Dredge/booster barge shipped to Cambodia

Logistics specialist John S. Connor, Inc., Glen Burnie, Md., has recently completed the shipment of a dredge/booster barge for Sokimex Group, based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Sokimex will use the equipment for dredging operations in the Mekong River so that the river can accommodate more vessel traffic.

Sokimex acquired the dredge/booster barge from Renda Dredging Company.

The equipment weighed 1,135 tons, making it the heaviest shipment ever handled by John S. Connor in its 90 year history. It was so large and heavy that the dredge and barge had to be separated into two sections so it could be shipped.

After the equipment was separated, the dredge alone weighed 610 metric tons and was enormously bulky; 107-ft. long, 51-ft. high, and 43-ft. wide. The booster barge as a separate lift weighed an additional 525 metric tons.

John S. Connor made all the logistics arrangements for the shipment of the equipment.

In order to accomplish the loading of the dredge and barge onto the MV WIEBKE, a specialized heavy-lift ship, the shippers utilized the services of a naval architect and an engineering firm to ascertain lift points, weight, and the center of gravity of the dredge and the booster barge.

The loading of the two large pieces, work boats and other equipment onto the MV WIEBKE in Port Manatee, Florida, required five days. The ship has two cranes with lifting capacity of 340 tons each, plus a third crane with a lifting capacity of 220 tons. Two of the ships heavy lift cranes were married together in order to generate enough lifting capacity to load these heavy pieces.

The dredge and barge had to be lifted onto the ship directly from the water at Port Manatee.

Because of the excessive weight and size of the equipment, four lifting cradles, two for each heavy piece, had to be fabricated, each one weighing 18 tons. A diver was utilized to be sure the cradles were positioned properly to lift the equipment.

"The Master and crew of the MV WIEBKE, along with their port captain, performed extremely well in completing this complicated heavy lift operation," says William Settle, bulk manager at John S. Connor.

The MV WIEBKE left port with the dredge, barge, and other additional work boats and equipment safely on board and sailed via the Suez Canal, arriving five weeks later in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. From there, the equipment was discharged and towed up the Mekong River to Phnom Penh. It will take another six months to reassemble the equipment and get it in place to begin the dredging project.

Sokimex Group, established in 1990, has over 2,000 employees and annual revenues in excess of $100 million.

John S. Connor is a full service logistics firm based in Glen Burnie, Md. The company is a leading provider of ocean freight and air freight, customs brokerage, domestic transportation, and steamship agency services. Connor has an extensive network of agents worldwide, and is a licensed NVOCC.

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Cambodia Oil Windfall Sparks Corruption Concern

Cambodia may reap billions of dollars in new revenues from offshore oil and gas fields in coming years, but experts fear such a windfall might be misspent. Prime Minister Hun Sen has so far brushed aside international concerns about lack of fiscal accountability.

Cambodia’s good fortune began in 2005 when U.S.-based Chevron found promising oil deposits at offshore test wells some 87 miles (140 kms) southwest of the port of Sihanoukville.

Preliminary estimates of the recoverable reserves are 400-500 million barrels of oil and 2-3 trillion cubic feet of gas. Cambodia’s total reserves could run as high as 2 billion barrels and 10 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to the World Bank.

In a country with an annual per capita income of about $500 last year, the discovery of oil that could sell on world markets for $60 per barrel might be good fortune indeed.

But instead of celebrations, the news has met with warnings that Cambodia lacks the strong government and civil institutions to turn oil revenue into public benefits.

A study of Cambodia for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2005 warned that Cambodia might follow the path of Nigeria, where new oil wealth turned into a “resource curse.”

Despite huge capital inflows from oil, Nigeria’s GDP has grown less than its population since 1980, while corruption and social unrest have risen because revenues have been misspent, the report said.

But at a student graduation ceremony Feb. 28, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen showed little patience with warnings that his country could follow the same path.

“Some people are worried about the Nigerian disease, saying that it should not be allowed to reach Cambodia. I have told them that Cambodia is not that stupid,” the prime minister said in remarks reported by the Associated Press.

Legitimate concern?

In an interview with Radio Free Asia, David Dapice, a senior economist at Harvard University and author of the UNDP study, said that Cambodia should move quickly to implement reforms before the money starts flowing in.

“There is legitimate concern that Cambodia has work to do,” said Dapice.

“There is a tendency toward big, prestige, wasteful investments. There is a tendency sometimes for things to cost more than they should, even if they’re appropriately chosen. And the legal system certainly needs to be strengthened, so that if there are cases of corruption they can be identified and then prosecuted in a proper way,” Dapice said.

“These are not areas right now where, at the moment, Cambodia has strength. They need to get better in these areas.”

Dapice said that recent improvements in Cambodia’s agricultural output and poverty reduction give hope that new funds from energy can be used productively, especially if nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are allowed to serve in some watchdog role.

The greatest danger is that oil money could be diverted into pockets that have already started to concentrate wealth, especially through land ownership, said Dapice. That risk could be particularly high, he added, if large cash bonuses are paid in the awarding of oil development contracts.

“You could end up basically displacing large numbers of farmers who would then probably drift into the cities, and you would have an over-urbanized society with very few decent jobs and a lot of crowding and everything, and that typically leads to social instability.”

Dapice said that Cambodia will have to foster good governance and institutions in several sectors at once so that it can handle the new oil money transparently.

“A lot of different parts of a society have to work,” he said. “The legal system, the newspapers, the NGOs, and of course the government itself has to be committed to it.”

“So there are real challenges here, and things could go badly wrong. But if people work on it and try to direct the resources in a reasonably productive way, I think there’s nothing that says that it’s written that it has to be as bad as Nigeria.”

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U.S. Embassy honors 2 Cambodians with Women of Courage Award

The U.S. Embassy in Cambodia honored two women as the Cambodian winner and runner-up of International Women of Courage Award on Monday.

"Presenting this award to women of courage is an opportunity to celebrate acts of bravery by the extraordinary women in Cambodian who, in transforming their own society, create a more peaceful and prosperous nation for all," U.S. Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli said in a ceremony joined by Cambodian Minister of Women's and Veteran's Affairs H.E. Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi.

The winner for Cambodia is Ms. Oung Chanthol, Executive Director and Founder of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC), a press release said, adding that the runner-up is Ms. Ith Mathoura, a trained lawyer currently working for the Community Legal Education Center (CLEC).

These two women have demonstrated outstanding courage and leadership in promoting the political, economic and social advancement of women in Cambodia, it said.

Ms. Oung Chanthol is a lawyer who has been a leader in the fight against violence against women, particularly trafficking, rape and domestic violence, Mussomeli said, adding that Ms. Oung Chanthol founded the CWCC in 1997 which has helped several thousand victims of gender-based violence.

"This award is not just a proud moment for CWCC and for me, but for all, our whole nation, all women in Cambodia, and our government, which sees women as crucial partners in the development of our nation," Ms. Oung Chanthol said after receiving the award from Mussomeli.

The first annual "International Women of Courage" awards program was inaugurated by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in honor of International Women's Day 2007, the press release said, adding that the award is the State Department's only continuing awards program exclusively for emerging women leaders.

Source: Xinhua

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Dubai Donation Begins Rescue Of WFP Food Aid Operation In Cambodia

The United Nations World Food Programme today welcomed an urgently needed contribution of US$1 million from the Government of Dubai in response to its appeal to end drastic food aid cuts affecting 700,000 poor Cambodians, including HIV/AIDS and TB patients. But at the same time WFP warned that more donations were desperately needed to ensure the full resumption of operations in the country.

In January, key WFP activities in Cambodia were suspended due to lack of funding. Now, thanks to this generous contribution, food aid to 70,000 people affected by HIV/AIDS and 18,000 TB patients, will resume earlier than originally expected. "At stake are the lives of thousands of HIV/AIDS patients receiving anti-retroviral drugs whose effectiveness depends upon proper nourishment," said WFP Executive Director, James Morris. "And then there are the TB patients whose incentive to complete their treatment is often the food aid they receive at treatment centres.

All these people are desperately poor - this helping hand from Dubai is truly lifesaving." In a poor country like Cambodia where 35 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, hundreds of thousands of children are dependent on WFP meals provided by the agency's food for education programme.

