Mobile banking service launches in Cambodia

ACLEDA Bank operates the largest bank branch network in Cambodia. The bank has just announced that it has launched mobile banking services for retail consumer. The service is called "Unity". It provides mobile subscribers with the ability to view account balances, obtain a mini-statement, transfer between their accounts, make payments to other people, make bill payments and top-up their mobile phones.

ACLEDA Bank Plcannounced today the release to the general public of its new ’Unity’mobile phone banking service. A virtual ‘bank in your pocket’ – itprovides a convenient and secure way to manage all daily banking transactionsany day, anytime, anywhere. It communicates in both the English and Khmerlanguages and handles transactions in Khmer Riels, US Dollars and Thai Baht,with other currencies to follow.

“Our aim is to offer access to financial services to thewhole community”, said Mr. In Channy, ACLEDA’s President and CEO. “Unity workswith all mobile phone networks and a very wide range of mobile handsets. It ‘unites’a whole selection of financial services under one umbrella that simplifies day-to-daybanking through mobile phones anywhere in the country. For those customers whohave global roaming it will even work throughout the world”, he stated.

Operatingon a 24/7 basis, with high-level multilayer security features, the bank claimsthat Unity gives customers the choice of using text message (SMS), Mobile Browser/WAP or a dedicated downloadableapplication interface, according to which best suits their needs. They can view their account balances,obtain a mini-statement, transfer between their accounts, make payments toother people, make bill payments (pay their utility bills and other accounts)and top-up their mobile phones. Other services will be added in the future ascustomers demand.

"As a fast-growing bank in a rapidly developing economy, we arelooking for a complete integrated mobile banking and payment solution. We wantto make sure that our mobile services are universally available to ourcustomers, are safe for them to use and deliver the dependability andreliability that ACLEDA is known for" said Mr. In Channy, President &CEO of ACLEDA Bank Plc. "We will be leapfrogging overtraditional delivery channels to provide our customers with the latest bankingtechnology.".

About ACLEDA Bank Plc.

ACLEDA Bank currently is the Cambodian leadingbank with the largest branches and offices network. It's over 17 years presencein domestic financial services. As at the end of June 2010, the value of theloan portfolio has reached US$615 million with 258,064 borrowing customers. Thetotal savings and deposits was US$793 million with 670,383 accounts. Its totalassets have exceeded US$1 billion and employed 7,105staffs.

TheBank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services tocorporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels. ACLEDAis a leading player in the retail banking market and services its largecustomer base through a network of 233 offices. With 100 ATMs serve 24/7 and 24 hours call center to ensure that customershave access to its services at all times.

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CP Cambodia aims for growth

Charoen Pokphand Cambodia plans to expand both feed and animal production. They anticipate greater economic growth in the country, due mainly to increased tourism and a burgeoning real estate boom.

By Apisit Buranakanonda, Bangkok, Thailand

Sakol Cheewakoset, senior vice president in charge of overseeing the agribusiness giant's Cambodia and Laos operations, said that despite the numerous obstacles facing investments in feed and animal production in Cambodia, now is the time to have a strong presence there.

Success in the Cambodian feed business requires technical support and follow-up, he added, because the cost of product failure is too high for the country's struggling producers to bear. Furthermore, re-establishing trust and credibility in such a case would be virtually impossible. In its decade of operations in the country, CP Cambodia has helped to modernise the local livestock industry. It has also established a positive image and reputation, differentiating CP Cambodia's feed from imports. The company's production accounts for 60% of the feed sold in Cambodia. Feed is distributed through more than 40 distributors in major animal production areas, namely Kandal, Kampong Spue, Kampong Cham, Siem Reap and Battambang.

Infrastructure improved
Although labour is cheaper, overall, Cambodia has up to 15% higher production costs due to more costly transportation and import taxes. Electricity alone is 20-30% more expensive than in Thailand. In recent years, infrastructure has been improving. Cultivation areas for corn and cassava are growing as well, which will one day lead to enough production for domestic use and limited exports. Local producers face fierce competition in the form of imports from Thailand and Vietnam.

Vietnamese products have been enjoying cost advantages over their Thai competitors because the Thai baht has risen faster against the US dollar than the Vietnamese dong. Also, Vietnamese feed is packed in 25 kg bags, making it seem cheaper at first glance than the standard 30 kg bags coming from Thailand. On the production front, the feed industry sees competition from the cassava processing industry in Cambodia and traders from Korea, Thailand and China, all of whom are vying for corn and cassava. This has driven prices up by more than 50% compared to early 2007, resulting in a big windfall for Cambodian farmers. It is estimated that some 60% of raw materials produced are destined for Thailand. Tight supplies of raw materials have driven feed prices up by more than 20% compared with 2007.

Additionally, bird flu in 2004 swept away many small hatcheries supplying broiler and day-old layer chicks. Furthermore, more stringent animal trade controls along the Cambodia border have deterred animal trade, enabling better control of this serious disease.

Today, the poultry breeding operation of CP Cambodia is doing well and will be expanded further to accommodate heavy demand. The company plans to raise its annual output of broiler chicks to 3 million birds per year, up from 2.2 million in 2007. In Cambodia, the company supplies only pullets.

Quality control in feed production

Raw materials such as corn, soybean, cassava, and fish meal are available locally. December is the busiest time for procuring raw materials and checking the quality of feedstuffs. Coarse grains are tested for adulterants, contaminants, appearance, physical quality, moisture content and more. Some 30% of raw materials are subject to primary testing before acceptance. Once accepted, the quality control team takes 100% samples of all intake materials. For protein sources, it is using dried freshwater fish from Tonle Sap lake, fishmeal from Kampong Som, and oil from the fish processing industry. It uses a urea phenol red solution to screen if soybean meal has been overcooked. Raw materials and cooked products are physically separated.

Producers can choose concentrate, mash or pellet feed. Pellets are slightly more expensive than mash, but the market is shifting more towards pelleted feed due to better growth performance. CP Cambodia's sales strategy is based on the premise that providing top breeds, proven technology and management, as well as good feed performance, will improve the competitive position of the producers who buy its products. With modern technology, genetics and top quality feed, a producer can reduce finishing time for their pigs by two weeks or more, Cheewakoset said.

Quality assurance and feed quality is on par with CP's feed in Thailand. Formulas are prepared on site under the direction of the parent company in Thailand. Its phase feeding programme consists of pre-starter, starter, grower and finisher feed. Retained samples are kept for one month to aid trace back. CP Feed is marketed under the Hi-Gro, CP, and Hog brands. Read more!

U.S. urges Thailand to end emergency rule

(Reuters) - A senior U.S. official urged Thailand on Friday to end a three-month state of emergency that allows the government to arrest and hold people without charge, censor the media and restrict public gatherings.

U.S. Under Secretary of State Bill Burns made the comment during a news conference with Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya at the start of an official visit to Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

"Clearly, the United States hopes that the state of emergency, that the decree, can be lifted as soon as possible," Burns told reporters during a brief press conference.

Attempts to forcibly disperse thousands of ant-government protesters in April and May sparked a crisis that killed 90 people and wounded nearly 2,000. Dozens of buildings were set ablaze. Leaders of the movement were arrested and accused of terrorism, which carries a maximum penalty of death.

"We believe our friends in Thailand best serve their own interest through a peaceful resolution of political differences," he said with Kasit by his side.

The comment was made more than a week after the government extended the state of emergency for another three months in about a quarter of the country, saying anti-government elements continued to pose a security threat.

The law gives broad powers to the security forces, including the right to detain suspects for up to 30 days without charge and shut media deemed to incite "public panic" and violence.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who met with Burns later on Friday, said the government was making process in its national reconciliation process. "If everything goes well and in an orderly fashion next year, we could hold an election then," Abhisit told reporters after the meeting.

Abhisit's term expires in December, 2011 and elections will have to be held within 45 days after that.
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HCM City Expo 2010 opens in Cambodia

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam On and Vice Chairwoman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Nguyen Thi Hong, attended Vietnam-Cambodia Trade, Service and Tourism Fair 2010 (Ho Chi Minh City Expo 2010), which opened in Phnom Penh on July 15.
More than 300 booths set up by 100 leading Vietnamese businesses are showcasing high-quality Vietnamese products including agricultural produce, processed foods, interior decorations, leather goods and footwear, chemical products and cosmetics, electronic devices, and construction materials.

The opening day of the exhibition attracted thousands of Cambodian visitors, who came to shop – or just look.

This year’s four-day fair is said to be much larger and better organized than the nine previous ones.

Ho Chi Minh City Expo aims to increase two-way trade and promote cooperation between businesses in tourism and healthcare services.
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World parliaments criticize Israel, Cambodia

GENEVA — Representatives of world parliaments on Thursday criticized Israel, Cambodia and 19 other countries for their treatment of lawmakers.

The chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Union's human rights committee, Rosario Green, urged Israel not to deport Palestinian lawmakers Mohammed Abu Teir, Mohammed Totah and Ahmed Abu Atoun after they were recently released from prison.

