Cambodia pledges land to thousands made homeless by developer

Cambodia has set aside prime land in the capital Phnom Penh for thousands of people forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for a Chinese development project, the Phnom Penh regime said yesterday.

The World Bank, which has lent Cambodia up to $70 million (42.5m) annually over the past few years, said last week it had halted loans to the country in protest over land seizures around Boeung Kak Lake, where a Chinese developer is building luxury homes. About 15,000 people have been evicted from their homes while some 3,500 remain in the area.

Land seizures that lead to evictions and homelessness have become one of the most serious human rights issues in Cambodia, where property deeds and other legal documents were destroyed under the Communist Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s.