Cambodia's ban on a report accusing the country's political elite of illegally plundering the kingdom's forests was denounced as "senseless censorship" Wednesday by the study's authors.
The London-based watchdog Global Witness, which released the report June 1, also condemned threats of violence against its staff that were made by Prime Minister Hun Sen's brother.
The report, a damning indictment of corruption in Cambodia, alleged that the country's most powerful illegal logging syndicate, the Seng Keang Company, is controlled by people related to Hun Sen.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Chan Sarun and Forest Administration director Ty Sokhun were also fingered for their alleged role in robbing the country of tens of millions of dollars in natural resources.
The report enraged government officials, who called it "fiction," and prompted the information ministry to ban it from the country Sunday.
"This is senseless censorship," said Global Witness Director Simon Taylor in a statement.
"Attempts to suppress this report will not make the facts that it presents disappear. We would very much like to know the legal basis for this decision," he added.
While the government has ordered its own forest monitoring unit to investigate the Global Witness allegations, some officials continue to react angrily.
The premier's brother, provincial governor Hun Neng, is reportedly annoyed by allegations against his wife and son and was quoted in local press Tuesday as saying: "If they (Global Witness staff) come to Cambodia, I will hit them until their heads are broken."
Taylor called the threat against his staff "entirely unacceptable."
"Such crude intimidation by a senior public official says little for the government's commitment to upholding human rights and freedom of expression," he said.
The row comes just days before the June 19-20 annual meeting of Cambodia's foreign donors, whose pledges make up at least half of the impoverished country's national budget.
Donors have repeatedly said they are frustrated over Cambodia's lack of reform, particularly the government's apparent unwillingness to tackle rampant corruption.
Global Witness has urged more action from the international community to force Cambodia's government towards accountability.
"The reaction to this report raises a serious question for Cambodia's international donors," Taylor said.
"Is the government sincere in its pledges to strengthen governance and the rule of law, or is it simply paying lip service to these ideals to secure aid and international respectability?" he added.
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Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Environment group slams Cambodia ban on logging report
A WAY OUT OF POVERTY IN CAMBODIA
Muslim's microfinance project had heped Nan Sabtas making a good living.
Hunched over a blue plastic bowl, she cleans some 50 kilos each morning, and yet her job is far from over. The fish has to be rubbed with salt, sugar and seasoning before being laid out on wooden slats to dry in the scorching Cambodian sun, and then taken to the market to be sold.
Helped by her husband, Nan Sabtas, 42, buys, dries and sells fish in the village of Chrang Chamres to support her six children. Like many other families in this mostly Muslim village on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, Sabtas was just making enough to make ends meet. She could not expand her business despite good prospects nor could she save or buy small extras to make her life more comfortable.
Others in her village were in a similar situation, unable to improve their cramped houses or buy new baskets for washing fish or send their children to good schools. Most of them could not afford running water or electricity. Living on the banks of the wide and fertile Tonle Sap River, they relied on it as the source of water and livelihood. .
"When I went on my early morning trip to the fish seller, I knew I would not be able to buy as much I could sell, and that was frustrating," said Nan Sabtas. "The fish seller would charge me about one-fourth extra for each kilo of fish because I was taking it on credit. At the end of the day, when I paid the money off it was to the benefit of the fish seller, leaving me with only the smallest of profit margins."
But after April 2007, Sabtas's life changed when she became the recipient of a loan from Muslim Aid Cambodia. The £125 enabled her to buy as much fish as she could process as well as three plastic baskets and two bamboo baskets. Her capital increased month by month.
To be repaid in installments of £13 over 10 months and best of all, with no interest, it was a loan Sabtas was comfortable in taking.
"Other places charge high interest and so my business can't make much profit," said Nan Sabtas. "But with this loan, I'm not worried about not being able to repay."
She also pays a service charge of 50 cents a week and saves 25 cents. In addition to the funds, Muslim Aid Cambodia's credit officer is on hand to provide training and advice in management, planning and handling finances.
Nan Sabtas wants to use the extra cash to give her children a good quality education and to improve her own standard of living.
"Without the Muslim Aid Cambodia loan I would have lost the opportunity to expand my business and I would have lost my capital," she said. "Now everyone else wants a loan and asks me how they can get one."
The Cambodia office is one of the newest of the Muslim Aid's field offices, but the international relief agency has already initiated a number of projects in the country. Saif Ahmad, CEO of Muslim Aid, recently met with Cambodian prime minister Samdech Hun Sen to explain the vision, mission and goals of Muslim Aid. .
World Bank Approves US$33.5 Million for Cheaper and More Reliable Electricity for Mekong’s Poor
Communiqué de presse n°:2007/420/EAP
Contacts:
In Phnom Penh: Saroeun Bou (855) 23-217-301,sbou@worldbank.org
In Vientiane: Viengsamay Srithirath (856) 21-414 209,vsrithirath@worldbank.org
In Washington: Elisabeth Mealey (202) 458-4475,emealey@worldbank.org
WASHINGTON, June 5, 2007¾– People living in Cambodia ’s poorest provinces, who currently pay among the highest tariffs for electricity in the world, will see their power bills drop dramatically as a result of grants approved today by the International Development Association (IDA).
