The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) has called for the opposition parties to form an alliance to vie with the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) ahead of the 2008 national election, local media said on Friday.
SRP will serve as a key element of the proposed movement as it ranked second after CPP in terms of the number of votes cast during Sunday's commune councils election, English newspaper the Cambodia Daily quoted SRP President Sam Rainsy as saying.
"SRP will be the core of the movement. (It) will be a big movement that will win against the CPP. We want to reorganize the country to be better than it is under (the rule of) CPP," he said.
SRP Secretary-General Mu Sochua has met with Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) leaders and officials from other political parties to discuss and compromise on the formation of the movement, Cambodian newspaper the Sralanh Khmer quoted him as saying.
NRP Acting President Prince Norodom Chakrapong said that he welcomed Sam Rainsy's proposal and "it is a very good step to have a democratic foundation to develop the country."
Prince Sisowath Thomico, general delegate of the Sangkum Jatiniyum Front Party, said that SRP's appeal was in line with his policies, another Cambodian newspaper the Koh Santepheap reported. .
The co-ruling Funcinpec Party's spokesperson Nouv Sovathero said that his party didn't care about the other parties' proposal as the party is now implementing reforms to strengthen localities.
CPP spokesman and Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said that SRP's proposal to set up the so-called Democratic Movement didn't surprise the CPP.
"It is not the first time that SRP has formed a group of democratic parties," he said.
Sam Rainsy and Prince Ranariddh, then president of Funcinpec, established the Alliance of Democrats following the 2003 national elections in an attempt to coerce Prime Minister Hun Sen to resign.
After a political stalemate that dragged on for almost a year, the alliance ended as Funcinpec chose to create a collation government with the CPP.
Source: Xinhua .
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Saturday, April 07, 2007
Cambodia's SRP calls for alliance to compete with CPP
Bird flu kills teenagers in Indonesia and Cambodia
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The bird flu virus racing through Asia killed a teenager in hardest-hit Indonesia and a young girl from Cambodia, both after being admitted to hospitals in serious condition, health officials said.
The 15-year-old girl from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta died late Thursday after experiencing multi-organ failure, said Sardikin Giriputro, a doctor at the facility.
“By the time she arrived, it was too late,” he said Friday.
The Cambodian child was initially suffering from high fever and diarrhea before being transferred from an eastern province to the capital Phnom Penh but she quickly got worse, the World Health Organization and health ministry officials said.
The 13-year-old developed a cough and was struggling to breathe before dying Thursday.
Bird flu has killed at least 170 people since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in 2003, WHO said. It remains hard for people to catch and most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds — including the two latest deaths.
But experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.
Indonesia, the hardest hit country with 73 human deaths, is seen as a potential hotspot for that to happen because of its high density of poultry and people.
Health Ministry official Muhammad Nadirin said local lab tests confirmed the girl who died Thursday — apparently after coming into contact with the family’s sick pet bird — had the H5N1 virus.
Cambodia’s death was that country’s seventh — and the first in a year.
Some chickens in the girl’s village died before she became ill and she may have been exposed to the virus after preparing and eating tainted chickens, said WHO and the health ministry.
Officials have been sent to the area to see if any other villagers were displaying flu-like symptoms or had come in contact with sick or dead poultry, they said in their statement.
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Cambodian judges in Khmer Rouge tribunal say ultimatum uncalled for
Phnom Penh- The Cambodian judges appointed to the joint
UN-Cambodian trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders issued a statement
Friday accusing a proposed boycott by their international
counterparts unnecessary and aimed at delaying the process.
The Cambodian judges reiterated earlier assertions that a row over
fees the Cambodian bar wants to impose on foreign lawyers was not
part of the internal rules and therefore should not delay their
implementation.
They were replying to Tuesday's announcement by international
judges that they would boycott a scheduled April 30 plenary to adopt
the internal rules if the Cambodian Bar Association did not back down
on its demands for 5,000-dollar registration fees for overseas
lawyers wishing to represent clients at the hearings.
Tuesday's international judges' statement further threatened to
exclude the Cambodian bar from the process if it continued to refuse
to drop the fees. The defence says that would severely limit the
number of foreign lawyers defendants can choose from, potentially
compromising the international standards' caveat of the hearings.
The 56-million dollar joint UN-Cambodian tribunal, which began
work last year and is budgeted to take just three years to complete,
cannot proceed without adopting internal rules governing every aspect
of the work of the special tribunals.
