Good news on our eviction! We were able to contact the UN and they came down to help the community organise themselves to make an appeal. It is prime real estate and there is an anonymous corporate buyer who has offered the government several million for the land.
Everyone in the slum agreed that the land swap deal being offered by the government was a ruse, so they asked for financial compensation instead.
Yesterday we heard that the government has offered a fair price to each home owner. So with mixed feelings it looks like we all may be out of there within a couple of months. No idea how much profit is going into government pockets but we are happy that our neighbours will get something.
(Craig Greenfield, Phnom Phen, July 2005)