Khmer Rouge trial enthrals Cambodian public

Robert Carmichael/IPS - On Aug. 17 it was the turn of French national Martine Lefeuvre, who was married to Cambodian diplomat Ouk Keth, to testify.

At the invitation of the Khmer Rouge government, Ouk Keth returned to Phnom Penh in 1977 to help rebuild the nation, but was immediately arrested, tortured for six months and then killed at the infamous Tuol Sleng, otherwise known as S-21, prison that Duch (pronounced Doik) ran.

Duch is the first senior Khmer Rouge cadre to be tried in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, or the Khmer Rouge tribunal, which is backed by the United Nations (UN). He faces a life sentence on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as homicide and torture.

Her husband’s fate unknown to her, Lefeuvre told the court how she searched for several years for news of her missing husband. In 1980 a family friend in a refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border told her he had seen Ouk Keth’s name on a list of people murdered at S-21, a former high school that the Khmer Rouge converted into a prison in 1975. Ouk Keth was one of more than 15,000 thought to have been tortured and executed in the Tuol Sleng (which means ‘Hill of the Poisonous Tree’) facility under Duch’s command.

Lefeuvre returned to France and her two young children.

"I had to tell my children that they must grow up without their daddy," she said breaking down. "My son, who was seven, and my daughter, who was four and a half, asked me every day: ‘Have you seen Daddy? Will we see Daddy again?’ I had to tell them, no, they will never see their daddy again."

Much of the testimony from the tribunal is harrowing, and the experiences of many Cambodians explain why many do not talk about what happened under the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled the country between 1975 and 1979. Around two million people are thought to have died under one of the most brutal regimes in recent history.

But telling Cambodians about those terrible years is a key part of the remit of the joint U.N.-Cambodian tribunal, said Reach Sambath, the head of the tribunal’s public affairs office.

That is a challenge here, where around 85 percent of people live in rural areas, and illiteracy is widespread.

For that reason, the court endorses a number of methods of informing the public, Reach Sambath said. One method that his office runs, for example, is to bus in people from across the country to watch proceedings in the 500- seat auditorium. By mid-August more than 17,000 Cambodians from across the country had attended the trial, he said.

The public affairs office, which operates with limited resources, also produces material that is distributed online and by hand at the court itself. But measured in sheer numbers, the most successful way of letting Cambodians know about the proceedings and workings of the tribunal is through the use of television and radio.

The tribunal’s daily proceedings are broadcast live on national television every day. But many people do not have the time to spend four days a week following events, which is where a surprisingly successful television show has come in.

The weekly half-hour TV show, which is mainly funded by the British Embassy, is entirely independent of the tribunal’s public affairs office. It is broadcast by national broadcaster Cambodia Television Network in its prime lunchtime slot on Mondays and repeated the following day.

The show’s producer, Matthew Robinson of independent production company Khmer Mekong Films, said between two and three million people watch it each week – a sizeable proportion of the South-east Asian country’s 15 million population.

The format is straightforward enough. Robinson, an experienced British producer and director who lives in Phnom Penh, says that two presenters and a guest examine the events of the previous week.

Co-presenter Neth Pheaktra said the purpose of the show is to provide a concise summary of Duch’s trial, which began on February 17.

"During the 24 minutes of the programme we have the summary, the diary of the Duch trial, and the key points that the witness, the defendant and the judges reveal in the court," Neth Pheaktra said.

According to Robinson a key challenge when devising the format was to create a show that was relatively simple to make but that would appeal to the target audience of mainly rural and often poorly educated Cambodians.

"Then (we mould) them all together in a fairly fast-moving way in language that our audience could understand and be interested in," he explained, "so that over a short period, you have seen the most important things in the proceedings that week."

Ung Chan Sophea, the other presenter, said the show’s writers ensure that the scripted wording is as simple as possible, even when trying to convey the complicated legal jargon that characterises legal proceedings.

That is something the live feed, understandably, cannot do.

At a small coffee shop in Phnom Penh, Mao Sophea said he loves the analysis the show provides of the week’s proceedings.

"For me this is a good show, and the presenters are excellent too," he said. "But to tell you the truth, I haven’t heard too many people talking about it – most of the people I know prefer to watch the all-day broadcasts."

And not everyone is a convert. Lah Yum, seated at another table, hardly watches it "because I am normally asleep during lunchtime when this show is broadcast."

But some of Lah Yum’s friends do watch it, and as the trial of Duch heads towards its conclusion, they are interested in more than just the proceedings. They want to see what the process and the verdict will mean to those who lost loved ones under the Khmer Rouge regime:

"What they are waiting to see is how the trial will manage to deliver justice for the families of the victims," he said.

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FAO to donate 12 mln euro to help Cambodia against drought

PHNOM PENH, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will donate 12 million euro (about 17.16 million U.S. dollars) to Cambodia after the country was hit by drought, the FAO official said on Thursday.

"The budget will be signed with Cambodian partner on Sept. 2, but actually we have already helped in fighting against drought in the country," Seung Soy, program assistant for FAO told Xinhua by phone.

"The budget will focus more on helping the training, rice seeds, fertilizers, planting other agricultural crops for local farmers," he said, adding that the finance is from the European Union (EU).

"We also have concern on the food security after it is being hit with drought this year," he added.
Currently, eight provinces in Cambodia have been hit by drought and 40,000 hectares of rice seedlings have been affected by it.

"But Now, Cambodian government has taken actions to save rice seedlings from dry. We used water pumps to help farmers and we prepared seeds for local framers," Chan Tong Ev, secretary of state for Ministry of Agriculture told Xinhua. However, he said he could not comment about the budget, but waiting.
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Cambodians Still Traumatized

Will the long-awaited trial of Khmer Rouge leaders ease Cambodians' trauma, or stir painful memories?

PHNOM PENH—A Cambodian psychiatrist has testified at the trial of a confessed Khmer Rouge torturer that up to 40 percent of Cambodians suffer psychological trouble as a result of the faction’s brutal four-year rule.

“According to research conducted after the Khmer Rouge period, two out of five Cambodians have [suffered] mental problems and psychosocial crises. This figure is high—up to 40 percent” of the population, Chhim Sotheara said.

Studies this year also found that some 14 percent of Cambodians aged 18 and older have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Chhim Sotheara testified at the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who commanded a Khmer Rouge torture center when the group was in power from 1975-79.

During the Khmer Rouge regime, people were trained not to trust each other. This has continued among Cambodians today,” said Chhim Sotheara, of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization, which promotes community mental health programs,

He added that Duch’s trial offers a chance for Khmer Rouge victims to heal through the administration of justice.

The Journal of the American Medical Association this month published new research by experts at the University of North Carolina that found most Cambodians feared the tribunal would stir up painful memories.

Those who most wanted revenge were also likely to suffer PTSD, they wrote.

Some 87.2 percent of Cambodians 35 or older believed trying Khmer Rouge leaders would stir painful memories, they found, adding, "Now that the trials have begun, longitudinal research is needed to determine the impact of the trials on Cambodians' mental health."

Duch is the first of five senior Khmer Rouge figures scheduled to face long-delayed trials and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. His trial, which started in March, is expected to finish before the end of the year.

He could face life imprisonment. Cambodia has no death penalty.

Original reporting by Leng Maly for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Sothea Thai. Khmer service director: Sos Kem. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han. Read more!

Genocide moved from Europe to Africa-France's Veil

By Evelyn Leopold


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The lessons of the Holocaust and the mass killings in Cambodia did not end the threat of genocide as mass slaughter continues in Rwanda and Darfur, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp said on Monday.

Simone Veil, a French politician, addressed the U.N. General Assembly as part of the body’s second commemoration of the Holocaust, timed to the liberation by the Soviet army of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp.

"After the massacre in Cambodia, it is Africa that has been paying the price, in Rwanda, in Darfur," she told the audience, which included other survivors and their families.

Veil, who lost several members of her immediate family, recounted her year at Auschwitz when she was 17. "We don’t talk today about our families. We have to laugh so as not to cry," she said.

Veil, Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman and moderator Shashi Tharoor, a U.N. undersecretary-general, used the occasion to rebuff deniers of the Holocaust.

The General Assembly adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution on Friday condemning Holocaust deniers, weeks after a Tehran conference dominated by speakers questioning the extermination of 6 million Jews in World War Two.

"This new negation worries me because it has found a great echo through the new technology, especially among the young," Veil said, referring to the Internet.

Gillerman was more direct. "Today, that same member state tries to rewrite history, denying the Holocaust, denying the Nazi genocide, denying the painful fate of 6 million Jews and others in Europe, denying the value of human life and the very founding principles of this world body," he said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, after coming to power in August 2005, caused an international outcry by terming the Holocaust a "myth" and calling Israel a "tumour" in the Middle East.

General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Al Khalifa of Bahrain called for paying tribute to all victims, and a representative of the disabled reminded listeners that those who had physical defects were the first to die.

"Today’s commemoration is an important reminder of the universal lessons of the Holocaust, a unique evil which cannot simply be consigned to the past and forgotten, " Al Khalifa said. "The Holocaust was a historical event, which cannot be denied. Its consequences still reverberate in the present."