"The national judges appointed to the ECCC (tribunals) consider
that the international judges' decision not to participate in the
plenary session planned at the end this month would further delay the
process of the court," the 15 national judges wrote.
"In response to the proposal to exclude the Bar Association of the
Kingdom of Cambodia from the process, the national judges consider
the such a move is not consistent with the substance and spirit of
the Agreement between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United
Nations.
The national judges also rejected claims by the international
judges that the Defence Support Section of the tribunals was actively
discussing solutions to the dilemma.
Bar Association president Ky Tech has said he will not back down
on the fees, claiming foreign lawyers are far better paid than their
Cambodian counterparts and that it was his duty to his members to
impose what he believes are reasonable fees on foreigners wishing to
practice law in Cambodia.
The latest impasse is just another in a long line of delays to try
a handful of aging former leaders of the 1975 to 1979 Khmer Rouge
regime, during which up to 2 million Cambodians died.
Donors have expressed increasing frustration at the lack of
progress, fuelling speculation they may walk away altogether if
issues are not resolved soon and the hearings begin to progress.
The Cambodian government has reacted angrily to allegations by
some human rights groups that it is deliberately stalling the
process, strongly denying the claims and in turn accusing lobby
groups of trying to hijack the trials for their own political ends.
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Thursday, April 05, 2007
Cambodian anti-corruption law no magic bullet, says World Bank
Phnom Penh - Long-awaited Cambodian anti-corruption legislation was just part of a package of necessary reforms and not a 'magic bullet' to ensure revenues such as from oil and gas were harnessed effectively, a senior World Bank official said Thursday.
Speaking at the launch of the bank's East Asia and Pacific update for April entitled 10 Years After the Crisis, Cambodian World Bank country manager Nisha Agrawal said the way expected new revenues such as oil and gas were used by the government 'were very important for Cambodia's future.'
But she added that focusing on anti-corruption legislation alone was a mistake and oversimplified the situation in developing nations such as Cambodia.
'All an independent anti-corruption body can do is receive allegations. You need an independent judiciary to make an anti-corruption law work. You can't just pass a law and have an independent judiciary overnight,' she said.
'Public financial management reform is as important, or perhaps more so, than the anti-corruption law,' she said, adding that the World Bank viewed the progress made by the Cambodian government on that aspect as positive.
Cambodia expects to begin oil and gas production from potentially rich offshore deposits by 2010 and economists say how those revenues are used could make or break the Cambodian economy.
One stumbling block to development critics have pointed out is endemic corruption, and the government promised donors that anti-corruption legislation would go before parliament by the end of last year, but failed to meet the deadline, causing some donors to threaten to withold funding if delays continued.
'We would like to see people think about the whole package of good governance. There is no magic bullet,' Agrawal said.
She said in regards to oil, there were positive examples such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Botswana and negative examples such as Nigeria.
'It is really for the Cambodian people themselves to decide what model they will follow. Obviously, we hope they choose a good model,' she said.
The World Bank said in a country specific press release that Cambodia's economic performance had continued to be robust, with real gross domestic product (GDP) growth projected at about 10.5 per cent - the third consecutive year of double digit growth.
It added that the four economic growth pillars of garments, tourism, construction and agriculture were expected to continue to thrive in 2007, with growth in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) expected to be sustained and oil and gas 'likely to bring about even higher growth.'
Per capita GDP stood at 480 dollars in 2006 - a figure Agrawal said Cambodia could hope to boost significantly as oil and gas revenues began to enter the economy.
Continued urbanisation, if properly planned, could also benefit the country, according to the report. Cambodia's projected rates of urbanisation were for a 291 per cent increase by 2030, but 72 per cent of those living in urban areas are currently classed as slum dwellers by the bank.
Agrawal said besides as yet untapped industries such as oil and gas, established industries such as tourism also had the potential to be more efficient contributors to the economy by taking on a more pro-poor focus.
'For instance, it's not just about how we can get more tourists ... but how they can benefit Cambodia more,' she said.
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His Majesty arrives in Cambodia
His Majesty is greeted on arrival at the Phnom Penh International Airport. - Infofoto
HRH the Crown Prince, HRH Prince Mohamed, HRH Prince 'Abdul Azim, HRH Prince 'Abdul Malik and HRH Prince 'Abdul Mateen at the Brunei International Airport to bid farewell to His Majesty. - Jason Leong
Peace Corps sends first ever mission to Cambodia
Over the next two years, 28 U.S. volunteers will be stationed across seven Cambodian provinces teaching English to rural schoolchildren.