The three were ordered expelled from Jerusalem for links to Hamas. But Green, a former Mexican foreign minister, said the expulsion violates the lawmakers' human rights.

Green's panel also called a Cambodian defamation case against opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua a "complete travesty of justice."

Mu Sochua faces up to six months in prison after refusing to pay a court-ordered fine for defaming Cambodia's prime minister.

Other countries scrutinized by the committee for their treatment of lawmakers included Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Colombia, Ecuador, Eritrea, Iraq, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Zimbabwe.

In one of its harshest criticisms, the panel slammed Russia for failing to bring to justice the murderers of Galina Starovoitova, who was gunned down in the stairwell of her St. Petersburg apartment building in 1998.

"We have been urging the Russian Federation for now 12 years to investigate more deeply into the masterminding of the assassination," said panel member Sharon Carstairs, a Canadian senator, explaining why the previously confidential case was now being highlighted.

"It is clear that they are not trying to get to the bottom of her assassination," said Carstairs. "We believe therefore that it is necessary to make this a public case, in order for her murderers — those who are ultimately responsible for her murder — to be brought to justice."

IPU brings together lawmakers from 155 countries. The U.S. Congress isn't a member.
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Universities Fail at Critical Thinking: Student Advocate

Cambodia’s higher education system has failed to address a lack of critical-thinking and problem-solving curricula among university students, a youth advocate told “Hello VOA” on Monday.

Instead, says Cheang Sokha, head of the Youth Resource Development Program, “student-centered” approaches exist on paper only within higher education.

“The quality of education in these skills is still very limited,” Cheang Sokha said.

“If we want to see a society’s fate, we look at how young people’s education is invested in,” he said. “Now look at the way our current education system invests in young people. How can we hope that our society will have a good fate?”

The Youth Resource Development Program hopes to improve that, he said, and has trained around 2,000 university students since 1999 to make them better thinkers and more attractive in the job market.

“Employers put more value on people with high critical-thinking and analytical problem-solving skills,” he said.

More than that, said one caller, Sun Thun, the education system has also failed to instill the proper sense of patriotism, democracy and respect for human rights.
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Cambodian officials required to declare assets

Some 100,000 government officials in Cambodia will be required to declare their assets this year in an effort to combat corruption, a senior official said Wednesday.
Under an anti-corruption law passed in March, any official found guilty of taking bribes could face up to 15 years in prison.

Cambodia, a poor country heavily dependent on foreign aid, is routinely listed by independent groups such as Transparency International as one of the most corrupt countries in Asia.

Om Yentieng, chairman of the government-appointed Anti-Corruption Unit, told reporters that it will require senior officials _ including civil servants and police officials _ to detail their assets by November.

Lawmakers and leaders of nongovernment organizations will be asked to declare their assets later, he said.

International donors have long pressed Cambodia to combat corruption.

In 2004, a study prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development said that Cambodia lost an estimated $300 million to $500 million annually to various forms of corruption, although the government contests that graft is on such a large scale.

The anti-corruption law was first proposed 15 years ago but the government, unwilling to tackle the problem, dragged its feet on getting it passed. It remains to be seen if the asset declarations will be effective in monitoring officials. Government salaries are as low as $20 a month.
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Cambodia Dismisses UN Rights Chief Statements

A government spokesman on Wednesday dismissed as “personal” statements by the UN’s top human rights official, who had criticized a defamation case against opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua.

Speaking in Geneva on Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the case brought against Mu Sochua by Prime Minister Hun Sen was highly politicized and showed a weakening of the judiciary and basic freedoms in the country.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said Wednesday the comments were “a personal view and do not reflect the reality of Cambodia.”

Mu Sochua, a lawmaker for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, is facing the prospect of jail time if she does not pay compensation to the prime minister and a fine to the court.

She has said she will not pay.

She lost a defamation suit brought by Hun Sen after she had sued him for allegedly making disparaging and sexist remarks in public speeches last year. The Supreme Court upheld the decision in June.

In Geneva, Pillay’s spokesman, Rupert Colville, said the verdict was not warranted.

“No evidence providing either damage to reputation or malicious intent was presented during the case against Mu Sochua,” he said.
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Kiwi to confront mass killer

By James Thaka


Transatlantic rower Rob Hamill will head to Cambodia shortly, clinging to the hope of a private audience with the Khmer Rouge henchman who headed the prison where his older brother Kerry was tortured and killed.

Mr Hamill will be at the United Nations-assisted Extraordinary Chamber of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) at Phnom Penh for the July 26 sentencing of Kaing Guek Eav, known as "Duch", the former head of the S-21 or Tuol Sleng prison.

Mr Hamill's older brother Kerry was imprisoned at S-21 when the yacht he and friends were sailing to Bangkok strayed into Cambodian waters on August 13, 1978.

Canadian crewman Stuart Glass was shot dead while Mr Hamill and Briton John Dewhirst were accused of being CIA spies and taken for interrogation.

In January 1980, the Hamill family learned Kerry had been tortured for two months before he signed a "confession" and was murdered.

Rob Hamill, who was 14 years old when he saw his brother Kerry for the last time, yesterday told the Herald that he was hopeful of a private audience with Duch after his sentencing, having made the request through his lawyers to Duch's legal counsel about a month ago.

"In his final statement during the trial he said he would see any of the family members if they wanted to speak with him, so I would be disappointed if he said no," said Mr Hamill.

"I've had my say in court and told him what I think so I don't need to go there. What I need to try and get is some sort of understanding of what he was thinking at the time. He probably had some genuine causes which he felt would be best for Cambodia at the time so my mission would be to try and understand where that changed."

Mr Hamill said the prosecution had sought a 40-year imprisonment term for Duch, who oversaw the torture and executions at the prison of about 16,000 men, women and children.

Cambodia does not have the death sentence, which is something the Hamiltonian said he would not have endorsed for the 67-year-old.

Duch has already served 12 years in jail, something Mr Hamill sees as problematic.

"If he got a 20-year sentence he'd be out in eight but I think for the rest of his living days inside a prison would be a fair outcome for everyone, all the people I have spoken to in Cambodia think he should be locked away for life, even the kids. There's an understanding that he has to pay for what he did and his role in effectively overseeing the deaths of all of these people."

Asked if the sentencing would provide some closure for him, his family and friends, Mr Hamill said: "It's a continuation of several processes. It's been 32 years since Kerry went missing and I see this as kind of a milestone in the continuing process for getting some justice but also for reconciling all those deaths.

"My mother never got to see this sort of justice done which is sad. We have a desire to see justice done but there's also the grieving process."

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge sought to set up a communist utopia.

Up to two million people died from starvation, overwork, torture or execution during the 1975-1979 regime.

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Cambodia Conducts Peace Keeping Military Exercise

PHNOM PENH, The first phase of a large-scale military exercise entitled "Angkor Sentinel 2010" started here on Monday with the participation of more than 1,000 soldiers from 26 countries.

According to Vietnam News Agency (VNA) this is the first time Cambodia has hosted such a multi-national military exercise.

Speaking at the opening of the "Command Post Exercise (CPX)" Gen Moeng Sampham, Secretary of State of Cambodia's National Defence Ministry, said the exercise aimed to enhance capacity for both the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and military from various countries through the process of multi-national operations exercise in order to fulfil the UN standards for peacekeeping operation.

The second phase of the exercise entitled "Field Exercise" will officially take place in Kompong Speu province, about 50 km from Phnom Penh, on July 17 with the presence of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Both of the military exercises are part of the Global Peace Operations Initiatives (GPOI), a UN-US peacekeeping training programme for strengthening peace and security.

Chhum Socheat, spokesman of the Cambodian Ministry of National Defence, said the military exercise will conclude on July 30.

-- BERNAMA Read more!

1,000 year old lion statue unearthed in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A statue of lion with a date back about 1,000 years has been unearthed in Cambodia's northwestern province, an official said Tuesday.

Kim Sophoan, chief of heritage office of the provincial culture and fine arts department, said that the statue of stone lion, 78 centimeters tall and about 80 kilograms in weight, was unearthed last weekend. It could be dated back in 11th century or about 1, 000 years old.

He said the statue was discovered on Saturday when the construction workers were using a tractor to renovate national road from Battambang province to Pailin province.

Soon after he was informed with the unearth of the lion statue, he said, he went up to see it and took it to a museum in Battambang province.

Kim Sophoan said it was a nice statue with good shape except both legs were broken.

After several decades of civil war, many statues and pieces of cultural heritage were lost, stolen, trafficked or covered under the ground.

For already many years, many heritage pieces have been returned, discovered or repatriated from foreign countries through bilateral cooperation between Cambodia and those countries.

Located in Southeast Asia, Cambodia is known as a country rich in cultural heritage such as Angko Wat Temple, Preah Vihear Temple, both were registered as Word Heritage Sites, and hundreds of more temples across the country as well as arts, culture and tradition.
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Bt10m put aside to fight Cambodia on Preah Vihear

The Hindu temple near the Thai-Cambodian border was listed in July 2008 as a World Heritage Site, but Thailand has been lobbying member countries to delay Phnom Penh's management plan owing to disputes in areas adjacent to the temple.

