(Banteay Meanchey): Prey Chan and Chouk Chey villages are Cambodian settlements located in Ou Beichoan Commune, Ou Chrov District, Banteay Meanchey Province, adjacent to Ban Nong Ya Kaew and Ban Nong Chan villages of Khok Sung District, Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand, along the Cambodian-Thai border.

Cambodian people have been living in Prey Chan and Chouk Chey for around four decades, since the 1980s, during the civil war period. This area served as a refuge for Cambodians escaping the horrors of war. Over the years, the population in both villages has steadily increased. According to Banteay Meanchey Governor Um Reatrey, Prey Chan currently has 255 families (737 people), while Chouk Chey has 735 families (2,550 people).

The 1980s marked one of the most tumultuous periods in Cambodia’s history following the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 by the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, composed mainly of members of the Cambodian People’s Party. After the regime’s collapse, Pol Pot’s remaining forces fled to the border areas and joined movements led by Samdech Norodom Sihanouk and Son Sann to wage guerrilla warfare against the Phnom Penh government in an attempt to regain power.

These border conflicts and political struggles forced many Cambodians to flee and settle along the border, eventually forming new villages, including Prey Chan and Chouk Chey. Beyond being places of refuge, these villages also served as strong defensive zones during wartime. The area remains littered with landmines and unexploded ordnance.

After the signing of the Paris Peace Agreements on 23 October 1991, residents who had fled to these areas chose not to leave and continued to live there until today.

Over the years, villagers of Prey Chan and Chouk Chey have endured the lingering impacts of war such as landmines, poverty, and hardship. Some have suffered severe injuries and disabilities caused by mines and unexploded ordnance. Following the peace agreement, Cambodian authorities conducted demining operations and allocated safe land for people to live and farm, although some areas remain uncleared to this day.

From the time they fled the civil war, lived in refugee camps, witnessed the end of the war on 29 December 1998 under Samdech Techo Hun Sen’s Win-Win Policy, these villagers who living along the Cambodian-Thai border have shown extraordinary resilience, overcoming hunger, bombings, and the constant threat of landmines.

For nearly three decades after the complete end of war, the villagers of Prey Chan and Chouk Chey, as well as others in Banteay Meanchey’s border areas, have worked tirelessly to rebuild their lives, rise from past suffering, and develop their communities.

However, in recent months, their old wounds have been reopened. Since 12–13 August 2025, the Thai military has encroached upon Cambodian territory, erecting barbed wire fences around villagers’ homes and farmland, acts reminiscent of reopening long-healed scars.

In addition to physical encroachment, the Thai side has reportedly engaged in intimidation and psychological warfare, including the broadcasting of disturbing sounds at night, in an attempt to force Cambodian villagers to abandon Prey Chan and Chouk Chey.

Despite these pressures, the people of Prey Chan and Chouk Chey have remained steadfast, standing firm to protect their homes and ancestral land. They have refused to flee or surrender.

Through decades of struggle, from surviving war to enduring recent provocations, the villagers of Prey Chan and Chouk Chey have come to embody the true spirit of resilience, patience, and unyielding courage. Their determination stands as a powerful symbol that no force or aggression can drive them away from the homes and villages they have built with hardship and devotion.
=FRESH NEWS