"I believe that the Peace Corps' program in Cambodia will open new opportunities for future generations of Cambodians," Ron Tschetter, the volunteer group's Washington-based director, said in a speech before swearing in the 15 female and 13 male volunteers.
The volunteers have spent the past eight weeks living with families in Kampong Cham province, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Phnom Penh, so they could learn to speak Khmer and adjust to the local culture.
The ceremony Wednesday highlighted how well the volunteers mastered the language in just two months.
All 400 attendees stood as Sam and Kara Snyder, a couple from Buffalo, New York, and Autumn West, from Greenback, Tennessee, opened the event by singing the national anthem in Khmer.
They then sang the U.S. national anthem while their fellow volunteers and American officials stood to attention with their hands on their chests.
Conor Cronin, from Scarsdale, New York, delighted the audience by delivering a speech in Cambodian, with Felicidad Garcia, from Miami, Florida, acting as his translator for the American guests.
The crowd laughed when Cronin joked that he was chosen to give the speech because he was "the most handsome volunteer."
"We, the volunteers, have come to Cambodia from different parts of America, each with a different history. But we are all here ... with the same commitment to serve as best as possible in every way," Cronin said.
Cambodia is the 139th country to receive a mission from the Peace Corps in its 46-year history. The group has about 7,500 volunteers in 73 nations.
Clarke native will travel to Cambodia for human rights
By Rebecca Maynard
Kerry Desjardins, a lifelong Clarke County resident, is dedicated to promoting human rights, and this summer will have the opportunity to participate in a human rights delegation in Cambodia.
Desjardins, who graduated from Clarke County High School in 2005, is a sophomore at George Mason University, double majoring in Peace and Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and Global Affairs.
Desjardins said she was first attracted to human rights issues when she was a high school freshman, when she discovered and studied the Cambodian Genocide."I've always been interested in social justice issues, like civil rights, but I didn't realize it was such a global issue," Desjardins said.
She said that more than 2 million people were killed in the Cambodian Genocide from 1975 to 1979, and that today more than half of the Cambodian population is under age 25."We learn about the Holocaust, but we don't hear about this," Desjardins said, adding that the government kept some of the details from the American people.
She listed human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, poverty and government instability as major human rights concerns in Cambodia today.
Desjardins will be taking part in the 2007 Cambodia Human Rights Delegation, when a tribunal is expected to take place. While she will not take part in the tribunal directly, she will be working with Cambodian youth to try to discover ways to make change in the country.
"My research on the Cambodian Genocide led me into information about other genocides," Desjardins said, listing Armenia and Rwanda as two examples.
She finds autobiographies particularly helpful in her research, as they allow the reader a first-hand account from those who have experienced the events. She recommended "Stay Alive My Son" by Pin Yathay.
Desjardins said she is very excited to have the opportunity to travel to Cambodia..
"I consider this to be the opportunity of a lifetime, which holds a great deal of personal meaning," she said.The trip, which is coordinated through a non-profit organization called Youth Connect, will last a month and will include about nine students from all over the United States.
Desjardins said she applied as soon as she heard about it.She will travel to Phnom Penh for training, field work and visits to the Documentation Center of Cambodia and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum."I'm kind of nervous about the museum," Desjardins said, because of the horrible and emotional events it will no doubt portray.
She will also do field work in Batambang.
Desjardins is also a dedicated volunteer here in the United States, where she is involved with Amnesty International and the Tahirih Justice Center, a pro-bono immigration law firm and social services provider that helps women seeking gender-based asylum in the United States.
After graduating, she hopes to attend Peace University in Costa Rica to work on a master's degree in a human rights-related field, and then to be a human rights lawyer, possibly working in Latin America."The gap between the rich and the poor is the widest in the world there," Desjardins said.
Right now, she is busily fund-raising for her trip, which will cost between $4,120 and $4,530. Donations are tax-deductible and are very much appreciated.
Citizens who would like to support Desjardin's human rights efforts with a money donation may send checks directly to Global Youth Connect, 15 Gage St., Kingston, NY 12401, made out to Global Youth Connect with "Kerry Desjardins" written in the subject line.
