Cambodians displaced by border conflict start over, but most want to go home

Students carry donations in a "waiting village" in Svay Chek district in Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia, on Aug. 24. | AFP-JIJI

Sep 4, 2026

BANTEAY MEANCHEY, CAMBODIA – More than 3,000 new identical houses rise in a grid formation from a Cambodian plain not far from the Thai border, but most of the residents, displaced by conflict, just want to return home.

The government built the “waiting village” for Cambodian families forced to flee last year’s deadly border clashes with Thailand.

After months in tents in the grounds of Buddhist temples, residents say the white stilted houses with their cheerful green zinc roofs, surrounded by a small patch of land to grow vegetables, are a marked improvement.

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