U.S. allows aid for Cambodia projects

Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Direct U.S. aid to support Cambodian government projects will resume following the lifting of a decade-old ban by Washington, the U.S. ambassador said Tuesday.

President Bush signed a congressional appropriations resolution for the 2007 fiscal year on Feb. 15 that "contains no restrictions on direct U.S. government funding of Cambodian government activities," Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said in an e-mailed reply to questions from The Associated Press.

He said Congress had maintained the ban in previous resolutions.

The United States cut off direct funding to Cambodian government projects in 1997 after Hun Sen ousted Prince Norodom Ranariddh, then his co-premier, in a coup. Hun Sen has since remained the prime minister.

Washington's aid to Cambodia has mostly been channeled to projects implemented by non-governmental organizations in the impoverished Southeast Asian country. The United States provided $54.9 million to Cambodia through non-governmental organizations last year.

Relations between the two governments have improved in recent years. Early this month, a U.S. warship paid a visit to a Cambodian seaport for the first time in more than 30 years.

Mussomeli noted that even when the ban was still in place, there were exceptions that allowed U.S. funding to assist the Cambodian government in certain areas, especially in health projects.

The lifting of the ban "is yet another sign of the deepening and strengthening of the promising relationship between our two countries," said Mussomeli, who has joined other donors in strongly criticizing the Cambodian government for doing little to tackle rampant corruption..