Cambodia, U.S. to sign trade, agriculture, industry deal

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) — Cambodia and the United States will sign a trade, agriculture and industry deal on Sept. 15 when the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte visits here on Sept. 14-16, a senior official said Wednesday.

Negroponte’s visit will make the two countries move a step forward for bilateral ties, said Sok An, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Council of Ministers.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Negroponte will preside over the signing ceremony of a grant aid project for 24 million U.S. dollars in health sector, he said, adding that the fund of the health project will be operated by NGOs but monitored by the Cambodian government.

During his trip, Negroponte will meet with government officials, opposition leaders and representatives of Cambodia’s civil society, a press release from the U.S. embassy said earlier this week.

As the centerpiece of the visit, the deputy secretary of state plans to meet with Hun Sen, it said.

Cambodia’s apparel exports to the U.S. totaled 1.16 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of the year, up from 1.13 billion U.S. dollars in the same period of 2007, according to official statistics.

Editor: yan

US plans to pledge funds for KRouge court

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The United States will give its first donation to Cambodia’s cash-strapped Khmer Rouge genocide trial as soon as the UN-backed court resolves corruption allegations, the US ambassador said Monday.

The tribunal faces a funding shortfall of more than 40 million dollars. Officials travelled to New York in June to petition UN members for more funds.

“ The United States government is right now on the threshold of making its decision to directly fund the tribunal,” outgoing Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli told reporters at his farewell press conference at the US embassy.

“ I think in Washington now everyone is very much looking forward to finding funding to help directly assist the tribunal if we can just work this last thing out,” he said.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal this month launched a new ethics monitor to grapple with ongoing claims of corruption within the court after the UN Development Programme made fresh allegations of kickbacks on the Cambodian side of the court, forcing international donors to withhold funding for July.

International backers have appeared hesitant to pledge more money to the process after earlier allegations of political interference and mismanagement, including that Cambodian staff paid money in exchange for their jobs.

But tribunal officials have said the allegations last year were “ unspecific, unsourced and unsubstantiated.”

The court is preparing for its first trial against Kaing Guek Eav, better known as “ Duch,” who ran a notorious torture centre in Phnom Penh.

He is expected in the dock in October, once the court has dealt with the prosecution’s appeal of his indictment, which it said failed to present a “ full and truthful account” of his crimes.

In all, five top Khmer Rouge leaders are now facing charges before the tribunal for crimes committed by the regime.

Up to two million people died of starvation, overwork and execution as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-1979 rule.

Justice for Slain Journalist: US Congressman

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer Original report from Washington

Khmer audio aired 08 August 2008 (1.11 MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 08 August 2008 (1.11 MB) - Listen (MP3)

A US congressman warned this week the killers of opposition journalist Khim Sambor should be brought to justice.

“ Whoever killed him needs to be held accountable,” said Representative Christopher Smith, a Republican. If those who did the killing were under instruction from an official, “ that individual needs to be held accountable as well.”

Kim Sambor was gunned down with his son on a Phnom Penh street July 11, two weeks ahead of national elections. No one has been arrested in the murder, which opposition reporters said created a chilling effect on their coverage of the government and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

The Cambodian people should not have to tolerate such unresolved murders, Smith said, calling on Prime Minister Hun Sen to “ do everything to cooperate” and go “ wherever” the investigation leads.

The US said earlier this week the FBI had been asked to help investigate the murder.

Smith, who works closely with human rights issues, said public officials should be open to criticism, “ because that’s how you hold them accountable.”

“ I don’t like it when I am criticized, but I know it’s part of a larger and very important principle,” he said.

Twelve journalists have been killed in Cambodia since 1994, but no suspects have been arrested in the crimes.

Source: VoA Khmer

Cambodia starts squabble over second temple

(BangkokPost.com, Agencies) – Cambodia on Sunday escalated the border dispute over the Preah Vihear temple, accusing Thai troops of “ occupying” a temple far to the west, long considered a totally different matter.

About 70 Thais have been at the 13th Century Ta Muen Thom temple complex in Surin province “ since Thursday” , a Cambodian spokesman in Phnom Penh claimed.

But Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag said no troops have moved into the area.

Cambodia and spokesman Sim Sokha appeared to be linking the Preah Vihear and Ta Muen Thom disputes. Although both are in border areas, they are not connected in either distant or recent history – until now.

On the ground, military commanders were more relaxed and there was no apparent tension at the site.

“ We have a paramilitary post which has been there for several years,” said Thai Army Maj Gen Sujit Sithiprabha, commander for the Cambodian border. “ Ta Muen Thom belongs to us. We have to have soldiers to take care of the area which belongs to us.”

Var Kimhong, chairman of the Cambodia Border Committee, told the AFP news agency that Thai soldiers were stationed in the ruin, but said this was “ not a new thing” .

