodians to block a group intent on assessing the environmental impact of the dam, and called on Cambodians to redirect their love of the Khmer-speaking activist – who has achieved a measure of celebrity for his opposition to the dam – towards the Areng itself.

“We do not want to win or to lose, but the law is the law, the state is the state, sovereignty is sovereignty,” he said, adding that input from Western-based activists was not particularly welcome. “They logged all the timber in Europe for development and then they advise Asia? We accept recommendations, but not too extreme.”

In an apparent joke, the premier also threatened to deploy heavy weapons to the area if activists there attempted to form an “autonomous zone”.

“If you want to make an autonomous zone [in Areng], please come, and we will put BM21 [multiple-rocket launcher vehicles] in that area, but I don’t accuse them seriously like that,” Hun Sen said.

The joke, however, had ominous undertones, given that claims of “autonomous zones” have precipitated tragedy in the past. In 2012, land disputants in Kratie province’s Pro Ma village were accused of a “secessionist” plot, and evicted from their homes in a swift and violent military operation that saw a teenage girl shot to death by security forces.

Despite the seeming ambivalence towards the Areng dam in yesterday’s speech, in a letter sent to National Assembly President Heng Samrin last month, Hun Sen stressed the importance of weighing the benefits of development against conservation, even suggesting that “hydropower would become a participant to help preserve and maintain the remaining forest”.

Gonzalez-Davidson, speaking from an undisclosed location yesterday, said that the premier’s speech presented something of a mixed bag.

“Hun Sen’s statement is the first time he has verbally mentioned Areng dam himself, which might open up new possibilities,” he told the Post. “It is possible that he is trying to give a stick (my deportation) to civil society/opposition party, and a carrot (the alleged cancellation of the Areng dam) to the Cambodian people. The problem is that, as we have seen in Cambodia time and again in the last few years, ‘research’ and feasibility studies are just an excuse for district/provincial elements of the ‘government’ to make money out of mining, logging, et cetera.”

Sin Samnang, another member of Mother Nature, said yesterday that the residents of the Areng Valley also held mixed feelings about the address, welcoming the premier’s promise to halt construction, while at the same time expressing concern over continued studies, and the return of representatives of the dam’s Chinese builder, Sinohydro.

Independent analyst Ou Virak, however, said that yesterday’s speech could represent a genuine about-face on the part of the premier, an attempt to win populist points after being chastened by an election that saw his party – campaigning exclusively on his popularity – endure huge losses.

“I think he could be changing course. He’s been saying some things before the deportation of Alex as well,” Virak said. “I don’t know, but I strangely believe him this time.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KEVIN PONNIAH AND STUART WHITE

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/dont-talk-about-areng

[geovalin]

‘I will come back,’ says deported activist

Wed, 25 February 2015

Sean Teehan and Kevin Ponniah

Referring to Cambodia as “my country”, Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, a vocal environmental activist and Spanish national who was deported Monday, yesterday vowed to return and continue his struggle to save the Areng Valley.

“I am a Cambodian and I have been illegally exiled from my country for speaking the truth and defending our country’s natural resources,” the anti-dam activist told the Post in a Facebook message from an undisclosed location. “I will come back, that is for sure. The only thing I don’t know for sure is when.”

Gonzalez-Davidson, co-foun­der of NGO Mother Nature and a beloved figure among Cambodian environmentalists, was put on a plane to Spain via Bangkok on Monday night, after the government arrested him after first refusing to renew his visa.

While his spirits are low following his banishment, Gonzalez-Davidson said the struggle to stop a proposed Chinese-built dam in Koh Kong’s Areng Valley will continue.

“There is nothing stopping us from doing more videos and informing the Cambodian people that their ‘government’ is basically forcing our country to commit ecological suicide,” Gonzalez-Davidson said, referring to the planned Cheay Areng dam.

Social media reaction to the deportation has been sharp and abundant among his supporters, who shared reports of his arrest on Facebook thousands of times.

If Gonzalez-Davidson’s deportation was intended to end the debate on the Areng dam, it may have had the opposite effect, with numerous strongly worded comments calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Comments such as “Come on all Khmer people we must get up to stop stupid Hun Sen [from] deport[ing] Alex please,” and “[Hun Sen] should be ousted out of his position by force. Cambodia country don’t need this kind of leadership” appeared on Facebook, below a Post story of Gonzalez-Davidson’s detention on Monday.

Other commenters weighed in on Mother Nature’s Facebook page with messages ranging from sorrow at his departure, to calls for further action.

“Thank you ALEX we miss you already please don’t give up on Cambodia,” one posted.

Another, called on Cambodians to sign on to a petition lobbying the International Criminal Court to take action against Hun Sen.

“Stop Crying for Alex or Khmer homeless or our Motherland! Just sign the damn ICC petition, We need only 500, 000 signatures to freeze Hun Sen and his tycoon families!!!” the poster said.

The online outcry comes about six months after a working group drafting a cybercrime law met to consider how Cambodia could “correct immoral wording on the internet”.

While the government is monitoring comments on social media, there are no current plans to penalise anyone for making inflammatory statements against government figures, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday.

“We will not react to anything,” Siphan said, while adding that inciting actual crimes could result in legal action.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/i-will-come-back-says-deported-activist