At a news conference following the ceremony, representatives of the Roma and Sinti (gypsies) made clear that a half a million of their numbers at Auschwitz perished and most in central and eastern Europe were still subject to discrimination and the targets of violence.

"Especially in the countries of Eastern Europe, there are millions of members of our minority who live in ghetto-like housing, often cut off from any infrastructure," Romani Rose Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma said.

He called for the United Nations to appoint a special human rights envoy to promote their rights. Read more!

Cash-rich miner OZ mulling its future

By Sarah-Jane Tasker


OZ Minerals is sitting on $1 billion in cash as it decides how to move forward, and is determined not to repeat past mistakes that forced it to sell most of its assets to China.

New chief executive Terry Burgess said OZ Minerals, which escaped being placed into administration when it sold the bulk of its assets to China Minmetals, was developing a strategy over the next few months that would take the company forward.

He said decisions would be made about what commodities and regions to operate in, The Australian reports.

Its only current assets are the Prominent Hill copper-gold mine in South Australia and exploration ground in Cambodia.
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"What we have is a new company in a very unusual position in as much as there is a project that has recently gone through commissioning and is progressing well, but there is no debt and we have $1bn of cash we have to ensure we spend in the most prudent way," he said.

"Importantly for us, we want to make sure we make the right decisions.

"We don't want to make any repeat mistakes made by us or anybody in the past."

Mr Burgess made the comments as the Melbourne-based miner reported a net loss in the first half of fiscal 2009 of $585.6 million, compared to a loss of $500,000 a year earlier.

OZ said the first-half result was affected by lower commodity prices and a one-off loss of $553.9m on the sale of assets to Minmetals.

Revenue was $854.5m, compared with $529.3m in the first half of fiscal 2008, while revenue from its only surviving operation from the asset sale was $89.6m.

The miner had a cash balance at June 30 of $1bn and debt in the form of convertible bonds with a face value of $US105m ($127m). Read more!

Troops Begin Partial Border Withdrawal

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer


Cambodian soldiers and armored personnel carriers began a step-by-step withdrawal from border positions near Preah Vihear temple on Wednesday, as part of a drawdown deal with Thailand.

The partial withdrawal follows an announcement by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday and a meeting between top military commanders on Monday.

Lt. Gen. Chea Dara, deputy commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, told VOA Khmer “a number of soldiers” had withdrawn from the front line near Preah Vihear temple, which has been at the center of a military standoff since July 2008.

At least seven soldiers from both sides have been killed in skirmishes following the build-up, which began after Preah Vihear temple was listed as a World Heritage Site, prompting protests in Thailand and Thai occupation of land claimed by both sides near the temple.

“We began to pull our soldiers back to their previous bases, following the order of Prime Minister Hun Sen,” Chea Dara said.

The withdrawal included soldiers from Intervention Brigade 11, soldiers from Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces and Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit, he said.

The withdrawal was to reduce tensions from the standoff, said Chhum Socheath, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

“It is a sign of stability in the border area,” he said. “It demonstrates a better situation and cooperation between the soldiers of the two countries along the border.

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Dams menace Mekong River life

PLANS to build a series of dams on the largest river in South-East Asia are threatening to destroy the livelihoods of millions of people in Cambodia and surrounding nations.

The Mekong River flows through the developing country, providing much of the food and nutritional needs of a population estimated at more than 14 million.

Most live a traditional lifestyle, relying on the river to grow their rice crops, and taking fish from the river - one of the world’s largest inland fisheries - for food.

But if plans by the Cambodian, Thai and Laotian governments to dam the river go ahead, these rural communities could find it difficult to survive.

Footscray resident and Leader photographer Glenn Daniels recently made a journey up the Mekong with international aid organisations Oxfam and Manna Gum as part of a campaign to save the river for the millions of people who rely on it.

“The aim of our journey was to document the livelihoods of people who live on the islands along the Mekong and how they’ll be affected if a dam is built,” Mr Daniels said.

Through his skills with a camera, Mr Daniels is hoping to alert Australians to the plight of these people.

His photos will be shown next year in Melbourne.

It was a highly unjust situation that the people found themselves in, Mr Daniels said.

“The first notification that these people had of the dam proposal was some Chinese officials surveying the land,” he said.

“There have been no talks of compensation ... for the relocation of families.”

Spending time with the villagers, sharing meals with them, observing their daily work patterns and watching children play gave Mr Daniels some insight into a lifestyle far removed from suburban life in Melbourne’s West.

“Most of the people we saw or interviewed technically live on less than $1 a day,” Mr Daniels said.

“In monetary terms they are extremely poor, but they grow their own rice, raise pigs, and they work together, along with taking all the fish that they need from the Mekong, and the family buffalo is like their bank account.

“The value of all that is far more than $1 a day.

“If they are forced to move they most likely won’t be able to farm the land any more. They will have to move to the cities, where, if they’re very lucky, they might earn more than $1 a day, but their expenses will also greatly increase so they would probably find it much harder to survive.”

Mr Daniels learnt a lot about a rich and diverse culture from “friendly and gentle people”, along with seeing the impact organisations such as Oxfam have had, including establishing schools, providing clean water and immunisations for animals.

“If these dams go ahead, they will make all the work that Oxfam has put in for these people a waste of time, it will threaten the diversity and health of one of the planet’s most important river systems, and most importantly it will destroy the lifestyles of millions of people,” Mr Daniels said. Read more!

US sex offender given 10 years in jail in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) --

A Cambodian court sentenced an American man on Wednesday to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Chan Madina found Michael James Dodd of Washington, D.C. guilty of soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl. He was arrested in October 2008 at his rented house in the capital, Phnom Penh, in the girl's company.

Dodd was also ordered to pay 20 million riel ($4,878) in compensation to the girl's family.

Florida's Department of Law Enforcement lists the 60-year-old Dodd as a sex offender and details his last registered address as Syracuse, New York. The department's Web site says he was convicted in July 2002 of sexual abuse of a child.

Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign pedophiles because of poverty and corruption in law enforcement. But the country's police and courts have stepped up action against sex offenders in recent years.

Read more!

S.Africa aims to produce own H1N1 flu vaccine

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa has no choice but to develop its own H1N1 flu vaccine, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Wednesday, citing concerns treatment will not be available to poorer nations.

"South Africa has arrived at a situation where we have no option but to start developing our own vaccine capacity, not only for H1N1, but generally," Motsoaledi told parliament.

"The disturbing feature about today's world... has been expressed by the minister of health for Cambodia... who noted that the developed world, after producing the vaccine, may want to cover their own population first before thinking about the developing world," Motsoaledi said.

South Africa does have a growing vaccine industry, but is considered by experts to be unlikely to be able to produce a swine flu vaccine any time soon.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared swine flu a pandemic in June. It has killed some 1,800 people after spreading to nearly 180 countries, 25 of them in Africa.

Latest figures from South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases show 15 people have died from the virus and over 5,000 cases have been reported.

Swine flu, which mostly hits pregnant women and young children, has infected about 182,000 people worldwide, according to official figures, although health experts and scientists say the real tally is probably in the millions.

It is largely treatable using oseltamivir but vaccines are recommended as a population-wide method of prevention.

Motsoaledi, citing WHO statistics, said potential H1N1 vaccines were unlikely to be developed before November at the earliest or by April next year.

"Unfortunately ... there is no capacity in developing countries to produce their own vaccines and at the moment all the vaccine production is being processed in Europe and America, with China also in the process of doing so," he said.

Companies making vaccines include AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit, CSL, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Novartis AG and Sanofi-Aventis SA.

Roche AG and Gilead Sciences Inc's Tamiflu and Glaxo's Relenza can treat influenza, and were recommended for people with a risk of complications or death. Read more!

New bird count finds more rare ibises in Cambodia

In this Nov. 2, 2006 photo released by wildlife conservation groups of BirdLife International, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), White-shouldered Ibis perch on branches of a tree in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Conservation organizations announced Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009, that a new bird census has found that there are more of the endangered White-shouldered Ibis living in Cambodia than had previously been thought to be surviving worldwide. (AP Photo/BirdLife International, WCS, WWF)

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — A new bird census has found that Cambodia is home to more endangered white-shouldered ibises than had been thought were in existence worldwide, three conservation organizations said Wednesday.

A joint statement from BirdLife International, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature said 310 of the wading birds were found in the country's north and northeast during research carried out in July.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, had estimated this year that from 50 to 249 mature white-shouldered ibises were in existence worldwide, making the species critically endangered.

Hugh Wright, a PhD student at Britain's University of East Anglia who has been leading the research for 18 months, said there was a good chance that the actual population exceeded 310.

"Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the population has increased or is recovering, instead we are just starting to make more effort to count them and searching in more places," he said.

The statement did not mention any plans to expand their research.

The birds, considered endangered by the World Conservation Union, have a dark plumage with a pale blue collar and an off-white patch on the forewings, according to the Web site of the IUCN. They are found mainly in Cambodia although they were once common in other Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia, it said.

The statement said that it was not yet clear why the bird's numbers have been in decline in the last few decades, "although hunting and habitat destruction are likely to have played a part." It said they will conduct a new count in Cambodia in September.

Read more!

Key memo from JBC

By The Nation


Parliament will tomorrow consider an important memo from a ThaiCambodian Joint Border Commission meeting.

