U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, shakes hands with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Peace Palace Photo: AP
The US is to explore ways to allow Cambodia to settle hundreds of millions of pounds of "dirty debt" due to Washington dating back to the 1970s.
By Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said on a visit to Cambodia that a team would be sent to Phnom Penh to discuss how the matter could be closed urgently.
Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister, has asked the US to "forgive" the £320 million debt built up by the Lon Nol military government after it was brought to power by a Washington-backed coup in 1970.
The prime minister, who described the loans as "dirty debt", said Phnom Penh could not afford to repay the money borrowed by the regime that was toppled in 1975 by the genocidal ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge which killed 1.7 million Cambodians.
Rather than cancel the debt Mrs Clinton hinted that the US was searching for creative ways around the problem that would help development of the desperately poor country.
"We very much want to see this matter resolved," said Mrs Clinton. "We have agreed that the United States will send a team of experts as soon as possible to resume discussion over ways to settle this debt."
In a meeting with a group of students she suggested that any agreement might show Cambodia demonstrating some level of accountability, while aiding the environment and education.
A US official explained that one possible approach would see the US retiring some of the debt if Cambodia agreed to spend corresponding sums on educational and environmental projects in the nation still emerging from three decades of civil war that followed the Khmer Rouge's toppling in 1979.
Earlier Mrs Clinton visited the Tuol Sleng prison where the Khmer Rouge tortured 14,000 people to death. She said the experience was "very disturbing" and urged Cambodia to confront its troubled past.
Five senior Khmer Rouge leaders have been, or are about to be tried, by a UN -backed court. But Hun Sen has been set against trying lower-ranking Khmer Rouge, of which he himself was one.
Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister, has asked the US to "forgive" the £320 million debt built up by the Lon Nol military government after it was brought to power by a Washington-backed coup in 1970.
The prime minister, who described the loans as "dirty debt", said Phnom Penh could not afford to repay the money borrowed by the regime that was toppled in 1975 by the genocidal ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge which killed 1.7 million Cambodians.
Rather than cancel the debt Mrs Clinton hinted that the US was searching for creative ways around the problem that would help development of the desperately poor country.
"We very much want to see this matter resolved," said Mrs Clinton. "We have agreed that the United States will send a team of experts as soon as possible to resume discussion over ways to settle this debt."
In a meeting with a group of students she suggested that any agreement might show Cambodia demonstrating some level of accountability, while aiding the environment and education.
A US official explained that one possible approach would see the US retiring some of the debt if Cambodia agreed to spend corresponding sums on educational and environmental projects in the nation still emerging from three decades of civil war that followed the Khmer Rouge's toppling in 1979.
Earlier Mrs Clinton visited the Tuol Sleng prison where the Khmer Rouge tortured 14,000 people to death. She said the experience was "very disturbing" and urged Cambodia to confront its troubled past.
Five senior Khmer Rouge leaders have been, or are about to be tried, by a UN -backed court. But Hun Sen has been set against trying lower-ranking Khmer Rouge, of which he himself was one.
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