Ghosts in the Forest revisited: new book

[geovalin]

Brent Crane

A new book by US journalist Corinne Purtill catches up with a group of forgotten Ratanakkiri refugees who spent 15 years in remote forest unaware that the civil war was over

In 2004, 34 Cambodian men, women and children emerged from a Lao forest on the Cambodian border, seeking political asylum. The group wore loincloths made of tree bark, their hair and nails trimmed with dull machetes.

Having fled one of the Khmer Rouge’s last remaining camps in Ratanakkiri province in 1989, they had survived alone, deep in the wilderness, never realising the civil war had ended.

Then, after 15 years in wild isolation, in constant fear of ambush by the Vietnamese soldiers they believed were pursuing them, they were faced with a fresh challenge: readjustment back into society.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/ghosts-forest-revisited