WFP is already starting to see the negative impacts of the suspension of its activities: declines in school attendance rates; reduced attention spans of children in class and worsening health of HIV/AIDS and TB patients as well as, in some cases, a drop in treatment adherence.

The donation by the Government of Dubai will be used to prioritize HIV/AIDS and TB patients but more donations are needed to resume the food for education programme. "We are extremely grateful to the Government of Dubai for their valuable and timely support, which is part of a growing commitment to development aid from the governments in the Gulf region." said Morris. "We appeal to others to follow."

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs, including 58 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest countries.

WFP -- We Feed People. WFP Global School Feeding Campaign - For just 19 US cents a day, you can help WFP give children in poor countries a healthy meal at school - a gift of hope for a brighter future.Visit our website: http://www.wfp.org

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Cambodia Calls On ASEAN To Present A United Front On Land Mines

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen Monday called on four Association of South East Asian (ASEAN) nations which have so far not signed the Ottawa Treaty banning land mines to conform and help the bloc set an example to Asia and the world.

Speaking at a three-day conference on mine action in the capital, Hun Sen said ASEAN should form a united front and all member governments should sign and ratify their entry to the treaty, the signatories of which agree to prohibit the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and support their destruction. He said Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Singapore were the members of the 10-nation ASEAN bloc which had so far resisted signing, adding that if Asia was to become land mine-free, ASEAN should set the example for the continent.

"ASEAN has already declared Asia should be free of nuclear weapons and has asked other nations to sign on this, so ASEAN should also be the leader on the prohibition of the use, production and stockpiling of landmines," he said. He said land mines were a serious obstacle for the development of Cambodia and other Less Developed Nations and were a hidden killer that ordinary Cambodians had been forced to live with for too long.

Cambodia remains one of the most heavily mined nations in the world after 30 years of civil war. Hun Sen said Cambodian Red Cross figures put the number of land mine casualties in the country at 60,000 and counting, with 30 per cent of these fatalities and the rest forced to live as invalids for the rest of their lives. "Of course, this is the right of each country to decide, but I believe ASEAN should unite on this issue," Hun Sen told the conference.

Cambodia recently sent a demining team to Sudan and Hun Sen said that his country was happy to help another nation which would struggle to meet development goals because of the insidious factor of mines. Canadian Ambassador to Cambodia Donica Pottie agreed, and used the opportunity to urge the United States, arguably the most significant nation to so far refuse to join the treaty, to relent and lead by example.

"Canada welcomes the Cambodian appeal ... however, it depends very much on these countries themselves," she said in an interview after Hun Sen's address. "The US has a huge commitment to demining programmes around the world," she said. "We would definitely welcome the US to join (the treaty). We appreciate US demining efforts and ... the US spends a lot of resources on demining, including Cambodia." ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

© 2007 DPA

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Jolie Overwhelmed at 1st by Refugee Work

The Associated Press
Sunday, March 11, 2007; 8:04 PM

NEW YORK -- Angelina Jolie says her work as a humanitarian ambassador for the United Nations at first left her tearful and overwhelmed.

"The first two years I just cried constantly," the actress told Newsweek. "I couldn't really talk about the situation without being emotional. And I went through a period of just complete lack of hope."

During her February visit to the Oure Cassoni camp on the border between Darfur and Chad she came across a disturbed 7-year-old boy whose family had tied him to a pole to stop him wandering away or banging himself. The boy had spent 48 hours hiding in the bush after his village was bombed.

"I talked to him for like half an hour and just kind of looked at him for a long time before he touched me," Jolie told the magazine, "and there was a little boy in there who was open to a kind sound."

Jolie has visited camps in Africa, Pakistan and Cambodia as part of her work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She said she travels unaccompanied on commercial flights, and doesn't care about people who describe what she does as celebrity tourism.

"I don't know if anybody saying that has spent the last six years of their life going to over 30 camps and really spending time with these people," said Jolie, who wants to return to Cambodia.

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Cambodia arrests senior officer in war against land grabbers

A major colonel from the border unit of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (CRAF) has been arrested, becoming the first senior officer arrested during the government's high-profile campaign against land grabbers.

"We arrested Te Haing in Banteay Mean Chey province according to the warrant from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court" on Saturday, Sao Sokha, military police commander of Cambodia, told Xinhua here on Sunday.

In addition, an official at the court told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that Te Haing was arrested for encroaching state land and cutting forestry to take about 1,567 hectares of land in Banteay Mean Chey province.

"Because he worked there, it was difficult to investigate the case. After checking the case, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued the arrest warrant and then transferred his case to Phnom Penh," he said.

Te Haing, also registered as owner of the Te Haing Development Co. Ltd., was accused under Article 97 of the Forestry Law and might be jailed for five to 10 years, he said, adding that all his properties will be confiscated by the state.

On Thursday, Chao Phirun, director general of RCAF's technical and material department, said that he had handed over more than 200 hectares of land to the government after Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened to fire him on Monday in the war on land grabbers.

"I already gave the land to the government (on Tuesday). Hun Sen has written to thank me," said the general, who is from Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP).

"I am not sad. This is a contribution to help the government," he said of the 215 hectares of land in Kampot province's Chhuk district.

He insisted that he was unaware that he was the target of Hun Sen's threat, as the land was bought by his wife in 1999 from 46 families rather than being grabbed from their hands.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told reporters that Chao Phirun will not be fired as he returned the land.

Earlier, a top government official from CPP called Hun Sen to inform about his withdrawal from a land dispute in Koh Sla area in Kandal province.

Hun Sen said on Monday that he will purge perverse land grabbers out of the government and CPP, who might otherwise cause social instability or even trigger off riots.

"The government is going to fight against illegal land grabbing at any cost. The war against land grabbers is starting right now," he told hundreds of diplomats and high-ranking government officials at a national forum.

They should withdraw from land disputes by themselves, and if they don't, they will be fired from the government and expelled from the party, he said.

"I am not going to tolerate anyone any longer on this issue," he added.

Local media have reported recently that military officers and high-ranking government officials used to stand behind land disputes across the kingdom, causing much anger among the people, especially the deprived farmers.

In February, Hun Sen said that illegal land grabbing will destabilize the country.

"Our government has made tremendous efforts to build many roads, but it is sad to see that after the road is built, many people from the city rush in to buy or capture land (beside the road), squeezing the local community out of their property," he said. All provincial governors, district chiefs and commune councils are held responsible for the situation of landlessness and land grabbing in their territories, he said.

"I promise to punish any officials who are found to be involved in land grabbing and clearing of state land for personal use," he added.

Land disputes have been frequent across Cambodia in recent years, resulting in hundreds of death and injury, according to official reports.

Source: Xinhua

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CAMBODIA: JUDICIAL COMMITTEE MEETS TO DISCUSS KHMER ROUGE TRIALS: UN SPOKESPERSON

press released UN-news centre

In a further effort to resolve differences that have stalled the long-awaited trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders, accused of mass killings and other horrific crimes during the 1970s in Cambodia, a judicial review committee is again meeting this week and next in the capital Phnom Penh, a United Nations spokesperson said today.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) Review Committee, which is made up of both international and national judges, is discussing various outstanding issues that have so far held up adoption of the Internal Rules for the conduct of the trials, spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.

This meeting is scheduled to conclude on 16 March at which time it is hoped a date for the official adoption of the internal rules can be announced, Ms. Montas added. This latest session of the Review Committee follows an earlier one in January. The UN is funding most of the $56.3 million three-year budget for the Khmer Rouge trials.

Judges and prosecutors for the trials were sworn in last July. Under an agreement signed by the UN and Cambodia, the trial court and a Supreme Court within the Cambodian legal system will investigate those most responsible for crimes and serious violations of Cambodian and international law between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979.

The UN will pay $43 million of the $56.3 million budget for the trials, with the Government of Cambodia providing $13.3 million.At a pledging conference in 2005 to support the UN assistance to the trials, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the crimes committed under Khmer Rouge rule "were of a character and scale that it was still almost impossible to comprehend," adding that "the victims of those horrific crimes had waited too long for justice."

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Spanish psychologist evaluates Cambodia's 'jungle woman'

Ker Munthit news associate

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A Spanish psychologist met with Cambodia's "jungle woman" on Tuesday, hoping to unravel some of the mystery surrounding the woman who emerged from the forest, naked and unable to speak, after possibly 18 years in the wild.