The Thai authorities want Cambodia's management plan to be delayed until the border dispute is settled, the government's deputy spokesman Marut Masayawanit said.

The Bt10 million will be spent by a delegation representing Thailand at the meeting, which runs from July 25 to August 3, he said.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti would lead the delegation and present Thailand's stance to the Unesco World Heritage committee.

"We want to delay the plan because we are still in a border dispute with Cambodia and we have not seen any documents for the management plan," Abhisit told reporters.

Thailand is concerned that Cambodia might use the disputed 4.6-square-kilometre area near the temple as a buffer zone for the site.

Abhisit added that the committee's decision would not affect Thailand's boundary with Cambodia, but it was advisable that no decisions were made while the disputes remained.

According to a 1962 verdict from the International Court of Justice, the Preah Vihear temple is located in Cambodia, but Thailand claims that areas adjacent to the temple belong to Thailand. The two countries are still in the process of negotiation for boundary demarcation.
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CAMBODIA: Late wage deal halts garment strikes

Garment workers in Cambodia have halted planned strike action after the government drafted out minimum wage terms.

A nationwide strike of garment workers was due to occur over the next three days, led by the local Free Trade Union (FTU).

However, the Cambodian government and five largely pro-government unions have reached an initial agreement for a minimum monthly wage of US$61.

"The Labor Advisory Committee decided on 8 July to increase the minimum wage from US$50 to US$61," Ken Loo, secretary general of Garment Manufacturer's Association in Cambodia (GMAC), which represents 230 factories employing about 200,000 people, told just-style.

"The existing US$6 cost of living allowance will be abolished at the same time. This increase will be effective 1 October 2010 through to 2014."

The final agreement is still being negotiated though, and the FTU's demands for a US$70 minimum wage has not been satisfied. The union is unhappy with the US$5 increase, and the four-year timeframe from 1 October this year.

The agreement was determined without the FTU, leading to claims it does not represent the majority of workers.

The FTU is requesting further negotiation in a bid to get a US$70 minimum wage, as well as focusing more on food, workplace seniority and overtime.

The garment industry is the backbone of the Cambodian economy, being the third-biggest currency earner behind agriculture and tourism.

In the first quarter of 2010, textile and garment exports reached $671m, representing an increase of 7.18% on last year as a result of strong recovery in exports to all its major markets. Read more!

Angelina Jolie would probably marry Brad Pitt if kids asked

Angelina Jolie says she and Brad Pitt may get married if their children asked and adds that there are no immediate plans for a seventh kid but that the couple was open to the idea.

"I think it'd be hard to say no to the kids," Jolie said regarding marriage in a recent interview on ABC's Nightline program. "They're not asking. They are very aware that nothing's missing."

Asked if she saw herself growing old with Pitt, Jolie said: "Of course. We wouldn't have six children if we weren't absolutely sure of that."
Jolie, 35, had said last month she may have a seventh child and even marry Pitt, 46, adding that she does not think she will pursue acting much longer due to family commitments.

Jolie and Pitt are believed to have started their relationship while filming the 2005 spy movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith, during which he was married to Jennifer Aniston. The two are parents to Maddox, 8; Pax, 6 and Zahara, 4 - adopted from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Vietnam and biological children Shiloh, 4 and one-year-old twins Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline.

"There's no plans at the moment for more but we always talk about it, we're always open," Jolie said on Nightline. "We kind of joke about it, 'cause in the morning we're so tired. 'Cause there -- nobody spends the night. We wake up and we have breakfast. And so, we always have this thing kind of first thing in the morning where we're really, really tired.

"And we always look at each other and wonder like, Are we ever gonna get sleep?'" she said. "And then we joke about sleep. ... But yet, we still love the idea of having more children.""

Jolie was married to Jonny Lee Miller, he co-star in the 1995 film Hackers, between 1996 and 1999 and to actor Billy Bob Thornton between 2000 and 2003. Pitt was married to Aniston between 2000 and 2005.

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Shameful marriage practice

For years, growing numbers of Korean men have gone looking for wives in countries overseas, mostly in Southeast Asia.

Today, one in 10 Korean men are married to a non-Korean citizen. The ratio is true in four in 10 rural neighborhoods.

But the trend has had serious repercussions - especially for women. Brokers seeking easy money recruit foreign women and arrange marriages that, in many cases, amount to human trafficking. Local girls and women are lined up and paraded in front of prospective husbands. Rarely are the women given accurate information about the man they are about to marry.

According to a government poll from 2006, 1.3 in 10 marriage migrants said they discovered they had been deceived in some way after their marriage to a Korean man.

That’s what happened to a young Vietnamese woman who was stabbed to death by her husband just eight days after she started her married life in Korea. She, like many of the young women who immigrate through marriage seeking a better life for themselves or the families they’ve left behind, arrive here with hope. She, like many of her peers, had her life ended tragically and much too soon.

Many of the women in her situation are murdered or find themselves having to run from their new husbands to escape continued physical and mental abuse. Some have even taken their own lives. If they had known of the true nature of their husbands-to-be, it is unlikely they would ever have agreed to get married.

One country, Cambodia, has taken action to protect its citizens. It banned its citizens from marrying Korean men. When Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met with President Lee Myung-bak last October, he asked Korea to give special attention to Cambodian women married to Korean men.

But we cannot expect other countries to solve the problem. We must find a solution for what has become a serious social problem. Abuses of foreign wives by Korean men could also create a diplomatic stigma against us.

In a positive step forward, the Ministry of Justice has announced that all men planning to take marriage trips overseas will soon have to take a government-led class before they depart. It also plans to prohibit men with a history of mental illness, incarceration or three previous international marriages from getting a visa.

We must address these disgraceful cases of international marriages before they leave a lasting stain on our country.
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Warmer Relations, But Cambodian Debt Remains

Cambodian Ambassador Hem Heng shakes hand with US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.

National anthems, traditional Khmer music and big smiles were all a part of a celebration dinner held by Cambodian diplomats Friday to mark the 60th anniversary of US-Cambodia relations. But Cambodia still wants debt forgiven and a chance to see more deductions in tariffs.

“I think we’re on an upswing...so we’re pleased with the relations,” US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told reporters.

Cambodian Ambassador Hem Heng noted the improved relations but said he still wanted to see Cambodia forgiven more than $300 million in debt incurred prior to the Khmer Rouge. He said he was optimistic the US would consider the possibility.

About 200 guests from the US State Department, Cambodian diplomatic corps, US government agencies and Congress joined Friday’s dinner, which was held in a Chinese restaurant in a Virginia suburb of Washington.

The US and Cambodia are celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations this month, which talks and performances planned in Cambodia throughout July.

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Worries Delay Opening of Stock Exchange

Cambodia’s much-touted stock exchanged will not be opened at the end of the year as planned. Instead, worries after the Greek debt crisis and internal problems will delay the opening of the bourse until 2011.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon made the announcement at a business conference in Daejeon, South Korea, on Sunday. South Korea has been a main backer of the stock exchange, which has proven elusive, having first been delayed in 2009.

“We have to be careful and take a close look to see if we have more things to do relating to regulations to avoid risk,” Keat Chhon told the regional conference, “Asia 21: Leading the Way Forward.”

“Meanwhile, there are two internal problems regarding governance of regulators and companies,” he said.

Economic officials hope the exchange will boost growth. Already, the government has ordered three state-owned companies to prepare for a listing on the exchange: Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority and Telecom Cambodia.

Keat Chhon said Sunday these companies need more time to get ready. He declined to elaborate on an exact month the exchange might open in 2011.

Cambodia’s Securities Exchange Commission is also now looking for a partner to provide training to government officials to help them educate the public about trading on the exchange.

“We will provide training at universities, the business community and the general public about the benefits of stock trading and the difference between doing simple business,” SEC Secretary General Minh Ban Kosal said.

The exchange is also wrestling with which currency to use—dollar or riel. And it remains unclear how popular the exchange will be in the private sector.

No private companies have yet to sign up for listing on the exchange, though some interest has been expressed in the past from businesses in banking, agriculture and the garment sector.
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Manhunt for Cambodian soldier who killed three in shooting spree

Phnom Penh - A manhunt is underway for a soldier who shot dead three people and injured four others, local media reported Monday.

Sles Yeb, 50, is being sought after going on a shooting spree following an argument with his wife and son, whom he tried to stab with a knife late Thursday. The two escaped unharmed.

Commune police chief Khieu Pov said after the argument Sles Yeb walked the streets of Ty Pram Muoy village in Kampong Cham province in southeast Cambodia shooting people at random.

'The suspect shot a lot,' Khieu Pov told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper, adding that police recovered more than 50 cartridges casings.

More than 100 civilian and military police then spent 48 hours staking out a cornfield where they thought the suspect had fled.

'We did not dare to go deeper into the cornfield to look for him because the suspect has an AK machine gun with 160 bullets, a pistol and bombs,' said district police chief Lay Nguon. 'He is running and hiding, but we are looking to arrest him.'

