Cambodia displaced families start over near Thai border

Cambodian families displaced by last year's border clashes with Thailand are trying to rebuild their lives in new government-built villages near the frontier, but many say they still want to return home.

More than 3,000 identical houses have been built in one settlement in Banteay Meanchey province for families who fled the fighting. Residents had previously spent months in tents in the grounds of Buddhist temples.

The houses have green zinc roofs and small plots of land where residents can grow vegetables. Shops, cafes, salons, schools and a health centre have opened as families try to create a new community.

Keo Sotheary, 39, said she fled the village of Boeung Trakuon on December 8 and has not been back. “Every day, I dream of going back home,” she told AFP.

Fighting erupted in July 2025 over a long-running border dispute and flared again in December before a ceasefire was agreed. Most displaced people have returned home, but more than 20,000 Cambodians cannot go back because Thai soldiers control the areas where they used to live.

Bangkok says it has reclaimed Thai land that Cambodians had occupied for years. The Thai foreign ministry told AFP that some people who had been welcomed to border areas after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime did not return to Cambodia despite repeated Thai protests.

AFP journalists who visited the area last month saw the road to Boeung Trakuon blocked by shipping containers and barbed wire installed by Thai forces. In nearby disputed villages, they observed damaged houses and abandoned toys. In Chouk Chey, an 80 mm rocket was still stuck in a road.

Rights group Licadho said Thai forces destroyed more than 600 homes and other structures in Chouk Chey, Boeung Trakuon and Prey Chan after the ceasefire, citing satellite imagery from March. Bangkok insists the area is Thai.

Six new villages have been built on land donated by Cambodia's former commander-in-chief, Ke Kim Yan. Local officials said the government subsidises electricity and water and provides free school meals. Former Cambodian leader Hun Sen said during a June visit that residents would receive land titles for the properties.

Some residents are earning money from small businesses, but others said the isolated farmland location makes trade difficult. “If they can resolve the problems, we will go back,” said Kun Sytha, who left Chouk Chey after her family's home was cleared by the Thai army. “If not, we don't know what to do.”