Hector Rifa, a doctor of psychology from Spain's University of Oviedo, said his priority was to ensure the woman was receiving proper treatment for whatever traumatic experience she has undergone.

But it is also possible he may find clues to the woman's true identity - whether she is indeed a local girl who disappeared in 1988, as claimed by the family in northeastern Cambodia who has taken her in as their long-lost daughter.

Rifa said he plans to spend several days at the home of village policeman Sal Lou, who claims the woman is his daughter Rochom P'ngieng, who disappeared while tending water buffalo when she was eight.

Sal Lou's family, members of Cambodia's Pnong ethnic minority, say they are certain the woman is Rochom P'ngieng because of a childhood scar on her right arm.

With no other evidence supporting their claim, however, others have speculated that the woman may have a history of mental troubles and had simply become lost in the jungle much more recently.

In any case, her inability to communicate and evident attempts to escape from Sal Lou's family indicate she is in a difficult psychological situation.

Rifa has been working with indigenous people in Rattanakiri province over the past four years for the Spain-based group Psychology Without Borders.

In an interview earlier Tuesday, he told The Associated Press he thinks the woman's behaviour showed she was having difficulty adapting to normal life, as would be expected if she had been lost in the jungle for an extended period of time.

"It is not extraordinary . . . or anything coming from another world," he said, referring to concerns by superstitious villagers that the woman may be possessed by a jungle spirit.

"From the point of view of psychology, I suspect that this is like for us, if we have stayed one week in the forest and came back to the world, you are a little out of it. So if we have stayed 18 years out of the office or of the world, when we come back we need some time" to readjust, he said.

On Monday, two Cambodian human rights groups expressed concern that the woman may be suffering due to the spotlight cast on her since she emerged from the wild, and offered to provide medical and psychiatric treatment.

Curious villagers and journalists have flocked to see the woman, who was found Jan. 13 walking bent over rather than upright. She pats her stomach when hungry and uses animal-like grunts to communicate.

"The important thing is to try to help the family, if they don't know how to manage (her)," Rifa said.

Mao San, the Oyadao district police chief, said Tuesday the investigation into the woman's case has "hit a dead end" because she cannot communicate.

"Only when she starts speaking can we ask her where she might have been or whom she might have been with the whole time," he said, stressing the need to do DNA tests to confirm she is the child of Sal Lou. Sal Lou has said he is willing to undergo DNA testing "to clear any doubts that she is my child."
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Cambodia human rights violations rampant: UN report

Friday March 9, 2007

[JURIST] The Cambodian government uses systematic human rights and civil liberty violations to maintain its hold on power, according to a report [UN press release] by UN special rights representative Yash Ghai [appointment notice] and obtained by AFP. The report listed illegal land grabs, torture while in police custody, corruption among senior government officials, and a steadfast government opposition to democracy among other violations.

Cambodian officials angrily denied Ghai's allegations, accusing him of being an outsider speaking about things he did not understand. Cambodian government human rights advisor Om Yentieng said it would not be appropriate to respond to the accusations [DPA report], which he insisted were not based on fact. Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen [BBC profile] said that Ghai is no longer welcome in Cambodia because of his criticism.

In contrast, the Asian Human Rights Commission [advocacy website] condemned [press release] Sen's remarks and human rights advocate and founder of Cambodian rights group Licadho [advocacy website], Kek Galabru, said Ghai's conclusions were "generally correct." AFP has more.

The UN findings are broadly consistent with the latest US State Department human rights report on Cambodia released earlier this week as part of its 2006 worldwide human rights review [JURIST report], which concluded:

The government's human rights record remained poor. Government agents committed extrajudicial killings, and security forces acted with impunity. There was little political will to address the failure by government authorities to adhere to the rule of law.

Detainees were abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh. Human rights monitors reported arbitrary arrests and prolonged pretrial detention, underscoring a weak judiciary and denial of the right to a fair trial.

Land disputes and forced evictions, often accompanied by violence, were a growing problem. The government restricted freedom of speech and press through the use of defamation and disinformation suits, controlled or influenced the content of television and radio broadcasts, and sometimes interfered with freedom of assembly.

Corruption was endemic and extended throughout all segments of society, including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.

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Cambodia ruled through rights abuse: UN

March 9, 2007

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Systematic rights violations are key to the Cambodian government's grip on power, a United Nations' envoy warned in a report accusing the administration of refusing to improve its rights record.

The report by special rights representative Yash Ghai, which was obtained by AFP on Friday, urged the international community to lean harder on the government over its failure to protect basic liberties.

"As deliberate and systemic violations of human rights have become central to the government's hold over power, the international community ... should do all it can to persuade and press the government to respect its human rights commitments," the report said.

Ghai, who is expected to return to Cambodia next week, regretted that "instead of responding to the concerns raised by the special representatives and United Nations bodies, a frequent response of the government has been evasion or accusation, scapegoating and intimidation," it added.

After an unusually blunt appraisal of rights violations last year, Ghai was publicly attacked in several speeches by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who demanded he be sacked.

His comments also prompted a round of criticism from other top government officials who blasted UN staff as "gods without virtue" and "tourists" in a country they knew nothing about.

The report, written after Ghai's second trip to Cambodia last March, was submitted to the UN's Human Rights Council during its session earlier this year.

While noting that Cambodia enjoys better political security, it catalogued a growing list of violations, from illegal land grabs to torture while in police custody.

"The absence of effective institutions of government, basic laws and an impartial judiciary ... all leave Cambodia's citizens insecure, vulnerable to systemic denial and violations of their rights," the report said.

Despite billions of dollars in foreign aid, most of impoverished Cambodia's institutions are still in ruin after decades of war that ended in 1998.

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Festival showcases Mekong region traditional artisans

The two-day festival will feature 14 artisans including eight from China, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, besides six from Vietnam.

Visitors will have the opportunity to discover the similarities and specific features of the weaving traditions in the Mekong region.

On show will be tools to net fish made by the Lao people from Thailand, Kho Mu from Laos, Khmer from Cambodia and Vietnam, and other ethnic groups from Vietnam's southern Dong Thap province, baskets woven by Vietnamese people in Can Tho, and other bamboo products made by the Thai people living in Yunnan, China.

Children can also try their hand at several activities designed exclusively for them at this outdoor festival.

The event, organized jointly by the Culture Heritage Department and the Vietnam Ethnology Museum, will get technical support from the Center of Folk Life and Cultural Heritage of the US’s Smithsonian Institute, and financial support from the US’s Rockefeller Fund through the Thailand Royal Center of Human Studies.

It is a prelude to participation by Vietnamese artists in the 41st annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C, the US, in June this year. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival program, themed Mekong river: Connecting Cultures, will give an insight into the complex connections among ethnic groups, languages, and traditions of peoples living along the mighty river.

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Vietnam, Cambodia to boost cooperation in health care

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam and Cambodia have agreed to boost cooperation and exchange of experience in developing health care services, especially those for children. An agreement to this effect was signed in Phnom Penh on March 6 during a Cambodia visit by a delegation of Vietnam's Committee for Population, Family and Children led by its Chairwoman Le Thi Thu from March 5-9.

Thu and Ith Somheng, Cambodian Minister of Social Affairs and War Veterans, agreed to intensify and diversify their collaborative activities through the exchange of delegations and the training of management cadres relating to population, family and children.

The Vietnamese delegation then met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who appreciated their visit and expressed his wish that the two sides would implement well their cooperation agreements.

The delegation will also visit several Cambodian localities to learn more about family planning and other related activities.

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Cambodia court sentences two Germans to prison for child sex abuse

The associated press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Two Germans who worked as English teachers in Cambodia were among five people sentenced Friday to prison terms for sexually abusing four Vietnamese girls, a crime that one of the girl's mothers was an accomplice to.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Karl Heinz Henning, 61, to 28 years in prison on charges of human trafficking and debauchery — a Cambodian legal term for sexual offenses against minors.

Police arrested Henning after they observed him bringing the girls, aged 10 to 14, to his Phnom Penh apartment. While police were searching the apartment, he tried to escape by jumping from his balcony to the ground, some four meters (13 feet) below, but crashed into a metal canopy and was arrested.

