"Lao villagers told to vacate their farms by month’s end", 25 August 2022

About 100 families from two villages in Champassak province in southern Laos were forced to give up 190 hectares (470 acres) of farmland to a company that will build a cassava processing plant after Lao soldiers threatened them if they did not comply, a local said.

The families from Phialat and Khanlai villages in Bachieng Chareunsouk district said AIDC Trading Company, Ltd., offered them much less than what their rice fields are worth after Lao soldiers fenced off the territory on June 9. The soldiers later erected a sign saying that the company had been granted a concession to build the plant, and that residents should stop planting rice and move out before construction began in September.

This project is a joint investment between Lao-owned AIDC Trading and the Champassak Army Corps, and is supported by the country’s Ministry of National Defense. The parties signed an agreement for the project on Feb. 17.

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A company official told RFA that the concession for building a cassava processing plant on land from the two villages was granted based on Lao government laws and regulations for development projects that create jobs and income for communities.

The official, who declined to give his name, said the company was not aware of any requests from the villagers for more compensation, but that if there was a problem, the government would have to deal with it.

“We operate according to rules and regulations,” he said. “We follow the state guidelines, so whatever they [the government] want us to do, we do it.”

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