Under the World Bank’s Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Power Trade Program, a grant of US$18.5 million to the Kingdom of Cambodia will be used to construct cross-border transmission lines to neighboring Lao PDR and Vietnam. Along with transmission links under construction with Vietnam through the IDA-funded Rural Electrification Project, the new funding will further expand power trade with Vietnam, enabling Cambodia to import electricity and bring down the cost for poor consumers.
Another US$15 million grant to Lao PDR will support the construction of lines to export power to Cambodia and build a transmission system that links Lao PDR, Cambodia and Thailand. This will help improve the supply of electricity to Saravan Province in the south of Lao PDR.
Ian Porter, the World Bank Country Director for Cambodia and Lao PDR said the Strategy for World Bank Regional Support to the GMS – of which the power trade program is one part – seeks to strengthen regional cooperation and integration so that the Greater Mekong Sub-region can benefit from the development of South-East Asia ’s natural resources and rapidly growing economies. Other elements of the strategy include water resource management, trade and transport facilitation, and labor migration.
“For the people of the Mekong region to benefit, they will need strong institutions, good policies and reliable infrastructure,” Mr. Porter said. “The World Bank will be working with the Asian Development Bank and other partners to provide technical assistance, analysis, capacity building and investments so that GMS countries can work together to attract investors and improve services for their people.”
In Cambodia, where the average person earns only about US$380 a year and more than a third of the population lives below the poverty line, very few people (less than 18 percent) have access to electricity. In Kampong Cham and Stung Treng, two provinces where people have limited access to electricity, customers can pay up to US30 cents per kilowatt hour. After the new transmission lines are built, tariffs in these provinces are expected to drop to about US10-15 cents per kWh.
“With the GMS Power Trade Project, Cambodia will see a lot of positive impacts in the development of Stung Treng and Kampong Cham provinces,” said Mr Yim Nolson, deputy managing director of Electricite du Cambodia. “It will contribute to the poverty reduction and speed up the rural electrification in those provinces.”
“Power trade in the GMS can bring major economic and environmental benefits and improve energy security in the Mekong sub-region,” said Mohinder Gulati, Lead Energy Specialist for the GMS Power Trade Program. “Helping Mekong countries to realize those benefits will increase access to electricity for the poor and support the economic development of the region.”
Lao PDR, is also one of the poorest countries in the region, with a per capita income of US$460 a year. However, the country is rich in water and mineral resources. Through a strategy to develop hydropower for exports to neighboring countries, close to 50 percent of people now have access to electricity and the country is earning foreign exchange from power exports.
“We are fortunate to have a country endowed with so many natural resources and we are working to develop these in a sustainable way,” said Mr Viraphonh Viravong, Director General of the Department of Energy Promotion and Development. “This project will help us deliver reliable electricity to the Lao people, while also giving us the opportunity to expand our regional trade.”
During the preparation for the two projects, Cambodia and Lao PDR conducted comprehensive analyses of the social and environmental impact of the proposed transmission systems. This included extensive consultation with the people in the project areas and with civil society groups. The expected environmental and social impacts in both countries were found to be relatively minor.
The GMS Power Project in Cambodia is expected to be completed by August 2011 and the Lao Project by 2013.
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IMF sees positive growth but warns of external risks for Cambodia
Phnom Penh - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised Cambodia's macroeconomic policies Tuesday, saying positive economic growth should continue but warning that China and Vietnam could pose increasing competition to its narrowly based economy.
An IMF delegation from Washington ended a two-week high-level visit to the country Tuesday with a rosy overall impression of the national economy, IMF Asia Pacific advisor Jeremy Carter told a press conference.
However looming competitive pressures on the vital garment sector due to a lifting of safeguards on China's garment industry at the end of next year, competition in the same area from neighbouring Vietnam following its World Trade Organisation accession and the danger of poor weather affecting the agriculturally dependent nation still loomed as risks, the IMF said in a statement.
'Prudent macroeconomic policy implementation has provided stability, in turn boosting investors' and consumers' confidence, and has underpinned very strong macroeconomic performance,' the statement said.
'Impressive rates of growth have been sustained, inflation remains low, external debt is sustainable and headway is being made in a number of important structural reforms.
'The mission noted that the environment provides ideal conditions to re-energise reforms in key areas where progress has been less rapid, and to address the key constraints to broader poverty reduction.'
It said these factors had encouraged significantly increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which augured well for the economy.
The IMF said it estimates real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to increase by around nine-per-cent this year, fanned by increased agricultural production and 'robust growth' in the areas of tourism, garment export and construction.
'Services, in particular finance and telecommunications, are increasingly contributing,' it added.
However the domestic growth in the key industries which form the narrow pedestal of the country's economy - garments, construction, agriculture and tourism - were also subject to fluctuation due to international trends and environmental factors beyond the control of the government, it warned.
International oil price hikes had also had an influence, with inflation recently ticking up to 4 per cent, the IMF statement said, but assuming broadly stable international oil prices for the rest of 2007 it said it expected this rate to remain in the low single digits.
Carter told journalists the IMF expected oil revenues to prove a positive. These may begin trickling into the economy as early as 2009 when drilling begins on promising offshore oil and natural gas fields.
The IMF team met with a range of government officials during its visit, including Prime Minister Hun Sen and senior ministers and officials, as well as non-government representatives and union representatives.
The IMF provides technical assistance to Cambodia and has focused much of its work on reforming the rapidly developing country's banking and finance sectors.
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