"I think it must be something about territory or budget," Kriangkrai Sampatchalit, directorgeneral of the Fine Arts Department, said yesterday.

The commission did not need to submit its minutes of the meeting to Parliament if it just agreed on a cooperation framework, he said.

"So far, I don't know the details of the memo that Parliament will look at on August 28," he said.

The department had been in charge of the preservation of historical sites and academic aspects only, he said.

Thailand and Cambodia have worked together well on the academic front even though both have claimed ownership to a 4.5squarekilometre area around Preah Vihear Temple on their common border, he added.

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How Cambodian culture re-emerged after the devastating Pol Pot years

By Tom Fawthrop, Bangkok Post

The awesome grace and meticulous movements of the performers have entranced audiences since ancient times, an experience now shared with plane-loads of tourists descending on Siem Reap in western Cambodia, the jumping off point for the world's largest temple complex - legendary Angkor Wat.

Dating back to the days of the great Angkor empire that flourished from the 9th to 15th centuries, Cambodian dance is a celebration of the gods, mythology, and the world of the royal palace.

This 144-page, lavishly-illustrated, coffee-table book authored by Denise Heywood, a lecturer on Asian art, brings the reader a fine appreciation of Cambodian dance intertwined with the turbulent history and how it has always been at the core of Khmer culture and identity. The book details and explains the origins and development of the dances, music, and shadow puppetry, all in the context of their spiritual importance as a medium for communicating with the gods.

But Cambodia's recent tragedy brought its great tradition of dance near oblivion. The "Killing Fields" regime of the Khmer Rouge not only killed through slave labor, starvation, and slaughter nearly 2 million people, including 90 percent of artists, dancers, and writers, but it also came close to extinguishing Khmer culture and tradition. Pol Pot's brand new agrarian dystopia had no place for the arts, culture, or any other kind of entertainment except xenophobic songs and Pol Pot propaganda.

Heywood first arrived in Cambodia as a freelance writer in 1994, and her interest in dance was heightened by the extraordinary tale of how a few dancers and choreographers survived the genocidal years from 1975 to 79.

In January 1979, a new Heng Samrin government backed by Vietnam proclaimed the restoration of normal society after four years of the Pol Pot regime had trashed most aspects of family life and the previous society.

A handful of survivors emerged from the darkest era in Cambodian history dedicated to resuscitating their cherished traditions of dance. Actor, poet, and director Pich Tum Kravel and former director of the National Conservatory Chheng Phon were among the cultural stars who miraculously survived.

They became the key people enlisted by the new Ministry of Information and Culture under Keo Chenda, charged with the critical mission of bringing all the surviving dancers together.

The expertise was handed down through the generations from master to pupil and never documented in written form, so everything depended on human memory. The late Chea Samy became the leading teacher at the re-established School of Fine Arts in 1981 (ironically Pol Pot was her brother-in-law).

Piecing together the collective memories of survivors and much of the vast repertory, the performing arts were revived.

When this reviewer saw the post-Pol Pot Cambodian National Dance Company perform in Phnom Penh in 1981, it was a highly-emotional experience. Members of the audience wept. This outpouring of raw emotion encompassed both tears of sadness for those loved ones they would never see again - and tears of joy that Khmer dance was alive again and had risen from the ashes of nihilistic destruction.

Nothing had greater significance for the Khmer people in this process of rebuilding than this revival of the nation's soul and psyche in which dance plays a central role.

While Heywood is to be commended for her documentation of the revival of dance in the 1980s, it is a pity she has wrongly contextualized this cultural renaissance by claiming that "Heng Samrin's Vietnamese government" organized a national arts festival in 1980.

In fact, President Heng Samrin and everyone else in the new government were all Cambodians and not Vietnamese. Somehow the author has been infected with the cold war propaganda emanating from Asean governments and US embassies in the region.

The reality was more complicated. The cultural revival depicted in this book makes it clear that Vietnamese control over security and foreign policy, despite tensions and differences with their Cambodian allies, did not block the re-emergence of Khmer culture that at the same time planted the seeds for future independence.

In 2003, Unesco bestowed formal recognition proclaiming the Royal Ballet of Cambodia to be a masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage. And one year later, Prince Norodom Sihamoni, a former ballet choreographer and dancer, was crowned king.

Thai classical dance borrows much from the dance traditions of Angkorian times. After Siam's invasion of Siem Reap in 1431, hundreds of Cambodian dancers were abducted and brought to dance in Ayutthaya, at that time the capital hosting the royal court of the Thai king.

This timely book also mentions that Cambodian choreographer Sophiline Shapiro has, among many other projects, adapted Mozart's Magic Flute to Khmer classical dance as part of a 2006 festival to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the great composer's birth.

This production with many innovations caused a stir among the purists. Shapiro passionately defends her new productions against the critics, telling the author "increasing the repertory of dance will help to preserve it and prevent it from atrophying or becoming a museum piece."

Read more!

Cambodia Releases E-Government Guidelines

PHNOM PENH, The agency behind the nationwide e-government released a long-awaited guidelines for the first time, at the end of last week detailing what ministries and other government departments needed to do, to take their services online, a local media reported on Wednesday.

The National Information Communications Technology Development Agency (NIDA) also released information security to ensure government information was kept secure and protected from system intruders, China's Xinhua news agency reported, citing a report from the Phnom Penh Post.

NIDA Secretary General Phu Leewood was quoted as saying that the e-Government Service Deployment Plan was important for building information communication technology (ICT) capacity in govenment and also for tracking progress and what remained to be done.

"This is a master map for us to walk together in the right diection for all [government and private] institutions to get up to speed with the global ICT sector," he said.

Thirty government ministries and institutions received the two sets of guidelines at a seminar last week.

The guidelines were based on a needs analysis conducted at all relevant ministries in 2007 with technical assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

They identify areas in which e-government can be used to build the public service competency of government institutions, provide guidelines for collecting data and help establish a blueprint for expanding government services.

Van Khema, a deputy director at NIDA in Charge of networks, said the key obstacle in the path of the e-government rollout is the connection of all 24 provinces to the central government's information-sharing system via a fibre-optic backbone.

He declined to give a timeline, saying only the infrastructure would be in place "soon".

Called the Provincial Administration Information System Project, the e-government project has a budget of some US$15 million to connect offices within each province to one another, and another US$20 million to connect each province to the government in Phnom Penh.

Three data centers -- in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville -- will act as hubs for surrounding provinces.

-- BERNAMA
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ADB, S.Korea Support Cambodia to Improve Cross-Border Road Links

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Republic of Korea are supporting road and border improvements in Cambodia to help reduce poverty, increase economic opportunities, and boost ongoing efforts to strengthen trade and tourism in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), a press release issued by ADB on Tuesday said.

ADB's Board of Directors approved a loan equivalent to 16.3 million U.S. dollars for the project which will rehabilitate 113 kilometers of a national road in the northwest of the country, and upgrade a cross-border facility with Thailand. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance of Korea is extending a loan equivalent to 25. 6 million U.S. dollars through its Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF).

The pot-holed gravel road, that is impassable in the wet season due to flooding, cuts through two of the poorest provinces in the country -- Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meanchey. It links up with another major route which is a key conduit for goods and people between northwest Cambodia and northeast Thailand, and also forms a feeder connection to the GMS east-west corridor.

Roads are the lifeblood of transport in the GMS but poor surfaces raise costs, cause lost economic opportunities and contribute to high accident rates. The upgraded road and border facility will reduce travel times, improve traffic safety, increase access to markets, and provide new job and business opportunities. It will be another step to strengthen connectivity and develop economic corridors across the GMS -- a bloc of six nations committed to closer ties that support sustainable growth, boost employment and reduce poverty.

"The project will support the GMS strategy by improving connectivity between Thailand and Cambodia, thereby enhancing subregional transport and trade," said Shihiru Date, transport specialist in ADB's Southeast Asia Department.

The improved facilities are expected to aid cross-border tourism as the restored road connects to a key east-west route to Siem Reap site of the world famous Angkor Wat temple. Opportunities for contract farmers, who cultivate high-value fruit for export to neighboring countries should also expand, while the all-weather surface will improve access to health and education facilities. The project will include an HIV prevention and anti- human trafficking program, as new cross-border roads represent a potential threat for the spread of communicable diseases, and the trafficking of women and children.

ADB's loan, from its concessional Asian Development Fund, comprises 34 percent of the total project cost. It has a 32-year term with an eight year grace period carrying a one percent interest charge, and 1.5 percent for the balance. The Government of Cambodia will contribute counterpart funds of six million U.S. dollars, while the Ministry of Public Works and Transport will be the executing agency.

The estimated completion date for the project is December 2013.
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KRouge trial can help trauma

PHNOM PENH - THE trial of Khmer Rouge leaders is a chance for the regime's victims to overcome their lingering trauma, a psychological expert told Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal on Tuesday.

Dr Chhim Sotheara was testifying at the trial of Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav and who stands accused of overseeing the torture and execution of roughly 15,000 people at Tuol Sleng prison during the regime's 1975-79 rule.

But the expert, who is director of Cambodia's Transcultural Psycho-social Organisation, noted that the victims' trauma seemed to reoccur after they observed the court proceedings.

