Troubled road project along Lao-Cambodian border rolls on
Work by military engineers on a contentious road skirting Cambodia’s border with Laos – which has prompted a military stand-off in the area – has quietly resumed, local officials say, even as run-ins between Cambodian and Lao military patrols in the disputed area have further heightened tensions. For about 40 kilometres, the Sekong River forms a natural barrier between the two countries, but according to two officers posted to the area, Lao forces have hung signs from trees south of the river urging a halt to construction and warning “This is Laos”. Cambodia, however, strongly disagrees. Returning on Saturday from the disputed area, Meas Chan, a captain in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces’ Engineering Unit 701, said his squad had been providing protection for troops checking for landmines and clearing forest to make way for the road along the south of the Sekong in the northern tip of Stung Treng’s Siem Pang district.