The court also handed a 12-year prison term to Thomas Sigwart Eugen, 42, on debauchery charges. Eugen was arrested after police saw him having sex with two of the girls on a videotape confiscated from Henning.

"The two Germans committed the crimes because they figured Cambodia is a poor country and that they could just use their dollars to buy sex to fulfill their urges," Judge Ke Sakhan said. "These are illegal acts Cambodia cannot tolerate."

Both men worked as private English teachers in Phnom Penh.

The Germans denied sexually abusing the girls during their trial March 1. Henning said the four girls had come to his house to learn English and computer skills from him.

A Vietnamese couple that acted as sex brokers for the Germans received 17-year prison terms each on charges of human trafficking. The couple worked with one of the girl's mothers, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail, also on human trafficking charges.

Phnom Penh's anti-human trafficking police arrested the two Germans in separate raids of their rented apartments in the capital, Phnom Penh, in August.

Eugen, speaking to reporters at the court Friday, said he was "quite shocked" by his prison sentence.

Child rights advocates say Cambodia's lax law enforcement has made it a destination for foreign pedophiles. However, police have recently stepped up action against offenders.

On Tuesday, the same court sentenced a Swiss man to 11 years in prison for sexually abusing a 12-year-old Cambodian girl.


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U.S. funding for Cambodia to drop by quarter in 2008

The United States funding for Cambodia is slated to drop 25 percent in fiscal year 2008 to 40.9 million U.S. dollars, from 54.9 million U.S. dollars in fiscal year 2006, local media said on Thursday.

"The projected cuts in funding in fiscal year 2008 are unrelated to conditions in Cambodia and are a function of a tight budgetary environment in Washington and realignment of global development priorities," U.S. Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle told the Cambodian Daily.

Funding for anti-human trafficking, promotion of labor rights and political party development after the 2008 national elections will no longer be focus areas for the U.S. assistance, he said.

It will turn to focus on developing democratic institutions, strengthening peace and security, establishing a health system that can respond to infectious disease outbreaks and encouraging market-driven economic growth, he said.

Meanwhile, Cheam Yeap, lawmaker from the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), said that the proposed cut will not be felt deeply, as the U.S. doesn't provide much direct assistance to the Cambodian government.

"The U.S. cutting funds will not affect the government's programs and the government's budget," he said.

He also said that Cambodia has a wealth of other donors that it can turn to for assistance.

"China also gives us a lot of money for infrastructure," he added.

The proposed reduction comes amid a warm-up of the U.S.- Cambodian relations.

The U.S. has decided to resume direct aid for the Cambodian government after a decade of hiatus and a U.S. Navy vessel just paid an official visit to the kingdom's port city Sihanoukville.

In addition, under the terms of the 2007 U.S. budget resolution passed on Feb. 15, Cambodia will likely receive about 56 million U. S. dollars of aid this fiscal year, without any restrictions on direct government assistance.

Source: Xinhua

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UNICEF donates 140,000 USD for demining in Cambodia

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has donated more than 140,000 U.S. dollars for demining and landmine education in the western provinces of Cambodia for this year, an official said on Thursday.

The fund will be used for demining, education about danger of landmine and UXO (unexplosive ordnance), organizing spots for broadcasting on TV, building network to educate villagers in communities of landmine areas, Khem Sophoan, head of the Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC), told Xinhua on phone.

The money is for 26 districts in the western provinces of Cambodia, including Battambang, Preah Vihear, Oddar Mean Chey, Banteay Mean Chey and Pailin, where mines pose great danger for the communities, he said.

UNICEF has donated over one million U.S. dollars for CMAC since 1995, he said.

In the past two months of this year, mines killed over 10 people, including seven deminers of CMAC, he added.

According to official statistics, there were more than 400 human casualties over mine and UXO explosions in 2006 in Cambodia, or 50 percent decrease over the average number of the previous six years.

Due to 30 years of armed conflicts, Cambodia has become one of the world's most heavily mined countries with an estimated 4-6 million of such "hidden killers" buried underground in areas as extensive as 2,900 square kilometers.

It may take the kingdom another 150 years to clear out all the mines and UXO, statistics say.

Source: Xinhua

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Rare Mekong dolphin making a comeback

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (Reuters) -- Cambodia's rare Mekong dolphin is making a tentative comeback from the edge of extinction after net fishing was banned in its main habitat, Cambodian and World Wildlife Fund officials said on Wednesday.

There are now about 160 dolphins, up from only 90 before net fishing was banned last year in the upper Mekong River in the eastern provinces of Kratie and Steung Treng borders, they said.

The absence of gillnets strung in the river, allowing dolphins from other reaches of the river to move in, was the main reason for the sudden jump in numbers, the officials said.

"We should have about 20 new babies born every year if the current trend continues," Touch Seang Tana, chairman of Commission for Mekong Dolphins Conservation, told Reuters.

"Within five years, we'll be worried we will not have enough fish for dolphins to eat because humans also need fish," he said.

Fishing was banned in the area last year and local people encouraged to grow crops or work in the growing tourism industry instead of fishing.

"The awareness, conservation and provision of alternative livelihoods to fishermen, have helped reduced adult mortalities," the WWF said in a statement.

Conservationists believe an estimated 1,000 dolphins, also known as Irrawady dolphins, live in India, Myanmar and Thailand.

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Talks to save Khmer Rouge trials

Cambodian and international judges have begun talks to prevent the possible collapse of the Khmer Rouge trials.

The trials - which aim to put the surviving leaders of the brutal Maoist regime in the dock - have ground to a halt over procedural differences.

Foreign judges want full international legal standards, while the Cambodians say local law must take precedence.

About two million people died during the years that the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia in the 1970s.

Aging defendants

Trail hearings are theoretically due to start later this year.

But according to the BBC correspondent in Phnom Penh, Guy De Launey, there is a real possibility that the trials will collapse before they have even started.

The international judges have made it clear that they see this week's meeting as the final chance to make sure the trials meet international standards.

"All the judges are mindful that the upcoming... meeting is of vital importance," tribunal officials said in a recent statement.

If an agreement cannot be achieved, the foreign contingent will ask the UN to pull out.

But local officials have been equally adamant that Cambodian law has to have prime importance in the special courts, and according to our correspondent, they feel they have been unfairly portrayed as being the sole cause of the delays.

There are more than 100 items under discussion at this week's talks, but many have already been resolved after lengthy informal negotiations.

Those involved admit that time is of the essence, if they are to bring elderly Khmer Rouge members to court.

"There is one point on which the international judges are unanimous - these trials should take place quickly or not at all," French judge Marcel Lemonde of France told AFP news agency.

The death of military commander Ta Mok late last year heightened fears that more key defendants and witnesses could die before facing justice.

Pol Pot, the founder and leader of the Khmer Rouge, has already died, in a camp along the border with Thailand in 1998.

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ADB approves 42 mln USD of loan to restore railway for Cambodia

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved 42 million U.S. dollars of loan for Cambodia to restore its railway, local media said on Wednesday.

This is part of the efforts to complete the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) railway network which also connects China, said daily newspaper the Rasmey Kampuchea.

The agreement of providing the loan was signed by Minister of Finance and Economy Keat Chhon and C. Lawrence Greenwood, vice- president of ADB here on Monday.

The loan will be spent on restoring 254 km of railway road from Phnom Penh to seaport city Sihanoukville and also on 383 km of railway from Phnom Penh to Poipet town of Banteay Mean
Chey province next to the border with Thailand, the paper quoted Keat Chhon as saying.

The whole budget for restoring railway is worth about 73 million U.S. dollars, with 42 million from ADB, 13 million from the OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) Fund, 2.8 million as grant aid from Malaysia and the rest 15.2 million from the Cambodian government, he added.

Source: Xinhua .

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ADB has offer USD 10 million for fishery development in Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided some 10 million U.S. dollars of loan in the past years to empower the fishery communities in the Tonle Sap Lake area, officials said Monday.

"We got about 2 million U.S. dollars (in revenues) from fresh water fish products each year from the lake," partially as result of the help from ADB, said Nao Thouk, director of fisheries department of Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Thanks to years of consistent development with the help of ADB, an average family in the Tonle Sap Lake area can now catch some 600 kg to 800 kg of fish each year and over 1 million people directly benefit from the lake, he said on the sidelines of a national forum on the development of the Tonle Sap Lake.