For more information about the program, call 845-338-2220 or visit www.globalyouthconnect.org/cambodia2007.doc .
"I never dreamed I would get to visit Cambodia so early in life, if ever," Desjardins said. "Learning about the history of Cambodia and the strength of its people changed my life, and I feel so lucky to be given this opportunity."
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HM Leaves on Cambodia Visit
By Asri Razak
Bandar Seri Begawan - His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, left for a four-day official visit to Cambodia yesterday evening.
Upon His Majesty's arrival at the Royal Pavilion in Brunei International Airport a doa selamat was read by the State Mufti.
Present at the airport to bid farewell were His Royal Highness Prince Hj Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office, His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, Minister of Foreign. Affairs and Trade, His Royal Highness Prince Haji Abdul Azim, His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Malik and His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Mateen.
Also present to bid farewell to His Majesty were PengiranPengiran Cheterias, cabinet ministers, members of councils, deputy ministers and senior government officials.
Today at the Throne Hall, Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, His Majesty will be attending an audience with King Norodom Sihamoni, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
His Majesty will also receive courtesy calls from Prime Minister Hun Sen, Senate President Chea Sim and National Assembly President Heng Samrin, and also attend a State Banquet.
The topic of oil and gas is expected to be discussed following separate engagements between Nan Sy, the Cambodian ambassador to Brunei and Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister's Office, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Paduka Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Bakar and Fred Smeenk, the Director of Brunei Natural Liquified Gas (BLNG) earlier this February.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the same month that Cambodia expects production from potentially rich offshore oil and gas deposits by 2010. Cambodia has said it welcomes advice from other countries on strategies to manage its new resource.
His Majesty is also scheduled to visit a demining project at the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) in Phnom Penh. Since its establishment in 1992 up to 2006, the CMAC has discovered and destroyed 1,494,480 landmines and unexploded ordinances (UXOs - anything explosive that has failed to detonate, and may detonate anytime). The CMAC said 600 people were maimed or killed every month before the centre's establishment.
On the last day of the official visit, His Majesty will be visiting the Bayon Temple and the Angkor Wat temple complex.
Bordered to the North by Thailand and Laos, Cambodia's capital city Phnom Penh with approximately a population of two million, is the centre of commerce, industry, tourism, administration, and industry. Diplomatic relations between Brunei Darussalam and Cambodia were established on June 9, 1992.
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Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Cambodia's SRP can't be partner for CPP in government: Hun Sen
The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) can' t become a partner for the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) in the government for its performance at the local election was not good enough, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Tuesday.
The CPP won about 3.1 million votes out of 5.1 million that were cast during Sunday's balloting to choose leaders for the kingdom's commune councils, and the next winner, namely SRP, only won about 1.3 million, the national TV quoted him as saying.
"Therefore SRP can't share power in the central government," he told the 3rd Asia Economic Forum held in Phnom Penh.
"CPP still needs the Funcinpec Party in the present co-ruling government to have political and macro-economic stability," he said.
"We were also happy to work with other parties to have prosperity for our country. I am very proud of the people who still support CPP and we believe in the general election in 2008, we will still have the majority of votes," he added. .
According to the preliminary results of Sunday's local election polling, the CPP continued to control 98 percent of the kingdom's 1,621 communes and urban sub-districts known as sangkats, while the SRP surpassed Funcinpec for the first time to become the kingdom's second largest party in terms of its control of communes and sangkats.
Official results of the polling will be declared on April 24.
Altogether 102,266 candidates from 12 political parties competed for 11,353 seats in 1,621 councils in the second ever commune councils election since the Kingdom of Cambodia was established in 1993. Its results lay the groundwork for the general election in 2008, which will elect the fourth ever government of the country.
Source: Xinhua .
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Australia helps clear landmines in Cambodia
The Australian government will provide 12 million Australian dollars (9.7 million U.S. dollars) to help clear landmines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia.
Announcing the major funding to mark International Mine Action Day, Australia's Special Representative on Mine Action and Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Greg Hunt said Wednesday the funding would help to clear explosives from millions of square km of land across affected areas in Cambodia.
"Cambodia is one of the world's most heavily mined countries with up to 6 million landmines estimated to be scattered throughout the country," Hunt said in a statement.
According to the United Nations, close to 6 million of Cambodia's rural poor are affected by mines.