He said the suspect might have fled to another province.

Cambodian security personnel involved in crimes often escape prosecution, but an army officer said Sles Yeb would be brought to justice.

'We do not support him even though he is a soldier,' said district commander Sim Uy.

Incidents of multiple killings such as this one are highly unusual in Cambodia.
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U.S. Chooses Abusive Cambodian Military Units to Host Joint Exercises

Despite its own reports documenting abusive behavior by Cambodian military units, the U.S. State Department agreed with the Department of Defense to allow Cambodia to host a military exercise for international peacekeepers.

The “Angkor Sentinel” exercise, part of the 2010 Global Peace Operations Initiative, will host 1,000 military personnel from 23 Asia-Pacific countries. It also will feature a two-week field training exercise hosted by Cambodia’s ACO Tank Command Headquarters in Kompong Speu province.

The problem with this, says Human Rights Watch (HRW), is that the ACO Tank Unit has been involved in illegal land seizures, which have been noted by the State Department and by Cambodian and international human rights organizations. In 2007, soldiers from the unit destroyed villagers’ fences and crops and confiscated land.

HRW officials point out that the Angkor Sentinel exercise is likely to include elite Cambodian military units, such as Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal bodyguards and Brigade 70, “both of which have been linked to a deadly March 1997 grenade attack on the political opposition, and Airborne Brigade 911, which has been involved in arbitrary detentions, political violence, torture, and summary executions.”

“For the Pentagon and State Department to permit abusive Cambodian military units to host a high-profile regional peacekeeping exercise is outrageous,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The U.S. undermines its protests against the Cambodian government for rampant rights abuses like forced evictions when it showers international attention and funds on military units involved in grabbing land and other human rights violations.” Read more!

Cambodia To Host Large Scale Military Exercise Next Week

PHNOM PENH, July 10 (Bernama) -- Cambodia will conduct its first ever large scale military exercise next week, a part of the United Nations Peacekeeping framework for strengthening peace and security, China's Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.

Chhum Socheat, spokesman of the Ministry of National Defence said that the military exercise codenamed "Angkor Sentinel 2010", will be conducted from July 17 to July 30, with 26 countries and more than 1,000 forces participating.

Among some of the participating countries are France, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, India, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mongolia and the United Kingdom.

Of those forces, the largest number will be coming from Cambodia as a host country and from the United States, the co-organiser of the exercise.

Chhum Socheat said the military exercise, which is part of the Global Peace Operations Initiatives (GPOI), a UN-US peacekeeping-training programme will be conducted in two separate exercise.

The first field exercise will be held in Kompong Speu province, about 50 kilometers from Phnom Penh and the second exercise will be conducted in Phnom Penh as part of the far command from headquarters.

-- BERNAMA Read more!

Cambodian diplomat sidelined with health problems in Long Beach

By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer


LONG BEACH - Song Chhang had hoped to be celebrating this weekend in Washington D.C.

He certainly didn't expect to be in a bed in a nursing facility considering his life and wondering what the future holds.

"I still have so many things to do," the 72-year-old says wistfully.

There are stories yet to tell. He wants to see how things turn out in his Cambodian homeland. But now, he just doesn't know.

Chhang is a prominent if rather low-key Cambodian in Long Beach. He is French and American educated, the former Minister of Information for Lon Nol's government during the Cambodian civil war. In the United States he helped craft the legislation that paved the way for 150,000 refugees to flee Cambodia after the fall of Pol Pot's brutal Khmer Rouge regime, under which upwards of 2 million Cambodians died.

He returned to Cambodia around 1994 and was part of the Cambodian People's Party until he was ousted in the late 1990s.

This weekend, Chhang had looked forward to speaking at a special dinner among diplomats and fellow Cambodians to recognize the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cambodia and the United States.

The actual date of the beginning of Cambodia-U.S diplomatic ties was in July 15, 1950. That year, the U.S had sent its first ambassador to Cambodia to recognize its impending independence before the country's final separation from France in 1953.

Although relations have been rocky at times and even severed, in recent years the relationship has improved.
Later this month, there will be events in Cambodia to mark the anniversary, including a performance by Long Beach resident Sophiline Shapiro's Cambodian classical dance troupe of "Seasons of Migration."

Although he'd love to take it all in, instead, Chhang will have to hear second-hand from his bed at the Regency Oaks Skilled Nursing Care facility.

Initially, Chhang thought he suffered a stroke, but he says doctors are still doing tests.

Chhang traces his health problems to overextending himself in a recent visit to Phnom Penh for a reunion of war correspondents, or the "old hacks," as they called themselves. Before his ascension to Minister of Information, Chhang was a press liaison.

At the reunion, Chhang helped oversee the installation of a small memorial to the 37 journalists who died covering the civil war between 1970 and 1975. He was also part of a group that traveled south of Phnom Penh to plant a tree in memory of an NBC team killed there.

Chhang says he wrote and made eight different speeches over the reunion events.

Now he hopes to get out of his bed and do whatever he can to help his country. He had planned a speech about refreshing sometimes rocky relations between the U.S. and Cambodia before his country falls too much under the sway of China.

And he wishes to see a day when a more "spiritual leadership" comes to his country. That's would make the old man happy. Read more!

Cambodian Activist Chooses Jail in Standoff with Prime Minister

To be a critic of the Cambodian government is difficult and, sometimes, dangerous work. But to be a female activist is even more challenging in the male-dominated society. Mu Sochua, an opposition party parliamentarian, is one of the country’s most powerful women. She is now counting down the days until her arrest on charges of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Strong legs

It all started when Mu Sochua sued the prime minister for defamation. Last year, Mr. Hun Sen called Mu Sochua “cheung klang,” which means strong legs. Mu Sochua says “cheung klang” was used in a disparaging way to disrespect her gender and intimidate the opposition. She sued him for the equivalent of 12 cents in what she called a symbolic protest. The prime minister responded with his own defamation suit, alleging that her lawsuit unfairly disparaged him.

Cambodia’s courts struck down Mu Sochua’s case but upheld the prime minister’s. She has until July 15th to pay about $4,000 in fines. But she says she would rather go to prison.

“It is my conscience that tells me I have not committed any crime. It is my conscience that tells me that we have to stop living in fear, and fear of one man who has ruled Cambodia for over 30 years,” Mu Sochua says. “And for me, it’s a gender issue as well. Because if I allow it to happen, if I pay the fine, what does it mean to the value of women who represent more than half of the people of Cambodia?”

Women's rights

Mu Sochua was not always a member of the opposition. From 1998 to 2004, she served in the government as the minister of women’s affairs. Since then, many more women have joined the government. Mu Sochua says the social image of women has improved somewhat, but that the changes have not been institutionalized.

“The women who are elected from the ruling party, the party of the prime minister, unfortunately do not serve their constituency because they serve their party first,” she says. “Which means that they don’t challenge, they don’t monitor the implementation of the laws.”

Mu Sochua says she is unwilling to stay silent while Prime Minister Hun Sen intimidates the Cambodian people, including those in his own party.

“It’s not about me and the prime minister,” Mu Sochua says. “It is about the opposition party making all its efforts to fight a prime minister who acts as a dictator. And it is about time to make a move for change.”

Detention

Authorities have not said how long Mu Sochua would spend in prison if arrested. She says she is mentally preparing to be behind bars for six months. Her case is not unprecedented. In 2005, several human rights activists were also jailed for defamation but released in less than a month largely because of international pressure.

The world may be watching Mu Sochua’s case, as well. The Cambodian parliamentarian is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and a U.S. citizen. But she says she is not using her status to try to avoid arrest. She says if going to prison will help illuminate Cambodia’s problems, then she is willing to do whatever it takes.

Western nations often raise concerns about democracy and human rights in Cambodia, but critics say they do not do enough to hold the Hun Sen government accountable. In June, foreign donors awarded Cambodia more than $1 billion in development aid on the same day the Supreme Court upheld the prime minister’s case against Mu Sochua.

Read more!

‘Unprecedented’ Cambodia, US Ties

King Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia recieved paper from newly appointed US Ambassador Carol Rodly

Cambodia and the US are experiencing their strongest ties in 60 years, according to historians and other experts, in what has been a relationship with a lot of ups and downs.

Diplomatic ties were cut twice, in 1965 and 1975, and the countries were torn apart by the Cold War. Relations were strained further after the Cambodian People’s Party seized power in fighting in 1997. And the two countries occasionally clash on issues of human rights and democracy.

Despite all this, ties are growing.

“From economic growth projects to cultural exchange programs to military cooperation, the level of substantive collaboration is unprecedented,” Kenneth Foster, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, told VOA Khmer. “In no time over the last 60 years have our two countries coordinated on a daily basis as much as we do now.”

Kenton Clymer, a historian of Cambodia-US relations, said Cambodia’s Cold War position and the US’s inability to “forge a policy” damaged the relationship. He suggested a non-ideological path of diplomacy to ensure a long-term relationship.