The denial by some Khmer Rouge leaders of their roles in the atrocities also created more pain for the victims, he said.

Dr Sotheara said that people were traumatised throughout the nation after the Khmer Rouge destroyed the country's infrastructure and created an 'environment of fear'.

He told the court that Cambodians could cope with their three-decade-old trauma only when justice had been served and the truth behind regime was revealed.

'The trial of the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge is an opportunity for the victims who have suffered and who have been traumatised for many years to overcome their trauma through justice,' he said.

'It will be very helpful to heal the wounds, the suffering of those victims,' he added.

Dr Sotheara told the court that for every five Cambodians, two had developed trauma, while 14 percent of country's population aged over 18 had experienced post-traumatic stress disorder.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.

Several senior officials from the regime face trial. -- AFP


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Siam Cement may revive Vietnam petrochemical plans

BANGKOK, Siam Cement PCL (SCC.BK), Thailand's largest industrial conglomerate, said on Monday it could move ahead with a plan to build a petrochemical complex in Vietnam that has been delayed by the global economic crisis.

The project required an investment of about $3-4 billion and sentiment in financial markets hads now improved, which could make it easier for the company to get financing, President Kan Trakulhoon told reporters.

"The situation has improved and we decided to hire an adviser. In the past, we had to postpone it because the financial market was closed. If we get some financing, we will move ahead," Kan said.

In March, Siam Cement said the project would be delayed for at least two years because the global financial crisis had made it difficult for the company and its partner, Petrovietnam, to finance the project.

Apart from the petrochemical complex in Vietnam, Siam Cement also delayed two cement projects in Indonesia and Cambodia.

Vietnamese state oil group Petrovietnam and Siam Cement began construction of the joint-venture complex last year in the southern province of Ba Rai Vung Tao.

The first part of the project had been expected to be completed in 2011 and the second in 2013.

At 0457 GMT, Siam Cement shares were up 1.82 percent at 195.50 baht, in line with the overall Thai stock market. ($1=34.00 Baht) (Reporting by Pisit Changplayngam; Writing by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Alan Raybould)

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Tourist arrivals rebound in July in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, A 10 percent jump in tourist arrivals in July eroded losses over the first six months of the year, local media reported on Monday, citing unofficial numbers released by Tourism Minister Thong Khon.

More than 163,000 people visited the country last month, bringing arrivals for the first seven months of the year to 1,284, 085, a 0.3 percent rise on the l,246,685 million visitors through to the end of July 2008, the Phnom Penh Post quoted Thong Khon as saying.

Figures for the first six months of the year show a l.1 percent fall in visitor arrivals, compared with a year earlier, to 1,086, 518. The figures include tourists and business travelers.

An increase in visitors from neighboring Laos and Vietnam offset a huge fall in arrivals from South Korea, which was the single largest source country for foreign visitors in the early part of 2008.

Accurate numbers were unavailable for July, but visitors from South Korea fell 33 percent year-on-year over the first half from 160,446 to 106,345. Arrivals from Vietnam were up 40 percent over the same period from 105,275 to 147,721, while Laotian visitors increased 141 percent to 52,708.

"Vietnamese tourists still lead tourists from all other countries, followed by those from South Korea and America," he said.

Ho Vandy, co-chairman of the Government-Private Sector Forum's Tourism Working Group, said the slight recovery in July had been noticed. "[it's] a good sign for all of us who earn a living in the tourism sector, and we are not so concerned now about the slow months earlier this year," he said.

Cambodia's Hotel Association (CHA) President Luu Meng said the number of booking in hotels was increasing, indicating the recovery was the start of better times ahead. "We have received more reservations and bookings from people coming to stay and visit our country, mostly from Japan, Europe and America," he was quoted as saying.

Thong Khon said he was optimistic arrivals would expand between 2 percent and 3 percent from 2008, when 2.12 million people visited Cambodia. (PNA/Xinhua)

ALM/ebp Read more!

PHI Mining Group Provides Corporate Update

LOS ANGELES, CA and FRANKFURT, GERMANY--(Marketwire - August 24, 2009) - PHI Mining Group, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: PHIG) (FRANKFURT: RPBA), www.phimining.com, a company engaged in mining, today announced management updates regarding important corporate activities.

Since November 2008, PHI Mining Group has entered into a number of agreements with strategic partners in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam to participate in mining opportunities including gold, black pearl granite, copper, manganese, and limestone. Recently, the Company has also partnered with VCS Mining, LLC (www.vcsmining.com) to explore special opportunities in Haiti.

In the near term the Company will focus on the black pearl granite and manganese projects in Thailand, the copper project in Vietnam, the limestone project in Cambodia, and the VCS-PHI partnership in Haiti.

The black pearl granite mining area is situated in Wang Mee Commune, Wang Nam Kiew District, Nakhon-Ratchasima Province, Thailand, approximately 81 acres, with estimated total capacity of 1,400,000 cubic meters and minimum capacity of 495,000 cubic meters. In addition, other mines that are part of the this project include: (1) a brown marble mine in Saraburi Province with estimated total capacity of 1,750,000 cubic meters and minimum capacity of 750,000 cubic meters, (2) a black marble mine in Lopburi Province with estimated total capacity of 1,200,000 cubic meters and minimum capacity of 450,000 cubic meters, and (3) a yellow marble mine in Lampang Province with estimated total capacity of 1,800,000 cubic meters and minimum capacity of 800,000 cubic meters.

The mining area for the manganese deposits is approximately 125 hectares (approximately 310 acres), located in Village No. 4, Watthana Nakhon Sub-district, Watthana Nakhon District, Prachin Buri Province, Thailand. The value of this manganese mine is estimated to be in excess of $US 75 million.

The Vietnam copper mining area is located in Nam He - Huoi Say, Muong Tung Commune, Muong Cha District, Dien Bien Province. Nam He project is regarded as the fourth biggest reserve of copper ores in the Northwest region of Vietnam. Previous surveys have shown that the copper metal reserve amounts up to 200,000 metric tons, with an estimated valuation of approximately $1 billion.

The Cambodia limestone mining area is located in Strung Treng Province. It has been estimated that the mineralized deposits in this area exceed 2 billion metric tons and could be worth several billion dollars. PHI Mining Group has partnered with Paul Cham Group Co., a Phnom Penh-based company, to work on this project.

The VCS-PHI Joint Venture will initially focus on further exploration in selected locations that are expected to show significant mineralized deposits, the Northeastern and Southeastern areas of Haiti.

A geological study of the northeastern section of Haiti situated along the margin of the Caribbean plate reveals the presence of copper and gold porphyry deposits. This geological environment in Haiti, which hosts numerous gold and copper occurrences, is similar to the Pueblo Viejo deposit in the adjacent Dominican Republic. According to reports from Barrick Gold Corporation (www.barrick.com), Pueblo Viejo has 215 million tons of proven and probable reserves containing 20.4 million ounces of gold, 117.3 million ounces of silver, and 423.5 million pounds of copper, as of the close of 2007. In contrast, Haiti's mineral potential has yet to be fully explored.

PHI Mining is in the process of completing the required financial audits to update its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and resume trading on the OTCBB. The Company will continue to report further progress on the projects mentioned above in the near future.

About PHI MINING GROUP

PHI MINING GROUP is a U.S.-based mining and exploration enterprise focused on acquiring and developing precious metal, base metal and industrial mineral properties. The company has signed agreements to acquire interests in gold, lead, zinc, copper, granite, and limestone properties in South East Asia and has partnered with VCS Mining, LLC. to explore mining opportunities in Haiti. PHI Mining Group is committed to high standards in the areas of environmental management and health and safety for its employees and neighboring communities. Web site: www.phimining.com.

Safe Harbor: This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected on the basis of such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based upon management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

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Top army leaders of Cambodia, Thailand meet in Phnom Penh

PHNOM PENH, The top army leaders of Cambodia and Thailand met in Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh on Monday to reiterate their good cooperation and to strengthen their relationship.
Cambodia's military sources said during the meeting Gen. Pol Saroeun, commander-in-chief of Cambodian Royal Armed Forces, and Songkitti Jaggabatara, supreme commander of the Thai army, reiterated their statements of making good cooperation and relations, especially, between the armies of the two nations.

Both Pol Saroeun and Songkitti affirmed that good cooperation and relations are of common interest for both nations, the sourcessaid.

The two sides, however, did not talk on redeployment of troops stationed near khmer Preak Vihear temple, saying the issue shall be left for decision by the two countries' regional commanders there.

It is the first time for Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatara to make a visit to Cambodia and it is also the first time to hold such top army leaders' meeting.

But since the border dispute between the two countries occurred last year that resulted in the deaths of a number of soldiers, and several others injured, many round of talks at different levels were held including prime ministers, defense and foreign ministerial level down to regional commanders.

Songkitti Jaggabatara who arrived in Cambodia late Monday will return to Thailand on Tuesday after a planned brief sightseeing visit to Angkor Wat in Siem Reap province.
Read more!

Iraq, Vietnam wars share similarities

Many thinking Americans believe that comparisons between current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Vietnam conflict of 40 years ago are inappropriate and unnecessary. I disagree and would like to share several similarities I've discovered. Here are just a few:

Congress never declared war in Vietnam and did not fulfill this Constitutional obligation for Iraq or Afghanistan. Instead, Congress abrogated its responsibility and deferred these critical decisions to the president and his advisors. As a result, the United States was deprived of the opportunity to openly argue, debate and analyze the consequences of war before placing so many young Americans in harm's way.