Australia's funding to be disbursed over four years will help to continue the already good work of the landmine clearance program in Cambodia and allow de-mining teams to continue their clearance work, Hunt said. .
Australia has committed around 50 million dollars (40 million U. S. dollars) to mine action-related activities in Cambodia since 1996, according to Hunt.
Meanwhile, Australia has pledged 75 million dollars (60 million U.S. dollars) over five years to 2010 for global mine action activities, he said.
Source: Xinhua .
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Amsterdam High School student goes to Cambodia
At just 17-years-old, Catena is trying to change the world one smile at a time. Michela is one of three students in the country to be chosen to participate on a mission with Operation Smile. They returned from a two week trip to Cambodia just last week, helping young children born with cleft lips and palates with corrective surgery.
"A lot of the times the kids are so withdrawn, they don't like to leave the home a lot because they are embarrassed about their face," said Catena.
But thanks to the help of Catena and others, these kids will smile proudly. While trained professionals performed the surgeries, Catena concentrated more on education.
"We did presentation for kids on dental hygiene, gurn care prevention, good nutrition," said Catena.
In order to go to Cambodia, Catena had to be sponsored by an Operation Smile club right here at home. The high school didn't have one. So she took the initiative and started the club herself, having more than 100 students attend the first meeting.
"I thought it would be amazing to be able to help people out that are in this situation and other countries," said Heather Graff, Amsterdam High School student.
Now other students are following Catena's lead, training to also attend missions with Operation Smile. Catena said she's proud and hopes that they each learn the same valuable lesson that she did.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
18 arrested in Cambodia's biggest drug bust
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian police confiscated more than three tons of chemicals used to produce amphetamine-type stimulants and arrested 18 people in the country's largest seizure of drug-making materials, officials said Monday.
The chemicals were seized in a raid Sunday on a farm located in a remote area about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the capital Phnom Penh, said police Lt. Gen. Luor Ramin, secretary-general of the Cambodian National Authority for Combating Drugs.
He said the farm was used for storing, mixing and distributing the chemical to other points in the country to be turned into a form of amphetamine, often referred to locally as "crazy pills."
He did not identify the chemical involved except to say it was imported, though he did not yet know the source.
"In terms of quantity, this is the biggest case we have ever dealt with," he said, adding that the raid and arrests on Sunday followed a long investigation.
The most important ingredient in amphetamine-type drugs is ephedrine — also used in cold medicines — whose trade is supposed to be strictly controlled by international law and by the domestic laws of many nations.
The 18 arrested suspects, all men, included 14 Cambodians, three Chinese and one Thai national, he said. It is not clear yet what charges they will face.
He said the country has recently become a production point for illegal synthesized drugs such as amphetamines.
Southeast Asia has long been a major producer and exporter of heroin, and in recent years has also become a major source of stimulant-type drugs such as methamphetamine.
Myanmar is a leading exporter of both heroin and methamphetamine, which are smuggled into and through nearby countries. Cambodia has increasingly become a transit route for drug smugglers.
Luor Ramin said anti-drug officials are continuing their joint investigation with a government prosecutor's office.
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Sunday, April 01, 2007
FGCU students hope to change the world by funding a school in Cambodia
By Elizabeth Wright
Sunday, April 1, 2007
If Ana Herrera ever makes it to Cambodia, the first place she would visit would likely be a small, concrete school building that doesn’t exist.
Not yet.
The school would be in a rural village, and it would be the place several hundred children could come for classes each day. The building would be stocked with school supplies; maybe it would even have a garden next to it.
When this school is built, Herrera, 21, a Naples resident and a senior at Florida Gulf Coast University, will be proud to know she was one of the people who helped bring it about. So will the about 20 other seniors at the university who are working this spring to raise $13,000 to build the school.
Not one of the students has ever set foot in Cambodia, and few knew much about the country’s history before the semester began.
This project is simply their response to a class assignment their professor gave them back in January: change the world.
At first, that assignment seemed too big and too vague.
The students each had different interests outside the required-for-graduation service learning class, and they had very different ideas about what in the world needed to be changed, and how.
But they could agree children, and education, were important.
So when Herrera happened on a clip from a newscast about another group in the United States that built a school in Cambodia, she thought this might be something college students in Florida could take on in three months.
She also was inspired to do something to help provide schools after learning more about a country that is still recovering from devastation during the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s and subsequent invasion and civil war. One result of that political turmoil is that school facilities in rural areas of Cambodia are scarce.