“It it is hard to predict the issues that will arise in the next, say, 60 years will be,” he said in a phone interview. “All I can say is that as long as both sides follow an intelligent and thoughtful diplomacy, that will prevent or at least mitigate problems that will arise.”

The US is now one of the biggest donors to Cambodia, providing development assistance topping $40 million per year. And unlike aid in the 1970s, which went to war-fighting, this aid is for development.

“Nowadays, cooperation between our two countries focuses on economic development, improving democracy, human rights [and] counterterrorism and fighting drugs and human trafficking,” Cambodia’s ambassador to the US, Hem Heng, told VOA Khmer in a recent interview.

Still, there are areas where Cambodia does not meet US expectations.

“Issues like human rights, democracy, and corruption are not properly addressed,” said Kem Sokha, president of the opposition Human Rights Party. “Whenever the US raises these issues, the government of Cambodia always objects. There are still disagreements over these big issues.”

Kem Sokha said Cambodia’s leaders often talk about US invasion and past mistakes, “but never talk about those of China.”

“It is obvious that current leaders lean to another side that is still contrary to the US stance,” he added.

The most recent strain came in December 2009, when Cambodia sent 20 Uighur Muslim asylum seekers back to China, in what some groups said was a violation of international obligations.

The US suspended a military aid package as a result, but there has been little other public fallout. China followed with a military aid package of its own.

That development disappointed some.

“It would be good if Cambodia could learn from a rich and democratic country, not a communist one,” said Yap Kimtung, president of the group Cambodia-Americans for Human Rights and Democracy.

However, it has not derailed the relationship, and a stream of celebrations are planned as July continues.

Read more!

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam To Jointly Develop Triangle Area

PHNOM PENH, July 9 (Bernama) -- Parliaments of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have signed an approval for the three countries to jointly develop a triangle area, China's Xinhua news agency reported Friday.

Citing the joint statement, the agreement allows of having a joint-controlled border point as well as setting up of a website with English language as an international language and the three nations' national languages.

The joint statement was released on Friday after the two-day parliaments meeting, which kicked off on July 7 in Kratie province in Cambodia.

The meeting also discussed the roles of parliaments on how to help promote triangle development plan among the three countries.

The triangle development area covers four provinces in Cambodia: Rattanakiri, Stung Treng, Mondulkiri and Kratie, with three provinces in Laos and four provinces in Vietnam.

It is the annual meeting and Vietnam hosted the meeting last year.

In 2002, leaders of the three countries agreed to boost for economic benefit, promoting tourism, exchanging culture, as well as to well cooperate in social order, security and to reduce poverty.

-- BERNAMA Read more!

Gates grant funds production of genetically engineered malaria drug

Posted by Kristi Heim


The Institute for OneWorld Health, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, said it has received $10.7 million from the Gates Foundation to begin commercial production of a key ingredient for malaria treatment.

In a partnership with drug company Sanofi-Aventis, the institute will use the Gates grant to prepare for large-scale production and commercialization of semi synthetic artemisinin by 2012.

Semi synthetic artemisinin is produced by a combination of genetic engineering and synthetic chemistry.

Artemisinin, the standard treatment recommended for malaria, is derived from artemisia, an herb found in Chinese medicine from the leaves of the wormwood tree.

Whie the parasite that causes the mosquito-borne disease has developed resistance to traditional drugs such as chloroquine, artemisinin in combination with other drugs is considered to be the most effective medication and credited with raising recovery rates globally.

The problem is its cost. Labor intensive extraction drives the price up and out of reach of most people in malaria prone areas such as sub-Saharan Africa.

This scientific paper describes the process, and this article offers a plain English translation of the project to use genetic engineering techniques to create microbes that can mass-produce artemisinin. (The University of Washington is also studying artemisinin's potential in cancer prevention.)

But even a more stable supply may not fully solve the problem of drug resistance when it comes to malaria. U.S. health officials say resistance to artemisinin is spreading.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned last year that parasites resistant to artemisinin had emerged along the border between Cambodia and Thailand.

The Gates Foundation gave the Institute for OneWorld Health a five-year $42.5 million grant in 2004 to establish and validate a manufacturing process to make artemisinin-type drugs more affordable.

Read more!

Cambodia: Halt US Aid to Abusive Military Units

Source: Human Rights Watch
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

(New York) - The US selection of a Cambodian military unit with a record of human rights abuses to be the host of an annual peacekeeping exercise in Asia undermines the US commitment to promoting human rights in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch said today.

The "Angkor Sentinel" exercise is part of the 2010 Global Peace Operations Initiative, an effort jointly run by the US Departments of Defense and State to help train peacekeepers. Co-hosted by the US Pacific Command, Angkor Sentinel will be the largest multinational military exercise held this year in the Asia-Pacific region, with more than 1,000 military personnel from 23 Asia-Pacific countries taking part.

The peacekeeping exercises will begin on July 12, 2010, with a five-day "command post" exercise in Phnom Penh. A two-week field training exercise will follow, with Cambodia's ACO Tank Command Headquarters in Kompong Speu province as the host. The US Defense Department funded construction there of a US$1.8 million training center for the 2010 initiative.
"For the Pentagon and State Department to permit abusive Cambodian military units to host a high-profile regional peacekeeping exercise is outrageous," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The US undermines its protests against the Cambodian government for rampant rights abuses like forced evictions when it showers international attention and funds on military units involved in grabbing land and other human rights violations."

For years, the ACO Tank Unit has been involved in illegal land seizures, as documented by the US State Department and by Cambodian and international human rights organizations. In November 2008, the unit seized the farmland of 133 families in Banteay Meanchey province, ostensibly to build a military base. In 2007, soldiers from the unit in Kompong Speu province used armored vehicles to flatten villagers' fences, destroy their crops, and confiscate their land.
Since 2006, the US has provided more than $4.5 million worth of military equipment and training to Cambodia. Some of that aid has gone to units and individuals within the Cambodian military with records of serious human rights violations, including Brigade 31, Brigade 70, and Airborne Brigade 911.

The Phnom Penh portion of Angkor Sentinel is likely to showcase elite Cambodian military units based near the capital, such as Prime Minister Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit and Brigade 70, both of which have been linked to a deadly March 1997 grenade attack on the political opposition, and Airborne Brigade 911, which has been involved in arbitrary detentions, political violence, torture, and summary executions.US material assistance has also gone toward rights-abusing units such as Brigade 31, formerly known as Division 44, which in 2008 used US-donated trucks to forcibly move villagers evicted from their land in Kampot province. In recent years Brigade 31 has been implicated in illegal logging, land grabbing, and intimidation of opposition party activists during the 2008 national elections. The unit was also involved in summary executions of captured soldiers loyal to the FUNCINPEC party during a 1997 coup staged by Hun Sun.

Cambodian military personnel are not held accountable for serious rights violations. Instead, Hun Sen has promoted military officers implicated in torture, extrajudicial killings, and political violence, such as Hing Bunheang, the deputy commander of Brigade 70 at the time of the 1997 grenade attack, who was made deputy commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces in January 2009.

In December 2009, Cambodia deported 20 ethnic Uighur asylum seekers at grave risk back to China on the eve of a visit by senior Chinese officials to Phnom Penh. The US cancelled delivery of 200 surplus military trucks and trailers to Cambodia under the US Excess Defense Articles program. This was only the most minimal response to a serious breach of Cambodia's obligations as a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Human Rights Watch said.

In February, Hun Sen announced plans for corporate sponsorship of military units as a way to support defense costs. More than 40 Cambodian businesses have agreed to subsidize military units, including some companies that have long been allowed to misuse military units as the equivalent of security contractors to protect and support their business ventures in agri-business, banking, casinos, and national media.

"By essentially auctioning off military units, Hun Sen revealed that many military units are little more than guns for hire, not the defenders of the Cambodian people," Robertson said. "The US should not be training corrupt and abusive military units for global peacekeeping."

The US government should suspend military aid to Cambodia pending an improved and thorough human rights vetting process that screens out abusive individuals or units from receiving any aid or training, Human Rights Watch said. Certain military units, as well as individual personnel from them, should be immediately banned from Defense Department assistance, including Hun Sen's bodyguard unit, Brigade 70, Brigade 31, and Airborne Brigade 911, and any of their sub-units.

"US support for peacekeeping training cannot mean turning a blind eye to soldiers and units who have violated human rights," Robertson said. "Instead, military units that are called to deploy abroad as international peacekeepers must be true professionals, not only in technical expertise, but in their respect for human rights." Read more!

US, Cambodia Set To Mark 60 Years of Diplomacy

Hem Heng, left, Cambodian US Ambassador to Washington alongside with Tea Banh, Minister of Defense, in a pagoda in Maryland.


The embassy in Washington will mark 60 years of diplomatic relations with the US on Friday, with celebrations scheduled in Cambodia in weeks ahead.

The Cambodian Embassy has invited 200 guests and dignitaries for a performance of traditional dance and a live concert Friday, the Ambassador Hem Heng told VOA Khmer.