The stated reasons for all these wars are suspect. In Vietnam, it was the dubious Gulf of Tonkin Resolution while in Iraq the elusive weapons of mass destruction justified an invasion. Committing our troops without debate and analysis allowed misinformation, fear and clouded judgment to establish foreign policy that the United States has endured for decades.

In Vietnam, U.S. military leadership seriously underestimated the determination and resolve of those "little guys in black pajamas" while in Afghanistan, the British, Russians and Americans were stunned that illiterate mountain tribesmen could go toe to toe with the best trained and equipped armies in the world. Only arrogance can explain this critical lapse in judgment.

Geopolitical considerations have influenced all of these conflicts. Remember that Cambodia and Laos were largely off limits to the U.S. incursions during the Vietnam War and were safe havens for our adversaries. Today, the rugged, frontier border regions of Pakistan and Iran pose similar problems for military planners.

Finally, our impatient, high-tech, push-button approach to warfare is at odds with hit and run tactics of elusive guerrilla fighters in the mountains of Afghanistan just as it was 40 years ago in the jungles of Vietnam. Asymmetrical warfare continues to befuddle our military strategists who promise surgically precise operations and quick results.

So, what is gained by comparing past and present armed conflicts? Perhaps if we reflect on where we've been we can better determine where we are going as a nation. And maybe Congress will face up to its most important constitutional obligation and challenge our chief executive when the issue is whether or not to send our people into war.

Greg Capito Read more!

Millions Of Asian Women At HIV Risk

Approximately 50 million women in Asia are at risk of contracting HIV from their husbands or long-term partners, according to a UNAIDS report.

According to the report, by 2008, women accounted for 35% of all adult HIV cases in Asia, compared with 17% in 1990. In addition, more than 90% of the 1.7 million HIV-positive women in Asia contracted the virus from their husbands or long-term partners, according to UNAIDS.

It added that in Cambodia, India and Thailand, the largest number of new HIV cases occurs among married women.

According to the report, the spread of HIV in Asia primarily occurs through unprotected commercial sex, the sharing of dirty needles among injection drug users and unprotected sex among men who have sex with men.

Men who buy sex make up the largest group living with HIV, according to the report, which added that most of these men are either married or will get married. The report found that at least 75 million men regularly buy sex in Asia, while an additional 20 million are MSM or IDUs. Read more!

Border trade zone draws thousands

AN GIANG — The official opening of the Tinh Bien Commercial Zone in An Giang Province today coincides with a festival to promote high quality Vietnamese goods in the Tinh Bien area that borders Cambodia.

The 10ha commercial zone with duty-free businesses attract 1,500 visitors every day.

Forty-three companies have registered to conduct business in the zone, representing a total of more than VND350 billion (US$19.5 million) in registered capital. Twenty-four of them have begun operations.

Domestic and international tourists are allowed to buy imported products at the supermarket in the Tinh Bien Commercial Zone, and are exempt from import taxes, value-added tax and special consumption taxes for the first VND500,000 of purchases.

The two-day festival of Vietnamese goods attracted 60 Vietnamese businesses to display high quality goods, including textiles and garments, footwear, handicrafts, chemicals, foodstuff and construction materials.

The festival is part of Viet Nam’s efforts to enhance exports and duty-free sales to Cambodia, according to organisers.

Participating enterprises could take the opportunity to promote trade and explore distribution channels, said the An Giang People’s Committee chairman, Lam Minh Chieu.

Cambodian distributors can also sign import deals at the event.

Nguyen Minh Tri, head of the zone’s management board, said the fair played a significant role in the export of Vietnamese goods to Cambodia.

During the fair, Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Joint-Stock Company and An Giang Province’s General Hospital will provide free health check-ups for 400 poor residents living in Cambodia’s border area.

The organisers will also take preventive measures against swine flu during the event.

An Giang, sharing a 94-km-long frontier with Cambodia, is home to five international and national border gates, including Tinh Bien, Vinh Xuong, Khanh Binh, Bac Dai and Vinh Hoi Dong.

The province said total export turnover of commodities transported via the five border gates in the first eight months of 2009 was US$438 million. — VNS Read more!

Lasers the weapons of choice in battle to preserve world heritage sites

By Paul Gallagher

Scientists are to record three-dimensional models of world heritage sites so that they can be recreated if they fall victim to climate change, natural disaster, war or terrorism.

The team of six Scottish scientists - from Historic Scotland and the Glasgow School of Art - will team up next month with an American company, CyArk, to shoot laser beams at Mt Rushmore in South Dakota.

They will create a 3D model accurate to within 3mm, digitally preserving the carved faces of former Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln should they need to be repaired.

Funding for the project was rushed through because of concerns over the deterioration of the granite rockface.

CyArk has identified several other "at-risk" sites, including the Acropolis in Athens, threatened by acid rain, and Machu Picchu in Peru, which suffers from excessive tourism. Pollution, over-expansion and deforestation may have permanently damaged Tikal National Park in Guatemala, one of the largest archaeological remains of the pre-Columbian Maya civilisation.

CyArk's aim is to create 3D models of 500 sites around the world in a five-year project.

Work began this year on scanning the underworld of Rome, 170km of winding catacombs dating back two millennia, and the Zapotec capital of Monte Alban, in Mexico.

Other sites proposed for digital mapping include Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Khmer temple complex built for King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century, Thebes in Egypt and Pompeii, the Roman town buried by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.

The Scottish team has already created 3D models of Stirling Castle and Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian, Scotland.

Scanning is almost complete on New Lanark's world heritage site, a restored 18th-century cotton mill in southern Scotland. Once work is complete at Mount Rushmore in October, the team will move to Skara Brae, "the heart of Neolithic Orkney", on an island north of Scotland, which is under threat from coastal erosion.

Read more!

THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN SAILORS' BIBLE

If you're travelling around the region by boat, there's one publication that you must have

Writer: By Alan Parkhouse


Newspaper section: BrunchIn the past 20 years Thailand has become the boating capital of Asia, with both locals and foreigners taking to the sea in large numbers. Some prefer to sail yachts and enter the many annual regattas held in Thailand, while others prefer a boat with a motor and go cruising along the coastlines or weave their way through the country's many small islands.

One thing both groups have in common - apart from being surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in the world - is the need for a comprehensive guide book. They need to know where it's too shallow to go, where to drop anchor for the night, where to get fuel, food and water, and most importantly, where there are reefs or rocks that will send their boats down to Davy Jones' locker if they're not careful.

For many years the guide book many used and swore by was the Andaman Sea Pilot. Now the third edition of this book has been released and it has been updated and expanded to cover a much larger area, and given a new name. It went on sale last month after an official launch party - aboard a boat, of course - during the annual Phuket Raceweek Regatta.

It is now called Southeast Asia Pilot, and since its launch in Phuket last month orders have been flooding in from skippers and boat owners around the world.

"We call it the Sailors' Bible and I wouldn't go to sea anywhere in Southeast Asia without it," says Captain Marty Rijkuris, who runs the hugely popular internet sight http://www.asianyachting.com, which covers all aspects of sailing in Asia.

The latest edition of the book covers approximately two million square miles and nine countries, with detailed information about marine conditions in Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and India's Andaman Islands. There is also a lot of detail on the best east-west routes through southern Indonesia.

For those sailing to Thailand from Australia or New Zealand, or coming from Sri Lanka or India in the west, this book is a must have.

Between the maps and charts is a wealth of information, covering everything from where to anchor through the day and at night, if a water supply is available, seaside restaurants, transport and even diving and snorkling locations.

Even for a non-sailor this book makes fascinating reading, and it's easy to see that the two experienced men who wrote this book have really done their homework.

For example, one section on the sea gypsies, or the Moken people, in southern Burma, reads: "We occasionally come across the Moken in the Mergui Archipelago. They pull into a nearby beach in their flotilla of boats. Adults, children, cats, dogs, chickens and ducks leap off each boat and rush into the jungle to forage. Suddenly, at some hidden signal, people and animals come rushing back out of the forest and jump on the boats just before they leave for another anchorage.

"Sometimes the Mokens cautiously approach our yacht with a gift of rock oysters or the haunch of a wild bear after a successful hunt. They are always delighted when we give them a gift in return - a roll of cloth or a dive mask. If the Moken do not approach you they want to be left alone."

The book's two authors, Englishman Andy Dowden and Australian Bill O'Leary, who also took the beautiful pictures in the guide, are both colourful characters with a wealth of experience on the water.

O'Leary, a professional mariner, sailed to Thailand from Australia in 1987 aboard a sleek yacht called Stormvogel, which was featured in the Hollywood film Dead Calm. O'Leary helped with the filming off Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef before sailing the yacht to Phuket.

He then joined the up-market Amanresorts as founder and general manager of Amancruises, the original luxury powerboat charter business in Phuket which caters to the rich and famous.

For more than 20 years he built and commissioned scores of local and imported charter vessels and trained more than 150 Thai crew, before retiring early this year.

