Cambodians Clear Landmines, Lose Farms

by Debra Boyce

While he fears being injured by a mine, his most pressing concern is that when the Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC) has completed demining the village and its surrounding farmland, his allotted 2 hectares will be snatched away.

"I'm afraid the military will take it," he said quietly, glancing over at a group of soldiers playing volleyball nearby. "They are very powerful. If they want it, they will take it."

His fears appear well-founded. Amid allegations of financial impropriety and mismanagement swirling around CMAC in recent weeks, the agency has acknowledged that the beneficiaries of its "humanitarian" demining are not always poor Cambodians.

Much of the land is now entangled in ownership disputes, often involving poor farmers and richer, more powerful people.

The situation, say land rights analysts, is partly the fault of CMAC, but also lies in Cambodia's chaotic land titling system that has left up to 90 percent of rural residents without land titles.

In late May, CMAC announced steps that it hopes will stop the land grabs but analysts argue the measures will only work if there is political will.

"This is a problem driven by greed, driven by poverty," says Chea Vannath, whose Center for Social Development has held two public forums in the past six months on land use. "To be solved there needs to be political will at the highest level, a long term commitment and an institutionalized process."

But in recent weeks, Cambodia's largest demining agency has been wracked with allegations of financial and operational mismanagement.

There have been disclosures that not only does the agency not know how exactly much land it has demined, but that ownership of large portions of land has been turned over to private commercial interests.

CMAC officials have estimated that as much as 75 percent of the land it demined in 1998 in Battambang province, where Chum Phean lives, is the focus of a dispute.

For instance, a chili farm in the district where Chum Phean lives was demined by CMAC in 1996. But rather than remaining in the hands of poor farmers, it wound up in the hands of a military officer and was turned into a plantation.

In the case of the chili farm, the land was given to poor farmers who turned around and sold it, says CMAC Director General Sam Sotha. In other cases, he explains, the land is taken by military officials or rich businessmen.

While similar disputes occur in other countries where large-scale demining is going on, one analyst says the extent of problem with CMAC land is a fault of the agency's size and institutional structure.

"It's a complex issue," the analyst says, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But there are fundamental flaws (in CMAC) at certain levels that allow abuses to take place."

Some of the flaws are obvious. Previously, CMAC had no planning or socio-economic departments to determine in every case the beneficiaries before demining started, or track what happened to it, acknowledges Sam Sotha.

Adding to the confusion is Cambodia's muddled land title system.

Decades of war forced people to flee their land, only to be replaced by new families of migrants, leaving several families who feel they have a legitimate claim.

A new land law is being drafted to replace the 1992 one that experts find inadequate.

In the end, CMAC has no control over who gets the land, notes Sam Sotha. Once the land is cleared, it is turned over to the provincial government, which usually lets powerful commune and district chiefs decide who should have it.

Foreign donors agree that CMAC must clear mines for the landless, but say it is up to the government to make sure it goes to the poor.

"Land use is the most important issue (of the controversies) but it is a policy issue for the royal government," says Canadian Ambassador Gordon Longmuir, whose country has given more than $2 million to CMAC and is about to fund the country's most detailed landmine survey to date. "CMAC is not responsible for policing who (the land) goes to."

Other agencies in Cambodia say they avoid the problem by taking a far more active effort in determining the end use of land before they clear it. Several require written or verbal agreements on the end use of the land before demining begins.

Halo Trust, a British demining organization operating in Cambodia since 1991, first talks with villagers and local officials and makes sure every one agrees on how the land will be used, says program manager Paul Heslop.

"If it looks like the land is not going to be used for the purposes initially agreed up, we will pack up and leave," he says. "We have a big stick and are not afraid to use it."

Of the 5 million sq meters of land his organization has cleared, less than 1 percent has been grabbed by the military or speculators, he estimates.

Heslop acknowledges that Halo Trust clears smaller areas of land than CMAC, but says community involvement and proper planning prior to demining can ensure disputes and land grabbing are avoided later.

In an attempt to stop the disputes, CMAC last month handed nearly 300 hectares of land for more than 600 families in Battambang province to a committee of provincial and district officials.

Within CMAC, a new planning department set up in January is also to check on who is living on demined land, says Sam Sotha.

But "you don't just hold a ceremony and the problem disappears," says Chea Vannath. "If many levels are not involved, including the top, it will never end. It will remain a battle between the rich and poor."