In Cambodia, the US Embassy is hosting a week of activities starting from July 18. On that day, the Pacific Fleet Marine Band will play a concert at Chaktomuk Hall in Phnom Penh, followed by another performance in Battambang town on July 20.

The award-winning “New Year Baby,” produced by Socheata Poeuv, will play July 19 at Chenla Theater in Phnom Penh. On July 21 and July 22, the government and US embassy are co-sponsoring a discussion of former ambassadors and historians that will be open to the public on both days. And on July 24, the embassy will host a public dance recital of “Seasons of Migration,” by master dancer Sophiline Shapiro, at Chaktomuk Hall.

The celebrations are part of a continued program to mark diplomatic dealings that have not always been smooth. The US was behind a coup that ousted then prince Norodom Sihanouk and preceded the rise of the Khmer Rouge. It also undertook a secret bombing campaign during the Vietnam War.

Relations between the two countries have improved in recent years, with the resumption of direct aid and the lifting of Cambodia from a trade blacklist, following soured relations in the aftermath of the 1997 coup d’etat.
Read more!

The Next National Security

By Jack d'Annibale and Richard Arthur


Last week, the USNS Mercy hospital ship completed its mission to Cambodia as part of the United States Navy's Pacific Partnership. Among the 29,000 patients treated by Navy doctors and Cambodian medical staff was a small boy who underwent a successful surgery. During pre-op, an attentive sailor spotted the boy's mother struggling to walk through a passageway on the ship. After a timely diagnosis and successful cataract surgery, mother joined son in post-op recovery with vision restored in both her eyes.

In spite of these stories, the Mercy's civic assistance mission did not generate prominent headlines. Granted, humanitarian work is far less sexy than, say, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan getting fired for mocking civilian officials in a magazine article. However, it's crucial to keep the Mercy in mind, as it illuminates what is sure to be a vital element of our national security posture for years to come. For centuries the U.S. Navy has practiced gunboat diplomacy; today it is adding a new skill set, "hospital ship diplomacy."

In the last days of 2004, the USS Lincoln Carrier Strike Group raced to tsunami-ravaged Indonesia. Round-the-clock relief missions saved tens of thousands of lives in the aftermath of the disaster. They also radically changed Indonesians' attitudes toward America. Polls revealed the people of Indonesia -- the world's largest Muslim country -- gave the United States a 90 percent approval rating -- a mighty step up from a traditional rating of 45 percent. Though it's hard to put a price tag on this sort of goodwill, it's surely a valuable possession in the fight against radicalized violent Islam.

Embracing the relief mission's impact, the Navy soon launched an ongoing program that would eventually fall under the umbrella of Pacific Partnership. In 2006, the Mercy steamed into the South China Sea -- the first proactive deployment of a U.S. Navy hospital ship in history. The vessel has been leading humanitarian missions in the Pacific sphere since, treating roughly 150,000 people in 10 partner nations. Similar training missions are now regularly conducted by the USNS Comfort in the Atlantic.

Last week, the passageways of the Mercy bustled with Sailors, Marines, Soldiers and Airmen, as well as personnel from the State Department and USAID, the United States Agency for International Development. Together, these Americans, working alongside Cambodian officials, foreign officers and NGO partners, fanned out across the countryside, treating and healing the sick, repairing and updating medical clinics, rebuilding local schools and drilling community water wells.

Each surgical procedure and engineering feat added to the expertise and skill of American and Cambodian doctors and community leaders. The surgeries on the Cambodian mother and son not only changed their lives for the better, but also prepared local doctors to restore and save other lives in the future. The impact of the Mercy's few days spent anchored in the coastal waters of Cambodia will be felt for a generation to come.

The successes of this diverse group of American emissaries speak to an underlying strategy championed by the Obama administration. In recent remarks at the Brookings Institution, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton touted the administration's "whole of government approach" to foreign policy, that defense, diplomacy and development are part of an integrated mission to increase security and prosperity, both at home and abroad.

While the Pentagon and the State Department are usual suspects when it comes to advancing American interests, USAID is not so well known. Founded in 1961 by President Kennedy, USAID is the U.S. government's principal foreign aid agency. President Obama has put new emphasis on international development, calling it a "moral, strategic and economic imperative." In his recently released National Security Strategy, the President promises that USAID will promote security and economic growth by assaulting the conditions where criminal and terrorist activity thrive -- rampant poverty, hunger, illness, illiteracy and political unrest.

Building on this new, energized approach to development, USAID's administrator, Dr. Rajiv Shah, promises an entrepreneurial spirit and unprecedented level of transparency when it comes to agency spending. In short, Dr. Shah has promised the American people the biggest possible bang for their international aid buck.

However, there are some who believe that a dollar spent to improve conditions in a foreign land is mostly a dollar wasted, particularly in these times of financial constraint. Nothing could be further from the truth. International development amounts to less than 1 percent of the federal budget. Plus, when spent well, humanitarian dollars reap huge returns to the economic and security interests of the United States of America.

Consider South Korea. In 1953, postwar Korea was shell shocked and starving. Universal primary education was a dream, resources were scant, and the average income per person was a meager $890 per year. America's development dollars helped build that nation's infrastructure, school system and economy from the ground up. Today, primary education in Korea is at 100 percent, the average annual income is $17,000 and South Korea is one of America's strongest allies.

Consider the value of development aid for a U.S. soldier standing post in South Korea. How much more dangerous would his mission be today without a strong and free South Korea? Consider the electrical machinist in Minneapolis who is earning a good wage and providing for his family because his employer does business with South Korea's free market economy.

Yes, South Korea's success story has been decades in the making. Yes, development is a painstaking, long-term enterprise. But, as Secretary Clinton recently remarked, "It's the right thing to do and it's the smart thing to do."

In the coming weeks, the men and women of the Mercy will continue their mission, returning to Indonesia and Timor-Leste, doing their part to lay the groundwork for what could be a wave of 21st-century success stories like South Korea.

The risk and personal sacrifice of humanitarian and civil assistance missions are shared by our servicemen as well as USAID personnel and contractors. Their stories of service and sacrifice compose a larger vision of strong, principled, progressive American leadership writing a new chapter in world affairs -- a story of countless mothers and sons living in wellness not sickness, in prosperity not poverty, in triumph not tragedy.

Why do they believe in this vision? Why do we?

It's the smart thing to do. It's the right thing to do.

-----------------

Jack d'Annibale is the Founder of R.W.L. Public Strategies and a Truman National Security Fellow.

Richard Arthur is a naval officer, filmmaker, television writer and fellow for the Truman National Security Project. His views do not necessarily represent those of the United States Navy.

Read more!

Make Royals the Nation’s Ambassadors: Prince

Members of the royal family should be appointed to ambassadorial positions, where their political neutrality and high educations can serve Cambodia, an outspoken prince says.

The royalists have diminished rapidly as a political force in recent years. But members of the royal family still have “high knowledge” in the constitutional monarchy, said Sisowath Thomico, chief of cabinet for retired king Norodom Sihanouk.

The royal family currently has just one ambassador; Norodom Arunrasmy, the former king’s daughter, is ambassador to Malaysia.

Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment, but Cheam Yiep, a National Assembly lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, said he personally supports the idea.

“These are the high officials of our Kingdom of Cambodia,” he said.

Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the Sam Rainsy Party, said in other countries, royal families work on social issues, charity or justice. Positioning royals as ambassadors would not be politically neutral, as those appointments would come through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The royal family has gradually lost political power. Sihanouk stepped down in 2004, ending a long career of statesmanship, and in subsequent years, the royalist parties have lost support.

Around 30 members within the royal bloodlines have ceased politics, Sisowath Thomico said. The royal family has sometimes feuded, or members have opposed each other in politics. But that’s in the past, he said.

“Royal family members almost all have stopped doing politics and have come to serve the king, serve the throne and serve the nation in a different way,” he said.

Ambassadorships could be one way they might contribute, he said.

Sisowath Seryroth, second vice president of the Funcinpec party, said royalists should not leave politics, not “until there is a law stipulated by the National Assembly and Senate that bans royal family members from doing politics.”
Read more!

Decades after genocide, is justice even possible?

By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune


Sath Prum was just a boy when the Khmer Rouge came to take away his father. But he was old enough to know that he would never see his dad again.

“I knew that they would execute him,” Prum said. “They tied him up and put a blindfold on him. I didn’t know where they were going to take him. I didn’t know how it would be done. I just knew that he would be killed.”

Prum’s sister, two brothers and a brother-in-law were also killed during Pol Pot’s four-year reign of terror in Cambodia, when about 1.7 million people died of hunger, disease and execution.
On July 26, Cambodians scattered across the world will gather around computers, television sets and radios to hear the verdict in the case of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as “Comrade Duch,” who oversaw a Khmer Rouge prison system in which thousands of Cambodians were tortured and executed between 1975 and 1979.

Three decades have passed, but Duch is the only Khmer Rouge leader who has been tried for crimes against humanity. Pol Pot died in 1998. The trials of four additional defendants are expected to begin later this year. But it is uncertain if the U.N.-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia will indict many others — if anyone at all.