Dowden left the UK in 1981 aboard his own 46-foot sloop to cruise the world and arrived in Thailand for the first time in 1984 after several years of cruising Southeast Asia. In 1989 he set up a yacht services and boat building business in Phuket and wrote a number of cruising guides for the local waters.

Dowden has spent 25 years sailing the waters of Thailand and Malaysia and is still involved in the yachting industry, helping to organise two of the country's most popular regattas and running the annual International Boat Show in Phuket.

"Bill and I put a lot of hard work into every edition of this book because we both realise what a great advantage it is to have on a boat," Dowden told Brunch. "Apart from all our own research, we invited a select number of well qualified voyagers to update facilities and opportunities in this rapidly developing cruising destination.

"The best professionals have created detailed, helpful and accurate charts and a logical, easy to use, layout style."

Southeast Asia Pilot is available at most leading bookstores, or it can be ordered direct from the website, http://www.andamanseapilot.com. Read more!

Two French men held on underage sex charges in Cambodia - Summary

Phnom Penh - Two French nationals were questioned at a Phnom Penh court on Saturday on charges of soliciting sex from a minor and producing child pornography. Both crimes carry the possibility of lengthy jail sentences. The head of the municipal police's anti-trafficking department, Keo Thea, said both men would be charged by the court on Sunday.

"They were questioned today on the first charge of having sex with a 16-year-old girl and on the second charge of making child pornography," Keo Thea said.

The men, named by the Cambodia Daily newspaper as 62-year-old Michel Jean Raymond Charlot and 60-year-old Claude Jean-Pierre Demeret, were arrested after Charlot solicited a 16-year-old at a well-known red-light district in Phnom Penh and brought her back to his guesthouse.

The girl then told the police about Demeret.

Police searched the room at the guesthouse where Demeret was staying and found a collection of sexually explicit videos and photographs of him, most of which the police said were taken in Thailand.

A search of Charlot's room uncovered a collection of similar photographs and videos.

Keo Thea earlier told national media that their arrests were a significant success for the police.

"[Demeret] confessed that he had actually taken a lot more pictures in Thailand than in Cambodia," Keo Thea told the Cambodia Daily, adding that police believed the images were made for commercial purposes rather than, as the men had claimed, their own entertainment.

Police said evidence against the men included children's underwear and toys, as well as dozens of videos of the suspects and numerous sexually explicit photographs of the men with what police believe are children in Thailand.

Cambodia has long been seen as an easy place for foreigners to procure sex with minors, which under Cambodian law that combats sexual exploitation is anyone under the age of 18. In recent years the authorities have cracked down on the problem.

Read more!

Tuned In: Professor explores ancient civilizations in "Out of Egypt"

By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


PASADENA, Calif. -- Discovery Channel lucked into a sellable concept with "Out of Egypt," a new series hosted by youthful UCLA assistant professor of Egyptian art and architecture Dr. Kara Cooney.

She's not quite Lara Croft -- unless Croft makes near-constant hand motions that, from a distance, make her look like she could be dribbling a basketball -- but her presence does make the hour-long ancient history lesson more palatable.

Cooney takes viewers down narrow, claustrophobic tunnels beneath Egyptian pyramids but also to structures that have been built around the world, from Aztec temples in Mexico to Cambodia's Angkor Wat.

"There aren't mystical or supernatural links but there are common features," Cooney says, explaining why we see tall buildings in multiple cultures. "They wanted tall monuments that would last but they were hampered by the limits of ancient engineering," which dictated a structure that's wide at the base and narrow on top.

She also links these ancient buildings to skyscrapers in the modern world.

"We really wanted to ask global questions, big questions that bring all of these ancient and modern people together," she said at a press conference earlier this month. "It's a study of human behavior past and present, human behavior all over the world. Egypt is the anchor but it's the entire globe."

Cooney was quick to add that "Out of Egypt" (9 and 10 p.m. Monday) doesn't posit direct connections but commonalities.

"A lot of people look at this and they say, 'Oh, so you think the Egyptians went to Mexico and that's why there are pyramids there.' No, no, no," Cooney said. "This is a show about humans coming to similar solutions to complex problems completely disconnected from one another. It's about human behaviors through time all over the globe that can be amazingly similar and sometimes surprisingly different."

Cooney said UCLA has been supportive of her work on the series.

"Education and entertainment are not mutually exclusive, and we as professors need to take this content into our own hands," she said. "If we don't, we have no one else to blame when we see something on television that represents the Aztecs or the Egyptians or somebody else in a light that we think is inauthentic or inaccurate or just plain wrong; the aliens coming to visit, whatever."

But doing a TV show doesn't count toward tenure for a professor such as Cooney.

"I still have to produce my second book," she said. "That's a very, very important part of getting tenure. But, being a young assistant professor, I also know that when I go into a classroom of 200 students and I'm talking about Egypt and the ancient world, I know what they have seen on television. That's their entrée into this. So I have to be able to meet that mind and connect with those students."
Read more!

Japan's 1st microfinance fund to be set up to assist loans in Cambodia

A Japanese music production and fund management company plans to create a microfinance investment fund worth up to 50 million yen, the first of its kind in Japan, to support farmers and businesses in Cambodia, company officials said Saturday.

Music Securities Inc., based in Tokyo, will start accepting money for the fund from individual investors mainly via the Internet by the end of this month, the officials said. Investments will be made in increments of 30,000 yen.

The fund will then invest in Cambodia's CHC Ltd., a Phnom Penh-based microfinance institution, which will extend loans to domestic farmers and businesses, the officials said. CHC will rename itself SAMIC in November.

The new fund was initially organized by Living In Peace, a nonprofit organization established in 2007 to help promote international development assistance, and the NPO asked Music Securities to manage the fund because an NPO is not allowed to deal with financial products.

Such a fund ''is not a donation but an investment. We want investors to maintain an interest in how their investments will be used for poverty eradication,'' said Akiko Sugiyama, an official at Music Securities' securitization division.

Investors in the fund will receive returns after three years, the officials said.

If the earnings performance of CHC remains at the current level over the next three years, the new fund will have an annual return of 2.8 percent before tax, the officials said. But investments could fall below initial value depending on CHC's performance and foreign exchange rate fluctuations, they said.

Microfinance is the brainchild of Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to eradicate poverty with the lending method. Many borrowers use their loans to start up small businesses, find ways to secure sources of income and escape poverty. Read more!

Cambodia to recall some troops at border: PM

PHNOM PENH, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Saturday that there was no fighting at border and he will recall some troops to help the farmers to planting crops after some areas had been hit by drought.

"We are monitoring to withdraw the troops from the frontiers and we need soldiers to help the local farmers during this time," the premier said at the opening ceremony of irrigation in Pursat province, southeastern part of Phnom Penh, citing that Thailand now has 30 soldiers at the border.

"But in case we have problem at the border, we can mobilize our troops so quickly to border area," he said, adding that "we are moving back our troops of Kompong Thom and Siem Reap provinces to their headquarters from the border."

"I hope there is no fight each other again there," he stresses. Cambodian and Thai troops have confronted at areas near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple since July, 2008 when the UNESCO listed the temple as the World Heritage Site of Cambodia.

Moreover, Hun Sen said that "in modern age, we need to discuss the matters with each other and we do not want to see any people shed their blood."

Troops tension at border is becoming ease and both side plan to measure the areas soon to plant border markers.
Read more!

Tourist arrivals, garments may lift Cambodia economy

PHNOM PENH, Tourist arrivals in Cambodia rose in July after dipping slightly in the first half, and garment sales to Asia are picking up, officials said on Friday, suggesting a slump in the economy might be contained.

The International Monetary Fund has forecast the economy would shrink 0.5 percent this year after expanding 5.5 percent in 2008, which was a sharp slowdown from four years of double-digit growth.

The number of tourists visiting the country in the first six months of 2009 dropped 1.1 percent from last year to 1.08 million, but in July arrivals rose 13 percent from a year before to 106,528, according to tourist ministry data.

"I can see the worst is over for Cambodia's tourist industry and we will see more tourist arrivals from now on," Deputy Minister for Tourism So Mara told Reuters.

The country is aiming to welcome 2.25 million tourists in 2009 after 2.2 million last year.
Officials were also taking heart from the breakdown of data from the garment industry, Cambodia's biggest export sector.

Garment exports in the first six months dropped 24 percent from last year to $1.1 billion.
However, exports to Asian markets rose 18 percent to $56.74 million in that period and those to Japan alone doubled to $9.61 million, according to a commerce ministry report.

"Although the increase in demand from Asian markets is small, it is a positive sign of recovery for us," Mean Sophea, head of the commerce ministry's external trade department, told Reuters.
Garments are Cambodia's biggest export earner, bringing in $2.78 billion last year. The authorities expect a drop of 30 percent this year.

Garment factories mushroomed earlier this decade and in 2005 there were about 270.
That figure had dropped to around 140 after factories closed because of the global economic crisis, according to the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC), but 26 new factories have opened this year, a sign of recovery. Read more!

Cambodia, Thailand trade media barbs over dispute marine deployments+

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 21 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Cambodia and Thailand have traded allegations and counterallegations via the media recently over the deployment of naval forces in a disputed area in the Gulf of Thailand, with Cambodia denying Friday Thai charges that its navy has violated bilateral patrol agreements.