The forum was organized by ADB and the Cambodian government and attended by about 300 people, including diplomatic corps and top government officials.

Also at the forum, C. Lawrence Greenwood, deputy president of ADB, said that Cambodians' fortunes depend on the lake's reliable ebb and flow and it provides the daily sustenance and livelihood for over 1 million people, many of them among the poorest in the kingdom.

According to official statistics, the lake area boasts about 200 kinds of fish, 42 kinds of reptiles, 225 species of birds, 44 types of mammals and 200 kinds of plants.

Source: Xinhua

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Cambodian leader warns that development poses threat to great lake

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia's prime minister warned Monday that increasing population and over-exploitation of fisheries and wildlife pose a dire threat to his country's Tonle Sap, or "Great Lake," the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.

"The lake is facing a serious threat of over-exploitation and its ecosystem has become quite fragile," Prime Minister Hun Sen said at a national forum on the Tonle Sap held in Phnom Penh.

"Honestly, if this problem is not addressed decisively and soon enough, Cambodia could face a serious environmental disaster," he warned.

He said the clearing of nearby forest land for large-scale agriculture is resulting in the seepage of fertilizer and pesticides into the lake, creating serious environmental problems.

Tonle Sap is 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh and touches six provinces.

Hun Sen said the lake's basin is home to about 4 million of Cambodia's 14 million people, and that about 40 percent of the country's population derive some benefit from its resources.

The lake harbors a rich biosphere of more than 200 species of fish, 42 types of reptiles, 225 species of birds and 46 kinds of mammals.

C. Lawrence Greenwood, vice president of the Asian Development Bank, said weak governance, severe poverty and social inequity, and conflicts over management of fisheries and natural resources pose serious threats to the lake's ecosystem and the livelihoods of people who depend on it.

"The great lake provides daily sustenance and livelihoods for over 1 million people, many of whom are among the poorest in Cambodia," Greenwood said at the seminar.

Tonle Sap covers approximately 250,000 hectares (618,000 acres) during the dry season and expands to about 1.25 million hectares (3 million acres) during the rainy season..

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Children's drawings depich deforestation in Cambodia

PRESS RELEASE - Washington, D.C., March 5, 2007 -- About 100 Cambodian schoolchildren have called on Khmer government authorities to put an end to illegal, widespread deforestation near their school district, 70 kilometers from the capital, Phnom Penh. The children ages 10 to 16, attend primary school in the Kompong Speu Oral District, which borders on a wildlife sanctuary.

The Voice of America’s Khmer Service reports the children have sent authorities scores of drawings and cartoons depicting the destruction: men wielding axes, chain saws, and machetes, felling trees, stripping the land clean, and killing elephants and other wildlife.

VOA’s Khmer Service has posted a sampling of the drawings on its web site: http://www.voanews.com/khmer/2007-02-28-voa2.cfm

Authorities in Cambodia say the drawings exaggerate the extent of damage being done to the environment. Officials report only a few cases of illegal logging by poachers.

Villagers tell the Voice of America that the children’s illustrated accounts are accurate, adding that the poachers carry machine guns and are members of the armed forces. Many adults and children have submitted petitions to government and non-government agencies asking them to end the destruction.

For more information on the Voice of America Khmer service, which broadcasts live to Cambodia 90 minutes every day, visit: www.voanews.com/khmer.

The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.

For more information, call the Office of Public Affairs at 202-203-4959 or E-Mail publicaffairs@voa.gov.

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Brunei win 2 top places in meeting of teachers

Brunei's representatives to the Microsoft Regional Innovative Teacher's Conference in Siem Reap, Cambodia won first and third places.

The event is a worldwide initiative to empower schools to increase student learning through teacher development and leadership. It was organised in partnership with UNESCO Asia Pacific and Microsoft under the flagship Partners in Learning (PiL) programme.

The representatives were led by Cikgu Hj Yussof bin Hj Metassim, Senior Education Officer from the ICT Department, Ministry of Education, Cikgu Mohd Zamri bin Hj Ismail of Sayyidina Hasan Secondary School and Cikgu Ismail bin Hj Julaihi of PAP Hjh Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah Secondary School.

Cikgu Ismail's group won first place with the project Sim Angkor. Cikgu Zamri's group won third place with the project More Water.

They went on a one-day field trip to the world heritage site of Angkor Wat. They collaborated on a project where teachers from different countries developed specific teaching / learning materials based on their field trip.

More than 150 teachers and 100 senior government and education officials from 22 countries attended the conference.

The innovative teacher's programme helps educators further their professional development, learn from and inspire one another in promoting the creation of exemplary practices, awards software grants, and gives educators access to online learning communities.

It brings together a community of teachers as learners, facilitate the creation of collective knowledge, create a platform for the advancement of best practices and adoption of innovation, provide training and access to technology resources, and deliver integration confidence to teachers using technology in the learning process.

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Canada and Cambodia, co-hsot an international mine conference

PHNOM PENH, Mar 5, 2007. The Cambodia Mine Action Authority and the Embassy of Canada announced that they are to co- host an international mine action conference in Phnom Penh from March 12 to 14, a press release said here on Monday.

The dire consequences that landmines have on a country's economic and social development will be a significant topic of discussion during the conference, which entitled "Mine Action: Implications for Peace and Development", the press release said.

Delegates from across Southeast Asia, as well as participants from Europe and the Middle East will join a range of men and women from Cambodia's mine action community at the conference to discuss experiences of mine-affected states, the needs of survivors and international cooperation on mine action, it added.

"Cambodia's experience proves that focused efforts and resources can make a real deference," Sok An, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and First President of the Cambodia Mine Action Authority, said, adding that the number of victims of mine accidents in Cambodia dropped in 2006.

"Cambodia has a responsibility to share with other mine- affected countries its lessons learned in eradicating landmines," Sok An was quoted as saying.

This event is one of many world-wide events to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty, the international agreement that bans antipersonnel landmines, the press release said.

Since 1997, Canada has contributed over 225 million U.S. dollars to mine action worldwide, including a recent pledge for Cambodia of over 6 million U.S. dollars, according to Donica Pottie, Canada's Ambassador to Cambodia.

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Thailand: Thai border with Vietnam in less than 100 years

Ankorcivilization: Cambodia is a former empire in the Southeast Asia. Ankors are standing tall smiling at the Universe looking to million miles above top of trees. The mighty Kingdom and the tough wariors had left their Champion for the new generation Khmers. The wariors' bloods are still remain inside each Khmer children. Will the new generation of Khmers fight for the retired smiling faces of Ankors?

Recently, on March 1, 2007, a Thai expert had given a speech on Thailand TV channel 5 about the future of Cambodia. He predicted that in less than 100 years Thailand border will be tied with Vietnam border. The Thai expert named Dak Tal Nikdephumnavarat had predicted political movement and the future expansion of Thailand in the Southeast Asia. Thailand is dreaming of being super power in Southeast Asia, and will its dream be good or bad luck for Thais in the future?

A Cambodian student named Chhuon Chhung who is studying in Thailand wrote a letter to Radio Free Asia about the Dak Tal expertise predicting the fate of Cambodia. The Radio Free Asia had broadcasted in debate sparkling worried for some Cambodian nationalists. There is not no surprise that Thailand had attempted to control Cambodia. Thailand had been remove border demarcation deep into Cambodia land.

Thailand is the biggest threat to Cambodia in the future. And what is going to happen? There had been 60 years for Thailand building up its military muscle with Tanks, machine guns, war planes, fighter jets, missiles and it is ready for the battle at any time.

Cambodia was just getting up from murderous pit killing field. And it is slimming bone, hungry and very vulnerable. The Killing Field of Pol Pot had killed 2.5 million Cambodians. The majority of them had died from starvation and killing buried in mass grave. The killings were speeding up in June of 1979 to achieve the slaughter plan before Vietnamese soldiers toppled its regime. All dead bodies were floating in rice padding fields.

And now Cambodians are facing uncertainty of days to come. They are hungry and vulnerable, but they are got sharp teeth like Hyena willing to bite and fight anything. Cambodians had fought so many wars and surviving in all kind of situations.