And that has left many Cambodians, like Prum, feeling as though the tribunal has failed to achieve anything resembling justice.

“It’s too late to save anyone,” said Prum, a 49-year-old assembly line worker who lives in West Valley City. “They cannot give me my father back.”

The handful of indicted leaders “are very old now,” Prum said. “They’re going to die soon anyway. So what is the point?”

Donor countries have poured more than $100 million into the tribunal, but on the eve of the Duch verdict, Japan sent an emergency payment of $2.26 million to keep the cash-strapped court solvent.

Prum doesn’t think that’s a good investment — particularly not given the small number of people the court has managed to indict. He believes the money could have been better spent in a nation that continues to suffer from the economic legacy of decades of war and political strife.

Markus Zimmer, who recently returned home to Utah after an assignment as a judicial systems consultant to the Cambodian court, understands the criticism. Zimmer noted that Duch was a cooperative and contrite defendant. The next trial will likely be more complicated, with the defendants mounting “vigorous defenses with international defense teams.”

Those cases could take years to complete.

“There’s kind of a race going on,” he said. “They’re trying to get these cases processed before people die or before they become mentally incompetent.”

But Zimmer, who has served as an advisor in 27 nations, also sees promise in tribunals like the one in Cambodia, which have the potential to leave the legacy of a better functioning justice system. After all, he said, a nation that can handle the complexities of decades-old war crimes cases should be better situated, in the future, for simpler criminal prosecutions.

What the courts can’t do is promise even justice for every offender and every victim. They also set a standard that some believe is unsustainable for nations with few legal resources and little experience.

The justice provided in U.N.-backed tribunals “is a standard of justice that would be justice in a really good world,” said University of Utah philosophy professor Leslie Francis, who lectures on the intersection of international law and ethics. “But that’s not the world we live in.”

“That’s not to say you should abandon due process and other types of guarantees,” Francis said, “but one of the things that needs to be thought about is how to institution build. If you don’t ever punish anybody, how do you build institutions of justice that work?”

She questioned whether building courts capable of handling “big fish” is the best way of creating institutions of justice that work for everyone else.

Among other failings, war crimes courts don’t generally address the individual perpetrators of war crimes — the soldiers who actually arrested and executed Phum’s father, for instance.

Utah lawyer David Schwendiman, the former head of the Special Department of War Crimes for the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, lamented the impossibility of achieving a standard of justice that satisfies everyone touched by crimes of war.

“Ask someone what justice is and you will get as many definitions as there are people,” he said.

During his time in Bosnia, Schwendiman helped develop an elaborate system to prioritize crimes for prosecution. “Our goal was to do as much as possible with the amount of time we were given and the amount of resources we had available,” he said.

The system rated the level of the atrocity, the number of victims, status of the perpetrator, geography of the event and time span in which the crime occurred.

Even still, he said, it was a largely subjective exercise and not everyone agreed with the results.
Read more!

Environmental, Social Concerns in ‘Triangle’ Talks

Development experts want to see a thorough discussion of the environment and social issues when officials from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam meet this week to discuss the remote “triangle area” among their shared borders.

In Cambodia’s northeastern provinces, expanded plantations and mining and plans for massive hydropower dams have given rise to concerns for villagers.

In two days of meetings that begin Wednesday in Kratie province, lawmakers from three countries are to discuss infrastructure, electricity and development in Cambodia’s Ratanakkiri, Mondolkiri and Stung Treng provinces; Laos’ Attapeu, Saravan and Se Kong provinces; and Vietnam’s Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces.

Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum, said it was important that lawmakers “conduct a thorough study on the environmental and social affects” of development in the region before moving forward.

Development groups want participation from stakeholders, transparency and a cease to negative impacts on “people who depend on the natural resources in that area,” he said.

Better development could increase the gains on investment and improve security in the tri-border area, he said.

Nov Seiha, an economist at the Economic Institute of Cambodia, said the border region between the three countries has the potential to reduce poverty, bolster trade and even see eco-tourism take root. But that all requires the right plan.

“If the development plan is really working, I’m optimistic that it will provide a positive result to our economy and trade,” he said.

Chheang Vun, head of the National Assembly’s committee on foreign affairs, said the three governments were planning for more infrastructure, including roads, communication and electricity.

Development policies for the area are hoped to “solve the poverty of people in the area,” he said.
Read more!

Border Marker Appeals Hearing Delayed

The Court of Appeals on Tuesday postponed a hearing for opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who is fighting criminal charges for allegedly uprooting markers along the Vietnam border.

Defense lawyers had requested that key witnesses currently in detention be brought to Phnom Penh from Svay Rieng province, where the charges were originally filed.

The two witnesses, Meas Srey and Prum Chea, were each convicted of destroying border markers in Chantrea district, where villagers say they are losing land to Vietnamese encroachment. Both were sentenced to one year in jail in Svay Rieng provincial prison.

After a 30-minute hearing Tuesday, Appeals Court judge Khun Leang Meng ordered the two be brought from Svay Rieng prison to Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh for the next hearing, which has not been scheduled.

Sam Rainsy remains in exile and is facing a two-year sentence if his conviction is upheld. He has also been charge with a separate offense of disinformation for publishing a map on his party’s website alleging border encroachment.
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Malaria Drug Resistance in Cambodia Not a Surprise

Health officials in Cambodia have found a strain of malaria that’s showing resistance to the main anti-malaria drug, known as artemisinin.

Resistance means patients can take longer to recover. Health officials and medical aid groups in Africa – home to most of the world’s malaria cases – are keeping a close eye on the situation in Cambodia.

One of the groups battling the disease is Africa Fighting Malaria. Director Richard Tren says news of the drug resistance in Cambodia did not come as a surprise.

“It’s not new news. This is something people have been concerned about for some time. In that part of Southeast Asia, the artemisinin-class of drugs has been used for a long time. They’ve been used as a mono-therapy. In other words, they haven’t been combined with other drugs,” he says.

Long-term use of a single drug to treat malaria leads to drug resistance, according to Tren.

“This has been the history of malaria treatment. The good part is that the authorities are trying to do something about it. This is not being ignored.”

What can be done?

One of the steps being taken is improving drug treatment policies.

“They’re making sure that malaria treatment is done with combination therapies so that you’re mixing the artemisinin drug with a different drug that has a different mode of action. What happens then if there is resistance to the artemisinin, the other drug will take that parasite out,” says Tren.

But drugs alone won’t solve the malaria problem, no matter how effective. Transmission of the malaria parasite must be sharply reduced.

“If there are fewer cases of malaria, Tren says, “reduced transmission means that the resistant gene of the malaria parasite can’t be drive through a population. Reducing malaria burden and improving treatment is the only way that we have to control this.”

He warns though, that the situation in Cambodia is very serious because “there’s no next class of drug of the artemisinin-based class of drugs. They’re our last, best hope of malaria treatment and it will be many years before we get a new class of drug available.”

Worse in Africa, but…

Most of the one million malaria deaths each year occur in Africa.

“The burden of malaria in Africa is much higher. There is a much more deadly strain of malaria. The falciparum malaria that you get in Africa is much more likely to kill. And unfortunately, you see the problems that you do in Southeast Asia, where you have ongoing use of these mono-therapy drugs,” he says.

Africa Fighting Malaria research found a high rate of “sub-standard” and fake medicines being sold on the continent in private markets.

“We have to be clear that no drug resistance has been found in Africa yet. These artemisinin drugs are still highly effective, but it is something we have to be very vigilant about,” he says.

While mono-therapy is found in Africa, official policies call for a different approach.

“Officially, all governments are supposed to be using the combination therapies. But the reality is in many African settings people buy their medicines from shops and kiosks and the mono-therapies are still being used far too much. African leaders, African governments have committed themselves to getting these mono-therapies off the market,” he says.

The more mono-therapy is used in Africa, the greater the risk of artemisinin resistance.

A vaccine

A malaria vaccine would help but not solve the epidemic.

“We’re closer now than ever before,” Tren says, “with a good candidate vaccine that is being supported by the Gates Foundation and by the drug company GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) and other partners.”

But he warns that a malaria vaccine would not be as effective as a smallpox vaccine, for example. “This will reduce the probability of dying by about half, I think. You know, this is not going to be a magic bullet,’ he says.

Effective medicines and malaria control will still be needed, including insecticide treated bed nets and indoor spraying of homes with insecticides to control mosquitoes.
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Film review: Th disappearance of McKinley Nolan

Although the Vietnam War has for some time been away -- away from the headlines, away from the public dialogue, away from our private thoughts -- the Vietnam War is not gone. I don't think it will ever be gone.

The two wars that have rocked the American psyche are the Civil War and the Vietnam War. The 19th century war said we were not a nation, our "exceptionalism" was an illusion, and the almighty's hand was not on our national shoulder. The Vietnam War demonstrated we were not God's earthly power, we were like other nations, and everything else was baloney.

While the Civil War attacked the existence of America, the Vietnam War finished off the American Century. America still exists -- although sometimes I wonder if that is true -- yet no one talks about the American Century. That big idea went puff in little Vietnam.

