They Are Ready to Go Home — But the Containers Are Still There

BANTEAY MEANCHEY, Cambodia, Jan 13, 2026 (KPT) — The bombs have stopped falling and a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand has held for weeks. But for thousands of Cambodian families along the border, home remains out of reach — not because of gunfire, but because of shipping containers and barbed wire.

Across O Chrov district, some villages are sealed behind steel barriers placed by Thai troops, preventing civilians from returning to their houses, farmland and livelihoods.

“We are ready to go home,” said Pen Rithy, a resident of Chouk Chey village. “But they will not let us enter. The village is surrounded. If anyone tries to go near it, they point weapons. They will shoot.”

Rithy said families who once farmed rice and lived in peace are now sheltering in pagodas and temporary camps. “We have lost everything,” he said. “Our homes, our land, our village — all taken.”

Villages sealed after ceasefire

Chouk Chey is one of at least three Cambodian villages — along with Prey Chan and Boeung Trakuon — that residents say are blocked by shipping containers and barbed wire across access roads, despite the ceasefire signed on December 27.

Local authorities say more than 700 houses in Chouk Chey alone are cut off, while over 1,000 families from Chouk Chey and Prey Chan remain displaced.

Keo Sengly, sheltering at Chansy Pagoda, said her family has nowhere else to go. “I have lived there since I was a child,” she said. “That land is my only home. Now it is fenced, surrounded, and destroyed.”

In Boeung Trakuon, displaced resident Heng Bo said the pain of losing his village is hard to describe. “I cannot even find words,” he said. “All I want is to go back.”

A ceasefire without return

According to Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior, more than 480,000 displaced people have returned home, but nearly 160,000 — including 51,997 children and 83,249 women — remain in camps nationwide, many unable to return because their villages are blocked.

The government has reaffirmed it will not recognize any changes to its frontier with Thailand resulting from force.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia does not recognize any changes to the boundary line resulting from the use of force,” spokesman Pen Bona said, citing historical treaties and boundary commissions. He added that unilateral placement of containers, wire or flags does not constitute legal recognition of the border.

Waiting behind the wire

For families still in camps, the wait continues — not for peace, but for access.

Behind the steel containers and coils of barbed wire, Cambodian villages remain frozen in time: houses standing, fields waiting to be planted, families ready to return — but locked out of their own land.