Thailand and Cambodia are going to solve some long-disputed border demarcation and sea water area. It had been an issues never been solved, and now US giant Oil company had struck Oil wealth in the gulf of Cambodia where Thailand and Cambodia had claimed for both side. The future doesn't look good for the Southeast Asia. Will Oil wealth engulf in flame of war? Can the US protect its Oil or black gold found in the Cambodian Sea Water if the region be shaken?

Thailand have been a bad neighbour who like steal several things from Cambodia and killing Cambodians. During long war which Cambodia was in about 40 years, Thailand had stolen so may things from Cambodia, Things are like culture, land, natural resources and Ankor statues. Many statues were taken from Ankor Wat Temple and other several temples in Cambodia.

And now Thailand is planning to hunt down the whole country to the end of border with Vietnam. It will be a bad dream or big mistake if Thailand dear to invade Cambodia.

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Cambodia premier warns politicos against land grabbing

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen criticized his party members for land grabbing during an internal meeting of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), according to a statement received Sunday.

The statement and sources close to the ruling party said Hun Sen had warned the senior CPP members to desist from land grabbing and other abuses of power.

He also removed the former governor of north-eastern Ratanakiri province, Kham Khoeun, from the party's central committee. Khoeun was recently sentenced in absentia to 17 years in prison by a Cambodian court for his conviction of involvement in a 2004 illegal logging scandal in a protected area of the province.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, a former Khmer Rouge cadre member who defected to Vietnam and returned as a member of the nucleus that overthrew that regime in 1979, was promoted to become a party Permanent Committee member at the same meeting, the statement said, as was Constitutional Council president Bin Chhin.

Chhin led a recent delegation to neighbouring Vietnam aimed at building Cambodian government expertise in clarifying legal documents such as land titles, solving election disputes and fighting government corruption.

The 30-member Permanent Committee is pivotal in formulating party policy.

CPP sources said Hun Sen has grown increasingly impatient with party members who abuse their positions to take land from poor rural villagers and that at least one senior military official has already been forced to give land back to the government.

Donors, rights workers and political analysts have warned that if the problem is not solved, it could disenfranchise CPP supporters in the party's heartland rural areas and eventually lead to political instability. Donors have threatened to withold funds to the aid-dependent nation if endemic corruption is not curbed through legislation.

The Central Committee meeting, held Saturday, came less than a month before vital national commune elections scheduled for April 1.

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Cambodia's ruling party support ECCC to try DK leaders

The Cambodian People's Party ( CPP) supports the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia ( ECCC ) to try former Democratic Kampuchea (DK) leaders, said a CPP statement received on Sunday.

The stance was clarified at the general assembly of the 33rd central steering committee of CPP held here on Saturday.

The major ruling party agreed with the principles of the agreement between the Cambodian government and the United Nations on the trial of former DK leaders, it added.

In early January, Chea Sim, CPP President and also Senate President, said that CPP supported the ongoing process of the ECCC, which was conducted on the correct timing basis.

Earlier this week, ECCC spokesman Reach Sambath told reporters that ECCC would start their task soon.

The UN plans to meet in Thailand to discuss internal regulations for ECCC, Cambodian officials plan to discuss them in Phnom Penh, and the two sides will later meet for final decision, which will then facilitate the start of trial.

The UN and the Cambodian government co-established ECCC to try the former DK leaders at the expenses of 53.6 million U.S. dollars.

According to independent research, about 1.7 million people died of starvation, overwork and mass grave killing in the DK era in the 1970s.

Source: Xinhua


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Cambodia remembers Heroines in history

Local women's organizations in Phnom Penh on Saturday hosted a commemoration of the heroines through Cambodia's history, right before the International Women's Day comes.

Minister of Women's Affairs Ing Kuntha Phavy attended the convention held at the foot of the capital city's symbolic building, the Wat Phnom, together with over 100 deputies from the organizations who prayed and spreaded flowers on the scene.

"The celebration is the efforts to commemorate the lives, the achievements and the contributions to the society and the history of various Cambodian heroines," said a press release issued by the Committee to Promote Women in Politics (CPWP), major sponsor the activity.

In recognition of the legacies and merits of these influential matriarchal figures, we hope to preserve the Khmer heritage for generations to come, it added.

Cambodian women used to play an active role in the national development. In the ongoing Commune Councils Election, women candidates account for 19.8 percent of the major ruling Cambodian People's Party's total list.

Source: Xinhua

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Brunei's expertise can help Cambodia

By Amin Hosni & Za'im Zain

Bandar Seri Begawan - "Cambodia is a young country in the oil sector and Brunei Darussalam has been around much longer, so we need to work together and to learn from each other:
Cambodian Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam Haji Nan Sy said this to two Brunei National Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd personnel who yesterday made courtesy visit to the Bengkurong residence of the ambassador.

The two officers from Brunei National Petroleum Company were Chief Executive Officer Haji Mohd Jaafar Haji Awang Bakar and Business Asset Division Asset General Manager Haji Iskandar Haji Yahya.

Several matters were discussed including possible future investments in Cambodia.

"This is only the first stage to the possibility to having better relations between the two nations.
Brunei’s expertise in the oil and gas can help Cambodia," the ambassadors rid.

"Among the attractions of investment in Cambodia is in the tourist sector", he added.

“The purpose of the visit is to explore the possibility to expand business opportunities in the oil and gas area in Cambodia. We haven't got any definite areas of business yet and still needs further studies,” said Haji Mohd Ja’afar Haji Awang Bakar.

Later, the ambassador presented souvenirs to the two officers. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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Deputy PM to visit US and attend AMM Retreat in Cambodia

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem will pay an official visit from March 11-16 to the United States to strengthen bilateral ties, announced a spokesman on March 1.

Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Dung said the visit, to be made at the invitation of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, aims at boosting the increasingly active momentum in relations between Vietnam and the US, as well as promoting economic, trade, scientific, technological and educational ties.

Measures to implement agreements reached during US President George W. Bush’s visit to Vietnam last November will also be discussed during Deputy PM Khiem’s trip, added the spokesman. (VNA)

* Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem will attend the annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) Retreat slated for March 1-2 in Siem Reap, Cambodia..

The meeting is scheduled to discuss measures for implementing tasks set at the 12th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including the building of an ASEAN Charter and an ASEAN community by 2015, said Le Dung, the spokesman of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry on March 1.

The event will also touch upon issues related to the bloc's foreign relations, with focus on preparations for summit meetings to celebrate the establishment of ties between ASEAN and its dialogue countries, and the 16th ASEAN-EU Foreign Ministers' Meeting, as well as co-operation among ASEAN members.

ASEAN, which was founded in 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (VNA)

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Cambodia: Government accused of more evictiions

The Cambodian government has again been accused of forcibly evicting thousands of urban dwellers from prime real estate in Phnom Penh after it signed a deal with a development company to relocate thousands of residents from a popular tourism area in the capital.

Presenter/Interviewer: Steve Holland

Speakers: The Executive Director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, Pa Nguon Tean; Bou Saroeun, from the World Bank's Cambodian office.
HOLLAND: The Beong Kak lake area is a bustling tourism precinct in the heart of Phnom Penh. It's also home to more than 4,000 low-income families. However, a recent contract means thousands of villagers must leave their homes to make way for development as Cambodia steps up its efforts to boost its tourism industry.

The Executive Director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, Pa Nguon Teang, says sinister motives are behind the deal.
TEANG: We suspect that the corruption is a motive behind the funding.

HOLLAND: The agreement was reached between the Governor of Phnom Penh Kep Chuk Tema and the Soka Ko In Company. Under the deal the company has been awarded a 99-year lease of the Beoung Kok site, covering an area of 133 hectares. The area is planned to be developed as a commercial, cultural and tourism centre. Pa Nguon Teang says the government gave residents little warning of the development.
TEANG: The government didn't give any clear information to the public and there is no transparency of the signing of the contract and no information about the project.

HOLLAND: He says a string of social problems will follow as a result of the development.
TEANG: We worry about the violation of the rights of people. If the people will be evicted and a lot of problem that will have to be faced. For example, their children will lose access to school.

HOLLAND: The deal allows the company to develop the large body of water in Beong Kak - it's one of seven natural lakes in Phnom Penh which are said to be crucial to city's drainage.
Pa Nguon Teang warns the proposed development also presents environmental threats which could impact on the entire city.
TEANG: If the government allows the company to fill up the lake and that's a problem for the people in the capital as a whole.