The brouhaha began last Saturday when The Bangkok Post quoted an anonymous Thai military source as saying the Thai navy had set up a new base on Koh Kut near an area of overlapping claims after Cambodia granted a concession to French oil company Total S.A. to explore for oil and gas in the region.

Other Thai military sources claimed later that Cambodian naval vessels were patrolling in the disputed area last week, which Thailand said was a violation of an agreement on the overlapping area that requires each side to inform the other when naval patrols will be carried out.

Cambodia has denied the Thai allegations delivered via the press and most leading Cambodian newspapers highlighted those denials in their stories Friday.

Chhum Socheat, spokesman for Cambodia's National Defense Ministry, denied the reports outright and said Cambodian naval vessels never entered the overlapping area.

Instead, he claimed, the Thai Royal Navy had conducted an exercise that included an aircraft carrier and several warships near Koh Kut.

He added the naval exercise was an apparent show of force after the Cambodian government granted the oil and gas exploration rights to Total to explore for oil in nearby waters.

The Bangkok Post said Thailand's Ministry of Defense plans to protest Cambodian patrols via the Foreign Ministry.

Koy Kuong, spokesman for Cambodia's Foreign Ministry, said he has not seen any protest note yet, and he too denied Cambodian naval activity in the disputed area.

Cambodia announced July 19 it had awarded rights to Total to explore in a 2,430-square-kilometer area that is also claimed by Thailand.

So far, Cambodia and Thailand have not faced off over their maritime border, but some fear a confrontation may not be far off.

Since July last year, the two countries' militaries have skirmished several times across a disputed land border near Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple, which was listed around the same time as a World Heritage Site, despite claims by some in Thailand to the temple.

Cambodia claims Thai troops crossed into its territory, triggering short-lived firefights, while Thailand claims its troops have always remained on the Thai side of the border. Read more!

UN appeals for charges to be dropped against Cambodian accused

The United Nations has called for charges to be dropped against two Cambodian men accused of killing trade union leader Chea Vichea in 2004. The men spent years in jail, but campaigning by Cambodian and international human rights groups who believe they are scapegoats, led to them being released on bail in January. Now, the Appeal Court has ordered that the case be re-investigated.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Brad Cox, director the documentary, 'Who Killed Chea Vichea?'

COX: I agree 100 per cent [that charges should be dropped against Born Samnang and Sok Sam Ouen]. For the last five years they've tried to build the case; they've never produced any credible evidence and so its a long time coming. These guys should have been never even arrested in the first place.

COCHRANE: And why were they arrested?

COX: Ah, well there're a lot of theories of why they were arrested. There was a lot of international pressure on the government and the police to make an arrest on the case, it was very high profile. Chea Vichea was known internationally as well as nationally and it appears they needed a couple of scapegoats and these two guys fell in their laps and that's who they decided to go with. One of them wasn't even in Phnom Penh, he was 40 miles away on the day of the killing but from the police perspective that didn't seem to matter. They were used as scapegoats anyway.

COCHRANE: Now you talk of "they" needing scapegoats... Outside the court this week Chea Vichea's brother, Chea Mony, repeated allegations he's made before that the government was involved in his brother's murder. And Khieu Sopheak, the Ministry of Interior spokesman threatened to take him to court over those kind of statements. Has your investigation uncovered any evidence of the authorities being involved in Chea Vichea's death?

COX: Well, I'm not sure what evidence when Chea Mony said that he said that the government killed his brother. What I do know is that the police, led by Hok Lundy and Heng Pov, did deliberately frame the two men in the case - I prove that in the movie that is being released next month. The question is, 'Who told the police to frame these guys and why?' My guess is that Chea Mony assumes that the government had to tell the police how to do this because, who else is there to tell the police? I assume that's his reasoning, but you'd have to ask him, I'm not really sure.

COCHRANE: Now Chea Vichea wasn't the only prominent figure killed around that time. Can you tell us briefly about some others and what's happened with those cases?

COX: Well in the year before he was killed, there was a slew of murders, mostly politically-related. In the beginning of 2003, there was monk, Sam Bun Thoeun, who was urging monks to vote, who strongly supported the opposition. There was Om Radsady, who was a very close adviser to Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who was the president of the FUNCINPEC party.

COCHRANE: And what's happened as a result of these kinds of cases? Have there been investigations? Have there been convictions?

COX: Well all these cases are similar in many ways. Number one, almost all of them were killed by two men on a motorbike. All these cases were investigated by Heng Pov, of the Phnom Penh police. All of these have had very unsatisfactory conclusions - either no-one was arrested or the people who were arrested, like in the Chea Vichea case, were obviously innocent of the case.

COCHRANE: Now we've heard earlier about the Khmer Rouge tribunal as an important step in establishing some kind of bottom line of justice in Cambodia. How important is this case in terms of establishing a strong position on impunity?

COX: Well, I think this case is a good example of the impunity that continues to exist there and this case is very similar to a lot of other murder cases, some of which I just mentioned to you now and there are others even from that same time period. I think if the government was serious about finding justice for these people, then you would see some of these cases being satisfactorily concluded. But that isn't the case and there's wide speculation that the courts are controlled by the government; they're told how to handle cases, anything that is political has to go through them and so they end up what is best for them and justice has very little to so with it. Read more!

Petition filed for expulsion of Belgian paedophile from Cambodia

Phnom Penh - Seven child protection organizations have petitioned Cambodia's chief of police to expel a Belgian man twice convicted of child sex crimes, national media reported Friday. Three years ago Belgian national Philippe Dessart received an 18-year sentence from a Cambodian court for sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. He was released earlier this year after a change in the law.

Dessart then moved into the home of his former victim in Banteay Meanchey province in western Cambodia and reportedly plans to marry the boy's mother.

Samleang Seila, who heads APLE, an anti-paedophile organization, told the Cambodia Daily newspaper that the petition was filed on August 4, but that he had not yet had a response from the police chief.

"We are pursuing urgent action - whether his visa must be cancelled or anything else," Samleang Seila told the newspaper.

Samleang Seila said he had seen Dessart walking in the capital Phnom Penh this week with his former victim.

"It is not appropriate that the victim goes around with him," he said.

Dessart was previously convicted in Belgium of child rape and torture in the 1990s, for which he served three years.

Dessart's lawyer, Dun Vibol, said his client had served his sentence and therefore has the right to remain in Cambodia.

"Doing this is not right, and [the child protection organizations] don't give him the chance to correct himself to reintegrate into society," Dun Vibol said.
Read more!

Q+A-Will Cambodia's economic woes affect stability?

CAMBODIA-POLITICS (Q+A)

BANGKOK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is facing pressure from rights groups and foreign donors while he battles to minimise the damage to the country's fragile economy from the global financial crisis.

Foreign governments, rights groups, non-governmental organisations and political rivals continue to hound the former Khmer Rouge soldier over his authoritarian leadership style and his attempts to muzzle critics.

However, analysts say neither the criticism of Hun Sen's government nor the effects of the slowing economy are likely create instability in the near future.

HOW DOES HUN SEN RESPOND TO CRITICS?

Hun Sen's government has filed a series of lawsuits against journalists and opposition lawmakers for defamation or "disinformation", which rights groups and foreign diplomats say are attempts to silence critics and strengthen his grip on power.

Two opposition MPs critical of Hun Sen and his party were recently stripped of parliamentary immunity, effectively unseating them from the national assembly. Other cases have included a young political activist jailed for painting anti-government slogans on his house and an advocate of cultural preservation who criticised lighting plans for the ancient Angkor Wat temple.

"Hun Sen does not know how to respond to criticism and the fear is he will respond with an iron fist through more suppression, which would undermine Cambodia's democratic progress," said Ou Vireak, president of the U.S-funded Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.

WHAT ABOUT FORCED EVICTIONS, CORRUPTION?

Tens of thousands of people have been evicted by force from prime land in the capital, Phnom Penh. Rights groups say as many as 250,000 people have been affected nationwide. The government says the dwellers are land-grabbers who refuse to accept their offers of compensation.

The World Bank and other donors say the evictions are hampering efforts to tackle poverty in a country where 35 percent of the population live on less than $1 a day. The ruling party's control over the police, military and the courts means those made homeless have limited power to fight the evictions.

The government has also come under fire for failing to deal with rampant corruption, which the United States says costs the country $500 million a year. Cambodia, which anti-graft watchdogs rank as one of the world's most corrupt countries, has dismissed the claims as foreign interference. An anti-corruption bill drafted in the 1990s is also yet to be approved.

Analysts say the failure to tackle graft will restrict the amount of foreign investment in the country.

IS ALL THIS ANY THREAT TO HUN SEN?

Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) enjoyed a landslide election victory in 2008 on the back of four years of double-digit growth driven by pro-investment policies, which helped create jobs and improve infrastructure and public services.

Analysts say that after decades of war and political strife, Cambodians are better off under Hun Sen. Although he is criticised for his authoritarian style, people are largely supportive of his nationalist and conservative approach to running the country.

"He has a desire to maintain Khmer traditions and morals and that maintains some strong fabric on which to base policy decisions. That's good for political stability," said Ian Bryson, a specialist on Cambodia at Control Risks in Singapore.