Miranda Westphal, 31, one of the students in the FGCU class, said it might seem like an idealistic project, but it’s worth trying.
“I can’t even imagine not having a place to go to school,” she said.
The students are working with a charity called American Assistance for Cambodia. Over a little more than a decade, the charity has helped build 350 schools in rural parts of Cambodia and has an arrangement with the Asian Development Bank in which the bank matches donations.
So if these students raise $13,000 this spring, that means $26,000 will go toward building a
village school. Construction can start once the students raise about $5,000.
Still, it is a large amount of money for a group of busy college seniors to come up with in a few short months before they go their separate ways.
That caused some to worry at first about whether they’d be able to pull it off.
“Everyone was like, ‘I don’t know. Isn’t that too much?’ “Herrera said.
But excitement for the project grew, and the students agreed to spend much of their spring break planning fundraisers — from bake sales to garage sales — and asking local businesses for support. Now, it’s more than just a class assignment to many.
And as for meeting their goal of $13,000, they have raised about $2,000 so far. But the students still have time on their side — there’s another month left before the semester ends.
“I’m hopeful,” Herrera said.
For more information on the Rural School Project or the need for schools in Cambodia, see http://cambodiaschools.com, or contact the students directly at
changetheworldproject@hotmail.com. The students also plan an information session at 7 p.m. April 5, in Reed Hall on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University.
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Saturday, March 31, 2007
Oil spills blacken Vietnam beaches
VIETNAM'S Prime Minister has ordered an international investigation into mysterious oil spills that have blackened some of the country's most popular beaches after ruling out the country's oil rigs.
“We have run thorough checks using vessels and aircrafts on our seas and found that our oil wells are safely operated and are not the culprit of the oil spills,” Nguyen Tan Dung told delegates at the National Assembly.
Dung was referring to two spills that occurred this year, one in January that hit beaches in the central part of the country and the second detected on March 11 along the southern coast.
State oil monopoly Petrovietnam president Dinh La Thang said tests showed the oil in the spill was crude oil from outside Vietnam.
Petrovietnam produces around 350,000 barrels of crude oil per day, most of it from rigs off the central coast and exported to refineries and power plants in Japan, South Korea, China, Australia and Singapore.
“The Foreign Affairs Ministry has been designated as the lead agency along with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and other agencies to work with other countries in the region and in the world to find out the solution and limit the damages to our country's environment,” Mr Dung said.
The National Committee for Search and Rescue said residents had so far collected nearly 1500 tonnes from the two mysterious spills. The oil had affected popular Danang beach and all 125km of Quang Nam province's coastline, including Hoi An, a UNESCO heritage site.
Officials from Danang said waters have been clear for several weeks now.
The second oil spill in the south has affected shrimp and mussel farms along coast.
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Russia to start WTO talks with Vietnam April 1, Cambodia April 4
MOSCOW, March 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will start bilateral talks on joining the World Trade Organization with Vietnam April 1, and with Cambodia April 4, Russia's chief WTO negotiator said Thursday.
"We will start talks with Vietnam in Hanoi Sunday, and talks with Cambodia in Pnompenh will be held April 4-5," Maksim Medvedkov, the director of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry's trade talks department, told a Moscow press conference.
Russia had not planned to hold bilateral talks with Vietnam, but in late 2006 Vietnam became a full-fledged WTO member and voiced its intention to hold talks with Russia.
Medvedkov said Russia had proposed to Vietnam and Cambodia that talks only cover the export products these countries have an interest in, because, he said, this will speed up the negotiating process.
Medvedkov said Monday Russia could complete accession talks in the summer or in late 2007.
"There are two scenarios," he said. "Under the first, talks will be completed by the summer, under the other, by the end of the year. But in any event, talks will be completed in a matter of months."
Moscow has signed bilateral protocols with all but four WTO members and is yet to complete multilateral talks with its trade partners within the global trade body.
Vietnam joined the WTO last year and requested talks with Russia in March, an economics ministry official said Monday.
"Russia has already sent its proposals on mutual access to commodity and services markets," the ministry said.
Moscow is also to hold negotiations with Cambodia - a new WTO member that requested talks in January - to resolve a dispute with its former Soviet ally Georgia, which withdrew from the bilateral WTO agreement after Moscow banned key Georgian exports last March, and to sign a protocol with Guatemala.