HOLLAND: The Governor of Phnom Penh, Kep Chuk Tema, was unavailable for comment. However, in a statement obtained by Radio Australia, the governor's office said..

GOVERNOR: The Governor on behalf of Phnom Penh residents expresses his profound thanks to Prime Minister Hun Sen, who provides the possibility for the City Hall to reach the investment agreement. The municipality of Phnom Penh will work together with the company to turn the Beong Kak site into a nice centre in central Phnom Penh.

HOLLAND: Creating incentives to lure more tourists features high on the government's agenda. And Bou Saroeun from the World Bank's Cambodian office, says the tourism industry is vital to Cambodia's economy.
SAROEUN: The tourist sector is Cambodia's second most important foreign exchange earner. Cambodia saw a 20 per cent growth in international tourists arrival in 2006, which is 1.7 million international tourists arrive Cambodia in 2006. And the tourist industry is crucial for the Cambodian economy.

HOLLAND: It's not the first time Phnom Pehn residents have faced the prospect of relocation to make way for development. But it's believed the planned development of the Beong Kak area will result in the greatest displacement of Cambodians since 1989. And, as Cambodia's economy continues to strengthen, many feel it will be poor who pay the price for the country's new-found wealth. .

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KAL launches flight to Cambodia

By Bae Ji-Sook

Staff reporter

Korean Air celebrated the opening of its two new air routes linking Cambodia Wednesday.
The two routes, between Inchon and Phnom Penh, and between Inchon and Siem Reap, have already been in operation since last November. The airline company held an official ceremony in Phnom Penh to celebrate its entering the ``Baht Economy'' that covers Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam as well as Thailand.

Korean Air Chairman and CEO Cho Yang-ho, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An,
Chang Jae-ku, chairman of The Korea Times and its sister paper Hankook Ilbo, and 200 other guests attended the ceremony.

Cho said that the company is going all-out to become one of the 10 largest airlines in the world. He said that Cambodia is a country with large potential and will be the bridgehead to the East Asian market.

``Traditionally, Korean Air has focused on Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, but it is moving to East Asian countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos,'' he said.

Currently, Southeast Asia takes the second largest portion in the number of passengers for the company after Japan.

Cho with a strong will to develop new market has been focusing on the Southeast Asian market and he himself visited the spot to encourage the business. This is the second time the CEO has attended the service-launching ceremony abroad, following an opening event in Shanghai in 2005.

Korean Air, which was established in 1969 as a state-run enterprise, started its business with eight old propeller driven planes. After 37 years, the company has grown into a large airline company with more than 122 state-of-the-art aircraft that fly to 109 cities in 36 countries.

In 2005 the International Air Transport Association named it as the plane company loading the most cargo in world.

Korean Air operates the Inchon-Phnom Penh route every Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday and the route linking Siem Reap, famous for Angkor Wat, everyday.

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Cambodia expects trade with Vietnam to grow by 27 percent

The annual trade volume between Vietnam and Cambodia is expected to grow by 27 percent per year to reach 2.45 billion U.S. dollars by 2010, Cambodian official said here on Wednesday.

"There will be significant rise upon the 940 million U.S. dollars strong (of bilateral trade volume) in 2006, which has placed Vietnam as our fourth biggest trade partner," said Kith Meng, president of Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, on the sideline of the one-day Cambodia-Vietnam Business Forum.

"I believe today that we have the opportunity to take one step further and actually develop stronger ties that will in fact see Cambodia and Vietnam build significantly more paths of friendship between our two great countries, so grass will never grow as our trading paths blossom," he told more than 100 participants of the forum, which was also attended by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and visiting Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet.

"We must find ways to enhance the inter-connectivity, boost investor confidence and open up more economic sectors that can operate seamlessly across our economy," he added.

Also addressing the forum, Kam Si Than, Acting Minister of Commerce, said that in 2006, Cambodia imported from Vietnam about 780 million U.S. dollars worth of commodities, mainly
including clothes, cable, household plastic products, noodles, electronic spare parts and others.
This was an increase of about 244 million U.S. dollars over 2005, he said.

Meanwhile, he said, in the same year, Cambodia exported to Vietnam around 170 million U.S. dollars worth of products, including rubber, forestry, raw resources for clothes products, tobacco leaves, wooden products and others.

This was an increase of about 13 million U.S. dollars over 2005, he said. He noted Cambodia's adverse balance of trade with Vietnam and encouraged Vietnamese investors to pour more money into the kingdom.

Source: Xinhua

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Cambodia: Bring Killers of Trade Unionist to justice

Source: Human Right Watch

(London, February 27, 2007) � The Cambodian government must ensure that the killing of trade unionist Hy Vuthy is thoroughly and independently investigated and that all persons responsible are brought to justice in accordance with international standards of fairness, a group of leading human rights and trade union organizations said today.

The organizations include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights/FIDH and the World Organisation against Torture/OMCT).

On February 24, Hy Vuthy, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) at the Suntex garment factory, was shot dead while riding his motorbike home after finishing his night shift at the Suntex factory in Phnom Penh's Dangkao district. The murder, which took place one kilometer from the factory, was reportedly committed by two men on a motorbike.

Hy Vuthy is the third FTUWKC official to be killed in three years. Chea Vichea, the union's President, was shot dead in January 2004. In May 2004, Ros Sovannareth, the FTUWKC President at the Trinunggal Komara factory, was murdered.

The killing of Hy Vuthy is the latest in a string of attacks and assassinations of union activists in Cambodia. During 2006 there were several violent attacks against FTUWKC officials at Suntex and the neighboring Bright Sky factory. Throughout the year, FTU representatives at the two factories, which have the same owner, lobbied for improvements in employment conditions, particularly relating to contract periods.

In May the union's vice-president at Suntex, Chey Rithy, was attacked while he was riding home from work. The same month, Chi Samon, FTU president of the Bright Sky factory, was attacked by seven men, allegedly including a member of a rival trade union. He was hit several times in the face and on his body with sticks and iron bars. Still in May, Yeng Vann Yuth, active member of FTU of the Bright Sky factory, was attacked as well. In June, Lem Samrith, FTU treasurer of the Bright Sky factory, was beaten by about 20 men as he was coming out of the factory after a night shift. In July, Lay Chamroeun, FTU vice-president of Suntex factory, was attacked by six young men on motorbikes as he was leaving work. In September, Choy Chin, the union secretary-general at Suntex, was beaten on the head by two men armed with a metal pipe. In October, Em Chhay Tieng, FTU vice-president of the Bright Sky factory, was hit in the face and threatened with arrest during a strike in the factory.

Such a pattern of violence is extremely likely to have a chilling effect on the members and leaders of FTUWKC and other union activists throughout Cambodia. It results in the stifling of trade union activities among workers. Cambodia is a party to all major International Labour Organisation conventions, notably those relating to freedom of association and collective bargaining. It is also a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which both provide for the right of everyone to form trade unions and join the trade union of his or her choice as well as the right of trade unions to function freely. The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders of 1998 also enshrines "the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights".

Prosecuting those responsible for Hy Vuthy's killing is the only way to give a clear signal to the perpetrators of acts of violence against trade unionists that such behaviour will not be tolerated in the future. The Cambodian government must put an end to the prevailing climate of impunity.

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Japan donated 1.7million U.S aid food in Cambodia

Here is the beginning of my postThe Japanese government has decided to donate 210 million yen (about 1.7 million U.S. dollars) food aid to Cambodia through the World Food Program (WFP), a press release said on Wednesday.

The food aid will be allocated to Cambodia for vulnerable groups, such as HIV/AIDS patients, tuberculosis patients, primary school children and those who are suffering from chronic food shortage caused by poverty, the press release from the Japanese Embassy to Cambodia said.

And here is the rest of itThe Japanese government has decided to extend food aid totaling 2,520 million yen (about 20.4 million U.S. dollars) through the WFP to support chronically food-insecure people in 13 countries, including the Kingdom of Cambodia, the press release said.

Notes to this effect were exchanged in Rome on Feb. 27 between Mr. Yuji Nakamura, Ambassador of Japan to Italy and Mr. Jean- Jacques Graisse, Senior Deputy Executive Director of the WFP, it added.