Of these two defining wars, Vietnam was the most perplexing -- not the most brutal, but the most mystifying. America won the Civil War and the nation was patched together and the illusion of unity took hold as we roared into a frenzy of industrialization followed by the new culture of consumerism. In Vietnam, however, we lost. Defeat defeats illusions. Losers lose their way. Shaken and unsure and insecure, we invaded defenseless Grenada and powerless Panama -- victories that made reasonable Americans cringe with embarrassment. And we also hightailed it out third-rate powers Lebanon and Somalia, fresh disappointments that smelled like Vietnam redux. So it was no forward march -- as our close call in Iraq and now our stalemate in Afghanistan are again demonstrating -- no roaring into a bright new future.

So today the Vietnam War lies just below our public surface, breathing a slow fire, gnawing on our national soul, polluting a nasty undercurrent of despair that refuses to disappear. Like American McKinley Nolan, who disappeared a long time ago in Vietnam and refuses to disappear in America. The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan taps into this slow burner and raises our submerged anxieties to a bewildering, disturbing surface. A riveting documentary, not a straight line, not always simple to follow, and don't expect a Hollywood ending. After all this is Vietnam.

Over four decades ago, Private McKinley Nolan suddenly vanished. What is know is he disappeared from his US Army unit, did propaganda work for the Viet Cong, married a Vietnamese woman, and lived in a village near Vietnam's border with Cambodia. Then McKinley Nolan's story turns murky. Actually, his story turns into rumors and speculations and hearsay and nasty greed and possibly neurotic confusion and -- well, all that that remains of his story are questions. Here are a few of those questions:

Was McKinley Nolan captured on the battlefield by the Viet Cong? Or was he a willful military deserter? Was he a radical Black activist? Was he a black marketer? Did he kill two fellow soldiers? Was he an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency? Was he a hero? Was he a traitor? Did America abandon McKinley Nolan? Did McKinley Nolan abandon America? Did both abandon each other?

Strangely, the US Government appears uninterested in clearing up this murkiness. It's been 43 years since Private McKinley Nolan disappeared -- he is one of the last US foot soldiers from the Vietnam War still unaccounted for -- and still his US military records have not been released. Until this film, the US Government had not contacted his family since 1968. That's a long while. Why? Does the government have something to hide? Or is this just bureaucratic inertia? Or maybe -- oh, there are so many questions.

The answers to these questions could of course be anything, since everything America touched in Vietnam was fueled by superpower hubris and riddled with irrationality and incomprehension which formed a toxicity that decimated the truth. That, by the way, is how powerful countries lose wars to little countries. They kill not only locals, but also truth, which leaves their giant military machine confused and lost, leaves it without an ounce of smarts.

In 2005, retired US Army Lt. Colonel Dan Smith -- who had a leg amputated in the war -- was touring Vietnam and spotted what he believed to be an American standing on the street. He talked to him briefly. Villagers seemed to confirm that he was McKinley Nolan. Back in the States the retired Lt. Colonel photo-identified McKinley Nolan. In Texas he told Nolan's family his story of seeing who he believed was McKinley Nolan.

The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan chronicles McKinley Nolan's brother, Michael Nolan, return to Vietnam and his search for his missing brother. It's not an easy trip, nor one that gives answers easily. He learns that when the Communist government of Vietnam released the American POWs in 1973, McKinley, fearing he would be forced to return to the United States, with wife and young baby slipped across the border into Cambodia. So his search moves to Cambodia.

There Michael Nolan is told his brother was picked up by the Khmer Rouge. Then more interviews with Cambodians -- who survived the horrific holocaust of the Killing Field -- some are painful, others are quite moving, others leave the brother suspicious. One former Khmer Rouge becomes Michael's central focus. Was he a friend of McKinley Nolan? Was he the killer of McKinley Nolan? Was he both? Human remains are exhumed. But even old bones in the ground of South East Asia guard their truth. There is no forensic evidence of McKinley Nolan. Not yet, anyway.

Back in Texas, Michael says, although his heart doesn't seem to completely cooperate with his mind, that McKinley died in Cambodia. Wife Mary stands firm with her "until death do us part." A rock of gentleness and commitment, the wife refuses to believe her husband gone for 43 years is gone forever. Son Roger, whose father disappeared when he was only two, his eyes turn heavy, watery.

Like the Vietnam War, truth is elusive yet the mission continues. Like that turbulent time -- the film has archival footage from the civil rights era and the antiwar movement and the battlefield in Vietnam -- life is difficult and the heart is battered. Yet hope continues. There is still hope for at least some.

The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan is a difficult journey through an old maze in search of new facts buried in the past. The story inches forward, and suddenly falls back. What brother Michael Nolan believed today is gone tomorrow, but is still possible tomorrow.

Director Henry Corra has done a stupendous job in saving us from another quagmire, this time one that could have sucked us under with conflicting details and endless dead ends. In the grand tradition of documentary storytelling, The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan has us moving to the edge of our seats as our minds retreat into a dark past. It's a gripping tale about a ghost that has lived for 43 years. It's Vietnam.

Wars start and wars end, yet wars never end for the casualties of war. Regardless of what happened -- why Private McKinney Nolan disappeared from his Army unit, what he did when living in that Vietnamese village, what happened to him in Cambodia -- a family in Texas needs answers. Forty-three years is too long for a ghost to live. Forty-three years is too long for a grieving family to live without answers. The US Government needs to give or get these answers.
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Ruling Party Pushes Against Further Tribunal Indictments

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party once again reiterated its position against further indictments at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, with party president Chea Sim saying last week the CPP “totally” disapproves attempts to “use the court for ill-intent purpose.”

Speaking at an anniversary party for the ruling party on June 28, Chea Sim said further indictments now under consideration by investigating judges at the tribunal would “impact peace, stability and national reconciliation.”

Chea Sim’s message was an echo of earlier warnings by Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose comments have been picked up by Cambodian tribunal judges as well.

Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leng opposes the indictment of five more suspects above those already in detention. A decision that was split over national lines in the Pre-Trial Chamber moved the indictments further through the court process, despite the resignations of the CPP.

Observers say the tribunal risks losing its legitimacy if its objectivity is compromised by politics. But that has not stopped six senior ruling party officials—including Chea Sim—from denying summonses submitted by international investigating judge Marcel Lemond.

Other CPP officials who have refused to appear in the tribunal are Senate President Heng Samrin, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Finance Minister Keat Chhon and senators Sim Ka and Ouk Bunchhoeun.

Cheam Yiep, a CPP lawmaker and member of its permanent committee, told VOA Khmer the summonses were potentially harmful to the policies of the country.

Chea Sim’s statements, he said, “shows that, do not try others beyond the five leaders under custody. Do not touch others, because they were to respect the order of their respective leaders only.”

Nevertheless, such CPP statements could hurt the upcoming case against senior leaders in custody and would be of concern to the international community and victims, said Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc.

“We wish that this court would operate independently,” he said, “without any interference.”
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On Arrival, Mu Sochua Vows Jail Over Fine

Opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua arrived in Phnom Penh on Monday prepared for a showdown with the courts in her refusal to pay a fine for defamation charges against the prime minister.

“I’ll go to jail, but I won’t pay a fine,” the Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian told reporters as she arrived at Phnom Penh Municipal Airport.

She has been ordered to pay approximately $2,500 to the courts and $2,000 to Prime Minister Hun Sen following her conviction of defamation last year in a countersuit brought by the premier.

Mu Sochua, who was traveling abroad to attend the premiere of a film on sex trafficking, noted that the judicial system had been quick to condemn her but slow to find justice in other cases.

She pointed to the murders of actress Piseth Pilika and labor activist Chea Vichea and the acid attack of Tat Marina, all of which are cases where senior officials are accused or implicated and none of which has been solved.

Mu Sochua’s case, which came after she sued Hun Sen for defamation in April 2009, was an example of nepotism in courts that don’t represent the populace, she said

Phnom Penh judge Chea Sok Heang confirmed the courts were working on Mu Sochua’s case, but he declined further comment Monday.

Meanwhile, the city’s treasury department has already reported to the courts that it has not received payment from Mu Sochua, a department official said.

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Authorities Expel Two Thai Bombing Suspects

Cambodia on Monday expelled two Thai nationals suspected in an attempted bombing in Bangkok, after arresting them in the tourist gateway of Siem Reap.

Boonplod Kobchai, 42, and Boonsom Varissareeya, 41, were flown out of Phnom Penh after their arrest in Siem Reap Saturday. They are suspected of aiding in an attempted bombing against a building of the Thai coalition party Bhumchaithai on June 22.

They were sent out on a plane to Bangkok Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kuoy Koung said. “This is because Cambodia is applying a policy of fighting terrorism and joining other countries around the world.”

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told the Nation he was grateful for the extradition and that both countries planned to cooperate further if more suspects were found in Cambodia.

The arrests come following two months of violent protest in Bangkok and strained diplomatic relations between the two neighbors.
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