COULD A SLOWING ECONOMY AFFECT CAMBODIA'S STABILITY?

A boom in the garment manufacturing industry in the 1990s helped lift many rural people out of poverty, but the global financial crisis has hurt tourism and slashed demand for Cambodian-made clothes in countries like the United States.

Analysts believe victims of lay-offs are unlikely to blame the government or protest against factory closures. They say stability rests on the government's future handling of inflation, diversifying its economy and improving its investment climate.

"The government should invest more in agriculture and other industries and reduce its reliance on garments and tourism," said Pou Sothirak, a senior research fellow at Singapore's Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS). (Compiled by Martin Petty and Ek Madra in Phnom Penh; Editing by Alan Raybould and Bill Tarrant)

Read more!

Cambodia's Hun Sen looks safe despite some unease

By Ek Madra


PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Trouble is mounting for Cambodia's long-serving prime minister, Hun Sen, with rising unemployment and an economic slowdown on top of growing criticism from diplomats, rights activists and political rivals.

But analysts see little threat to his power or the long-term investment outlook in a country that has made great strides after decades of poverty, brutalilty and instability.

"Things are far from perfect in Cambodia, but democracy is a slow process and we have to see the bigger picture," said Pou Sothirak, a senior research fellow at Singapore's Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS).

"Hun Sen's priority has been the economy, social order and the avoidance of conflict, and the current situation is a significant improvement from the past."

Hun Sen's government has come under fire recently, accused of corruption, abuse of power, and undermining the judiciary, raising concerns about future stability and its sincerity about carrying out long-awaited reforms.

Tens of thousands of people have been driven out of their homes in a slew of land seizures, while critics have blasted Hun Sen for filing lawsuits they say are merely attempts to intimidate journalists, activists and political opponents.

However, Hun Sen gets plenty of plaudits as well, and some analysts say the firm hand of the undisputed strongman is exactly what Cambodia and its economy needs.

"It's easy to criticise Hun Sen as a single-party ruler, authoritarian and totalitarian, but he's a pragmatist -- he does what he needs to do," said Ian Bryson, a regional analyst for Control Risks.
"There's no reason to forecast any instability in the near future. Cambodia's pretty rock solid. Hun Sen is healthy and he really is quite well-regarded."

Given the steady turnaround in Cambodia's fortunes since Hun Sen came to power 25 years ago, the popularity of the Khmer Rouge defector and former farmer and monk, comes as no surprise.

RECOVERY COURSE

Six years after Vietnamese invaders ended the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 "killing fields" reign of terror, Hun Sen became premier and cultivated a reputation as a moderate, investor-friendly democrat, which helped put Cambodia on the road to recovery.

Until the global economic crisis struck, Cambodia had seen four straight years of double-digit growth fuelled by Hun Sen's pro-business policies, which created new jobs and infrastructure and raised living standards among the rural poor, many of whom live on less than $1 a day.

With backing from the poor, his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) scored 73 percent of the vote in 2008 elections, which observers said had only minor irregularities, to win its first outright majority after years of bickering coalition governments.

"I see no party that can challenge the CPP. They've improved the livelihoods of the poor and boosted their hopes and expectations for the future," said a Cambodian political science lecturer, who asked not to be named.

"The criticism Hun Sen has received does not reflect the overall situation. I can see the ruling party will continue to hold power ... and foreigners will continue to invest here."

Analysts say complaints about graft, cronyism, lawsuits and forced evictions from donors, rights groups, diplomats and financial institutions have irked Hun Sen, but will have little impact on his popularity.

The biggest challenge for the CPP, they say, is to revive the economy and ensure jobs are created to minimise the threat of social problems or civil disorder that could undermine its grip on power.

Foreign direct investment has slowed since the global financial crisis took its toll. Economic growth slowed to 5.5 percent in 2008 and the economy is forecast to shrink by 0.5 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

With a slump in demand from key markets like the United States, at least 130 garment factories have closed since late last year, prompting an estimated 50,000-60,000 lay-offs in an industry that brought in $3.8 billion in 2007.

But analysts say workers have accepted this is not the fault of government mismanagment, and that it looks unlikely to pose a threat to Cambodia's stability.

Neither, they say, will long-running diplomatic disputes with traditional foe Thailand over border demarcations, near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple and in the Gulf of Thailand, where oil and gas deposits have been found.

Both sides have beefed up their military presence in the areas and seven soldiers died in skirmishes over the past year. But too much is at stake for both countries, and that is preventing the disputes from escalating significantly.

"It's been a bumpy ride for Cambodia, but stability is, and will remain, very much intact," added Pou Sothirak of ISEAS. "And for that reason, I expect foreign investors will return when the global economic situation improves." Read more!

Over 100,000 pills of drug substances destroyed in Cambodia

Phnom Penh Municipality on Thursday destroyed 107,958 pills of mixed drug substances including 21,499 grams of cocaine, 601 grams of heroin, over 80,000 pills of methamphetamines and amphetamines and other drugs substances, as well as some materials of drug lab.

"Drug substances and drug materials for labs that we burned off today were confiscated from criminals," Kep Chutema, Phnom Penh governor said in the ceremony of destroying at the outskirt of Phnom Penh.

"Drug trafficking cases have decreased after the authorities have cracked down on drug distribution places and drug using places," he said. However, he added that cases of crimes have increased in Phnom Penh and it has occurred among young people.

"So far this year, our authorities in Phnom Penh has cracked down 36 drug cases and arrested 80 criminals, and also seized some drug substances," he noted. "We have strengthened the law enforcement and our law enforcement officials have raised their law enforcement ability."

"We will establish a new drug-rehabilitation center for women in Phnom Penh and we considered drug users as drug victims without discrimination," he said.

"We have helped 2,143 people to get rid of drugs through the rehabilitation center, and other 215 people are in process of drug rehabilitation," Kep Chutema said, adding that "after they left this center, they will have jobs and skills for helping themselves and family."

Cambodia became the one of places of drug transmit, according to the governor. "Criminals used our country to distribute drugs to other countries and produce drug, even we destroyed it regularly," he said, "We must get together to stop the drug trafficking and fight against it to live with harmony at the local community."

Source:Xinhua Read more!

Lightning kills 4, raising death toll to 113 this year in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Lightning has killed 113 Cambodians so far this year, making 2009 one of the worst years on record for lightning deaths, local media reported on Wednesday, citing four more people have been killed by lightning since Saturday.

Kompong Thorn provincial officials reported that a 16-year-old boy living in Prasat Sambor district was struck by lightning as he walked through a rice field on Tuesday. In Battambang province's Thma Koul district, Hun Chhomm, 57, was killed as he walked home from his rice field on Sunday. And two men were killed in Prey Veng province over the weekend.

Keo Vy, deputy public relation director for the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying that the committee is concerned about the number of lightning deaths this year, especially since they are already above the 93 people reported killed by lightning in all of2008, and well above the 45 reported killed in 2007.

"This year lightning has killed more than 100 people, but it is more usual for lightning to kill around 40 people per year," said Nhim Vanda, first vice chairman of the NCDM, adding that nobody knows why there have been so many more deaths this year. However, he speculated that climate change could be a factor.

Nhim Vanda said that his officials have tried to educate the public on how to protect themselves from lightning strikes during storms.

Seth Vannareth, meteorology director at the Ministry of Water Resources, agreed that lightning deaths have been unusually high this year and said that the government is planning on holding a series of lightning prevention workshops next year that will "teach people how to escape from lightning, how to protect themselves."
Read more!

Cambodia hosts meeting to discuss microfinance amid global financial crisis

With the helps from the International Financial Corporation (IFC) and the European Union (EU), Cambodia is hosting a conference to talk on how microfinance can boost country's economy, promote financial inclusion and enhance customer protection.

The IFC which is a member of the World Bank Group is helping Cambodian microfinance institutions to strengthen their contribution to the country's socio-economic development, and expand financial services to the rural population amid the global financial crisis.

The two-day meeting, which began Wednesday, participated by representatives from the Cambodia Microfinance Association, senior microfinanciers, bankers, regulators, and local authorities.

"The microfinance sector in Cambodia has grown fast and significantly contributed to improving access to financial services for the rural population," said Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia.

"The success of the sector is vital to ensuring quick financial inclusion. We have adopted legislation that enables microfinance institutions to mobilize public deposits to help them access cheaper sources of funds while allowing rural populations to safely save their hard-earned cash," he said.

Participants also shared their views and experiences on how to respond to the global financial crisis, addressing credit culture, risk and nonperforming loan management, ethical debt collection practices, financial education, and consumer protection.

"The microfinance sector, which has loans of more than 280 million U.S. dollars outstanding to about one million clients in rural areas, already has felt the impact of the global financial crisis as no performing loans have increased from under one percent one year ago to 3.8 percent as of June 2009," said Huot Ieng Tong, president of Cambodia Microfinance Association.

IFC also works with individual microfinance institutions to help them diversify and focus their strategies, expanding their product range and improving their risk management capabilities.

"While the crisis has adversely affected microfinance institutions and their borrowers, it also brings opportunities for them to review their lending practices and risk and nonperforming loan management systems so they become more resilient to future crises," said Russell Muir, IFC Acting Head of Advisory Services for East Asia and Pacific.

Source:Xinhua Read more!