Japan has been one of WFP's largest donors since 1992, it said, adding that the WFP Cambodia Office has received about 91 million U.S. dollars from Japan.

Source: Xinhua .

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Roundup: Cambodia, Vietnam highlight trade, economic cooperation

Cambodian and Vietnamese leaders have manifested their determination to consolidate the traditional relations of close friendship between the two countries and expand cooperation in a wide range of areas, especially in trade and economy, said an official press release here on Thursday.

The release was sent to Xinhua by the Ministry of Information to conclude Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet's state visit to the kingdom from Feb. 27 to March 1.

During his visit, Triet respectively met with King Sihamoni, Senate President Chea Sim, National Assembly President Heng Samrin and Prime Minister Hun Sen on bilateral ties and cooperation and co-chaired the Cambodian-Vietnamese Business Forum with Hun Sen.

"The meetings were held in a very cordial atmosphere and in a spirit of close friendship, solidarity and mutual understanding," said the press release.

Meanwhile, at the forum held here on Wednesday, both Hun Sen and Triet pledged that their governments will try harder to strengthen bilateral ties on trade and economic activities.

"The Vietnamese government (will) work to encourage its investors to do business in Cambodia, and at the same time the Vietnamese government (will) support Cambodian investors interested in pouring capital into Vietnam, by ensuring better conditions for them," said Triet.

Hun Sen said that "the bilateral relations between Cambodia and Vietnam can create an environment conducive to trade and employment," while emphasizing that both nations are currently working to develop new opportunities in the context of economic exchange.

Also at the forum, Cambodian government officials said that the annual trade volume between Vietnam and Cambodia is expected to grow by 27 percent per year to reach 2.45 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.

"There will be significant rise upon the almost 950 million U.S. dollars (of bilateral trade volume) in 2006, which has placed Vietnam as our fourth biggest trade partner," said Kith Meng, president of Cambodia Chamber of Commerce.

"We must find ways to enhance the inter-connectivity, boost investor confidence and open up more economic sectors that can operate seamlessly across our economy," he added.

Later addressing the forum, Kam Si Than, Acting Cambodian Minister of Commerce, said that in 2006, Cambodia imported from Vietnam about 780 million U.S. dollars worth of commodities, mainly including clothes, cable, household plastic products, noodles, electronic spare parts and others, which was an increase of about 244 million U.S. dollars over 2005.

Meanwhile, he said, in the same year, Cambodia exported to Vietnam around 170 million U.S. dollars worth of products, including rubber, forestry, raw resources for clothes products, tobacco leaves, wooden products and others, which was an increase of about 13 million U.S. dollars over 2005.

At the forum, both sides signed a trade cooperation agreement, under which the ALPHANAM Sai Gon JSC of Vietnam will supply Amatak Angkor Elevator Company Ltd. of Cambodia with electronic equipment worth around 5 million U.S. dollars, as well as a sports donation agreement, under which Vietnam will offer the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia with products worth about 400,000 U.S. dollars.

Currently, Vietnam is Cambodia's third largest market for exports, following the U.S. and Europe, while Cambodia has been Vietnam's fourth largest importer behind Thailand, China and China 's Hong Kong, according to official statistics.

Source: Xinhua .

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Cambodia welcome U.S. Military Aid, rejects conditions

Cambodia welcomes the United States' decision to award military aid to the kingdom, but rejects any conditions attached to it, the Cambodian Daily reported on Thursday, quoting an official.

"We need assistance without strings attached. If it had strings attached, we would not accept it," Chum Sambath, undersecretary of state for Cambodian Ministry of Defense, was quoted as saying.

Pang Savan, director of the Defense Ministry's department of international relations, said that the U.S. has decided to fund the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) directly because it does not belong to any political party.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle told the paper that some 670, 000 U.S. dollars committed in the fiscal year of 2006 by the U.S. government will be channeled to RCAF to purchase articles such as medical and communication equipment as well as protective gear for border security units.

Another 300,000 U.S. dollars will be used for trucks, spare parts and training, he said.

For the current fiscal year, U.S. aid for RCAF will reach 475, 000 U.S. dollars, he added.

RCAF became eligible for direct U.S. funding after Cambodia agreed not to send U.S. nationals to the International Criminal Court and the United States lifted Cambodia's ranking in its anti- human trafficking report in June, according to Daigle.

Source: Xinhua .

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Roundup: Cambodia, Vietnam highlight trade, economic cooperation

Cambodian and Vietnamese leaders have manifested their determination to consolidate the traditional relations of close friendship between the two countries and expand cooperation in a wide range of areas, especially in trade and economy, said an official press release here on Thursday.

The release was sent to Xinhua by the Ministry of Information to conclude Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet's state visit to the kingdom from Feb. 27 to March 1.

During his visit, Triet respectively met with King Sihamoni, Senate President Chea Sim, National Assembly President Heng Samrin and Prime Minister Hun Sen on bilateral ties and cooperation and co-chaired the Cambodian-Vietnamese Business Forum with Hun Sen.

"The meetings were held in a very cordial atmosphere and in a spirit of close friendship, solidarity and mutual understanding," said the press release.

Meanwhile, at the forum held here on Wednesday, both Hun Sen and Triet pledged that their governments will try harder to strengthen bilateral ties on trade and economic activities.

"The Vietnamese government (will) work to encourage its investors to do business in Cambodia, and at the same time the Vietnamese government (will) support Cambodian investors interested in pouring capital into Vietnam, by ensuring better conditions for them," said Triet. .

Hun Sen said that "the bilateral relations between Cambodia and Vietnam can create an environment conducive to trade and employment," while emphasizing that both nations are currently working to develop new opportunities in the context of economic exchange.

Also at the forum, Cambodian government officials said that the annual trade volume between Vietnam and Cambodia is expected to grow by 27 percent per year to reach 2.45 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.

"There will be significant rise upon the almost 950 million U.S. dollars (of bilateral trade volume) in 2006, which has placed Vietnam as our fourth biggest trade partner," said Kith Meng, president of Cambodia Chamber of Commerce.

"We must find ways to enhance the inter-connectivity, boost investor confidence and open up more economic sectors that can operate seamlessly across our economy," he added.

Later addressing the forum, Kam Si Than, Acting Cambodian Minister of Commerce, said that in 2006, Cambodia imported from Vietnam about 780 million U.S. dollars worth of commodities, mainly including clothes, cable, household plastic products, noodles, electronic spare parts and others, which was an increase of about 244 million U.S. dollars over 2005.

Meanwhile, he said, in the same year, Cambodia exported to Vietnam around 170 million U.S. dollars worth of products, including rubber, forestry, raw resources for clothes products, tobacco leaves, wooden products and others, which was an increase of about 13 million U.S. dollars over 2005.

At the forum, both sides signed a trade cooperation agreement, under which the ALPHANAM Sai Gon JSC of Vietnam will supply Amatak Angkor Elevator Company Ltd. of Cambodia with electronic equipment worth around 5 million U.S. dollars, as well as a sports donation agreement, under which Vietnam will offer the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia with products worth about 400,000 U.S. dollars.

Currently, Vietnam is Cambodia's third largest market for exports, following the U.S. and Europe, while Cambodia has been Vietnam's fourth largest importer behind Thailand, China and China 's Hong Kong, according to official statistics.

Source: Xinhua .

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Cambodia to start tapping Oil in 2010

Cambodia expects to start harvesting revenues from its offshore oil reserves in 2010, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday.

The health and education sectors in Cambodia will receive a large share of the revenues, Hun Sen said while addressing a public ceremony.

In addition, Cambodia will not follow the path of some oil-rich African countries, who can not enrich themselves hereafter due to corruption, he added.

Here on Feb. 23, United States Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said that the Cambodia government should avoid the situation that "a small corrupt elite siphons off revenue that should go to improving the welfare of all the people."

He also noted that the extractive industries, namely oil, gas and various types of mining, in the next three years could more than triple the annual revenue received by the Cambodian government.

Oil buzz started in Cambodia in 2005, when U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp discovered petroleum off its coast, striking black in four of five test wells.

The government declines to give exact figures about the oil reserves. The World Bank has put them at two billion barrels while the UNDP confirmed 700 million barrels.

Source: Xinhua .

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