Medvedkov, who held a regular round of accession talks in Geneva in early March, said the 58-member Working Party on Russia's accession would gather no earlier than April.
Medvedkov said about 20 issues were still to be resolved during the talks. The main sticking points include state agricultural subsidies, which Russia plans to raise from the current $3.5 billion to $9.5 billion, and efforts to bring national legislation in compliance with international standards.
In November, Russia secured a long-desired bilateral agreement with the United States, removing the largest obstacle to its WTO membership. Access for foreign companies to Russia's insurance and banking sectors, and wide-spread piracy were among the main stumbling blocks in bilateral WTO talks.
Russia agreed it would allow up to 100% foreign ownership of its banks and investment companies when it joins the WTO, and that it will let foreigners enter its insurance market after a transition period. Until then, foreign insurance companies will be able to operate in Russia through subsidiaries, with foreign investment in the sectors to be limited to 50%.
Medvedkov also said Russia has linked a strategic partnership agreement with the European Union to its accession to the WTO.
"This is one of the reasons why Russia does not want to delay joining the WTO," he told journalists.
A Russian official said March 2 that a new partnership agreement between the EU and Russia will only be signed in three to four years, when the EU defines its priorities in relation with Russia.
The talks on a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) to replace the current one, which expires in late 2007, were set to begin at the Russia-EU summit in Helsinki in November, but Poland vetoed the talks over Moscow's ban on meat imports from the EU newcomer.
The head of the Russian Foreign and Defense Policy Council presidium, Sergei Karaganov, told a news conference in Moscow that the delay in starting the talks came about not only because Poland vetoed them, but also because EU countries have not yet decided on the nature of their long-term cooperation with Russia.
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Cambodia, Laos to take part in central Vietnam heritage festival
China's Ministry of Supervision delegation wraps up visit to Cambodia
The six-member delegation of Chinese Ministry of Supervision concluded Friday its five-day goodwill visit to Cambodia.
During the stay, the delegation paid a visit to Say Chhum, Secretary General of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), on Friday and held a meeting with Men Sam On, Cambodian Minister of Relations with Parliament and Inspection, on Tuesday.
During the meetings, Xia Zanzhong, delegation head and deputy secretary to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said that China and Cambodia are good friends and partners of mutual trust.
The Chinese-Cambodian ties will enjoy a long-term development in the new century, he said.
The current visit will promote both sides' inspection agencies to deepen their mutual understanding, expand their cooperation and enhance their friendship, he added. .
Both Say Chhum and Men Sam On highly remarked the great achievements scored by CPC and the Chinese government in the course of reform, opening up, promoting harmonized development of the society and the economy.
They expressed the intention to further strengthen and deepen the exchange and cooperation between both sides, including those in the fields of anti-corruption and inspection, and pledged to push the bilateral ties up to a new height.
Source: Xinhua .
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Thai PM: No State of Emergency Needed
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Imposing a state of emergency in Bangkok is unnecessary, Thailand's military-installed prime minister said Thursday, turning down a request by coup leaders who wanted to use the decree to silence opponents.
Emergency powers would have allowed authorities to ban public gatherings, impose curfews and censor local news reports. But the move could also have generated more resentment against the military-installed leaders that replaced Thaksin.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Film recalls Cambodia's Killing Fields
Socheata Poeuv once asked her father what was the worst part about living under the Khmer Rouge. He told her it was the silence.
Today, Ms. Poeuv is breaking that silence. Her film, New Year Baby , is giving a voice not only to her father's story, but to the estimated 1.7 million to 2 million people who died in Cambodia's Killing Fields.
Her film, which captures the heart-wrenching story of her family's survival, is being screened at 5:30 tonight and again at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Angelika Film Center as part of the AFI Dallas International Film Festival.
Ms. Poeuv and her parents are scheduled to be at the Saturday screening. It will be the first time her parents have seen the completed film.
"My parents didn't talk much about that period of their life in Cambodia," the filmmaker said from New York, where she now lives.
She said she had read only a few passing references about the Killing Fields.
"But I never heard my parents talk about it," she said. "I would ask questions once in a while, but they would always find ways to dodge answering. I think it was too painful for them to talk about it. I think they were desperately trying to forget the past."
In 1975, the Khmer Rouge communist group came to power in Cambodia. Its goal was to create an agrarian utopia. Instead, under the leadership of Pol Pot, between 1975 and 1979 an estimated 1.7 million to 2 million Cambodians were killed or died of starvation.
