PHNOM PENH — 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 so-called “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.

But “every day, I dream of going back home”, said Keo Sotheary, 39, from her roadside cosmetics stall.

Her family had lived in the border village of Boeung Trakuon, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) away, since 1992 but she has not been back since fleeing the fighting on December 8.

“Thais took my home. I don’t want to speak about it. When I speak about it, I cannot hold back my tears,” she said.

Fighting erupted in July 2025 over a long-standing border dispute and flared again in December, before a ceasefire was agreed.

Most of the displaced have gone home, but more than 20,000 Cambodians cannot return because Thai soldiers control where they used to live.

Bangkok says it has merely reclaimed Thai land that Cambodians had been occupying for years.