“ Ta Muen is in our territory, but since 1998 Thailand took a chance to occupy it by claiming that they came to conserve it.”

Ta Muen Thom is a temple from the height of the Khmer empire, and part of the outlying Angkor Wat complex opposite Thailand’s northeast, or Isan region.

An Associated Press report from Cambodia on Sunday quoted Chuch Phoeun of the Cambodian Ministry of Culture as saying it was built in the 13th century as a rest house along a road linking the ancient Angkor city with what is now northeastern Thailand.

Ta Muen Thom is in a so-called “ white zone” under dispute by the neighbouring countries, where Surin abuts the border of Cambodia`s Oddar Meanchey.

Cambodian authorities appear to be stepping up nationalist sentiment, despite earlier predictions they would try to cool the Preah Vihear and other border disputes following last week’s general election, won handily by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Thai merchants and diplomats were forced to call off two planned exhibitions and sales of Thai fruit and other goods this week. Expo officials cited growing anti-Thai sentiment in Cambodia.

Last week Hun Sen’s wife hosted a huge Preah Vihear temple ritual, seen by some as a major provocation, after Mr Tej and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong negotiated a troop pullback at the disputed temple grounds.

In Phnom Penh on Sunday, Maj Sim Sokha, a Cambodian border-protection officer, claimed that Thai soldiers have been deployed in an 80-yard radius around the Ta Muen Thom temple grounds and have prevented Cambodian troops from entering. About 40 Cambodian soldiers are in close proximity to the Thai troops, he said.

Mr Tej denied there had been any troop movements by either side at the Surin province border site.

Sim Sokha said Thai troops had been deployed in an 80-metre radius around the Ta Muen Thom temple grounds, and had prevented Cambodian troops from entering.

He said about 40 Cambodian soldiers were “ in close proximity” to the Thai troops, but had been ordered to exercise restraint while the government tries to resolve the issue with Thailand.

Last Friday, the French and Japanese ambassadors discussed the border problem with Mr Tej at the foreign ministry. The Preah Vihear dispute originates in French colonial maps, and Japanese actions when it occupied Cambodia during World War Two.

Mr Tej, who assumed the ministerial post July 27, told Ambassador Laurent Bili that France could now act as a bridge in solving the temple row.

Japanese ambassador to Thailand Hideaki Kobayashi supported bilateral efforts to solve the temple problem, and would be willing to assist in clearing landmines around the disputed area, according to a report by official Thai News Agency.

In addition, US ambassador Eric John pledged American “ support for bilateral talks between Thailand and Cambodia to peacefully resolve the situation in the border area adjacent to” Preah Vihear. The US is interested in how the dispute could affect the visit on Wednesday of President George W. Bush.

The “ US stood ready to cooperate and work closely with Thailand to further strengthen the two countries’ relations,” the US diplomat said.

Source: Bangkok Post

US praises Cambodian election as the most free

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Cambodian elections were the freest ever held in the Southeast Asian country, the United States said Friday, though it concluded media coverage of the campaign was biased toward the ruling party.

The upbeat assessment of Sunday’s election in which Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party won a landslide victory comes as the opposition is refusing to recognize the results. It claims there was widespread irregularities.

«Cambodia’s National Assembly election was freer than any election previously held in the country and the vast majority of Cambodia’s registered voters were able to express their will in a more open atmosphere than before,» the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

Voting irregularities «were relatively low in number and they do not appear to have affected the outcome or to have distorted the will of the Cambodian people,» the statement said.

Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party won 90 seats in the 123-seat National Assembly, or lower house of parliament. The opposition Sam Rainsy Party won 26 seats, according to unofficial results.
The opposition party has rejected the results, accusing the National Election Committee of acting as a tool to help Hun Sen win.

It cited the committees alleged removal of tens of thousands of legitimate voters from electoral lists to prevent them from casting ballots for parties other than the ruling one. The election committee has dismissed the allegations.

Sunday’s voting was the fourth parliamentary election since the United Nations brokered a peace deal for the country in 1991, a process meant to end decades of civil unrest that included the 1975-79 genocidal reign of the Khmer Rouge.

Some 8.1 million Cambodians were registered voters, but the electoral body has not yet declared how many of them were able to cast their ballots.

While praising the ability of Cambodians to vote, the embassy concluded the atmosphere leading up to the vote was biased toward the ruling party.

Although the opposition had better access to state-run television during the campaigning than in the past, the CPP still dominated the airwaves of private stations that traditionally support it, the embassy said.
This «reflects a virtual monopoly by the CPP on the media and imbalanced the desired level playing field for contesting the elections,» it said.

On Tuesday, Martin Callanan, the head of an EU election monitoring team, gave a similar assessment of biases for the ruling party during the campaign.

But he said alleged vote irregularities would have to be on a very large scale to invalidate the outcome since Hun Sen’s party won with «a very large majority.

Source: Associated Press