To this day, not a single member of the Khmer Rouge has been put on trial for crimes from that period. Of the hundreds of thousands who survived the Killing Fields, many left their homeland and escaped to makeshift refugee camps along the Thai border.
Many, like Ms. Poeuv and her family, would be relocated to the U.S. In 1982, Ms. Poeuv, her parents, two older sisters and a brother were resettled in Carrollton. Ms. Poeuv was just 2 years old.
Because she was born on the Cambodian New Year in the refugee camp, Ms. Poeuv said, her family always considered her the lucky one. But, she said, she had not fully realized how lucky she was.
Growing up in Carrollton, Ms. Poeuv became fully assimilated in the American lifestyle. Sometimes her parents, who tried to maintain some of their old Cambodian customs in their new homeland, embarrassed her.
"I thought they were 'old country,' " Ms. Poeuv said. "My parents would make us go to temple on Saturdays and Bible study on Sundays. My mother stored stinky fermented fish under the sink, and my father watched Cambodian videos."
"There were times when I felt like an outsider in my own family," she said. The R.L. Turner High School graduate used school to escape.
Ms. Poeuv graduated cum laude from Smith College in 2002 and studied for a year at Oxford University. She settled in New York, where she worked for NBC and ABC.
However, during a family reunion a few years ago, Ms. Poeuv's parents revealed a painful secret that would change her life.
"My mother said that my two older sisters, Mala and Leakhena, aren't actually my sisters but that they were my cousins," Ms. Poeuv said. "She said that they were the children of her sister and brother-in-law who had been killed by the Khmer Rouge. Then she said my brother, Scott, isn't my full brother, but that he is my half brother. She said Scott is from her marriage to another man. My mother's first husband and a daughter had died in the genocide."
According to Ms. Poeuv, Mala and Leakhena seemed to be relieved that the truth was now out in the open. Her half brother was just as surprised as Ms. Poeuv.
Her parents' revelation raised more questions than it answered. She was also haunted by the fact that there are many others like her who don't know the story of the Killing Fields.
"Everyone seemed determined to sweep it under the rug, as if they had done something wrong, or that they were to blame for what happened. So I became determined to document the full story," Ms. Poeuv said.
After the family secret was revealed, their parents invited Ms. Poeuv and her brother to go back to Cambodia for the first time.
Her film documents the trip, which traced her family members' journey from their homes to forced labor camps – and their escape on foot through the jungle to Thailand.
"Somewhere along the way, I discovered that the secrets they held in shame also proved their great heroism," she said.
Today, Ms. Poeuv is determined that the world not forget what happened in Cambodia.
Pol Pot died before he could be brought to trial, but Ms. Poeuv wants the Khmer Rouge brought to justice.
She is developing an archival project to document the testimonies of Cambodian Khmer Rouge survivors.
New Year Baby, which marks Ms. Poeuv's directing debut, has already won several awards, including Amnesty International's Movies That Matter Human Rights Award and the best documentary prize at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. The film has also been selected for inclusion in PBS' Independent Lens series.
Ms. Poeuv's documentary is one of 190 features and short films that will be shown during the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, which continues through Sunday. For a complete schedule, see www.afidallas.com or call 214-720-0555 .
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Cambodia prohibited its workers from South of Thailand
Cambodia has banned its migrant laborers from working in insurgency-plagued southern Thailand due to safety concerns, an official said Thursday.
Thailand's southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat have been the scene of an Islamic insurgency that has led to more than 2,000 deaths in the past three years. The three provinces form the only Muslim-dominated area in the Buddhist-majority country.
In a letter to Cambodia's Labor Ministry, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong asked that all labor-exporting companies not send any workers to the Thai provinces that are currently "experiencing insecurity problems, including many killings."
A copy of the letter, dated March 19, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
Um Mean, a deputy labor minister, said there are more 70,000 registered Cambodian workers in Thailand's provinces along its southeastern border with Cambodia.
Although there are no companies that export workers to Thailand's deep south, the ministry has instructed all 13 of Cambodia's licensed labor-exporting companies to comply with the ban, Um Mean said by telephone Thursday.
Um Mean described the ban as a "precaution we had better take" now rather than later.
"The main reason behind it is safety concerns for the lives of our workers. In addition, a dangerous incident could produce difficulties for both countries," he said.
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