They're going to Cambodia with a camera

But many children around the world are being exploited for sex, according to Nicole Severson, who started a nonprofit organization to bring attention to the atrocity.

“We want to learn more about these children who have been sold into the sex trade — children as young as 3, some say — because we’ve been horrified by the research,” said Severson, president and founder of Saving Hope International.

The recent St. Cloud State University graduate will fly to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, today with a Web designer and a videographer to capture what they see and can learn about the sex trade there.

As of last year, the United Nations estimates 30 percent of the sex workers in Phnom Penh were younger than 18.

“Our goal is to go into Cambodia not with the mentality of ‘We know what you need’ but to assess what they need, to talk to other nonprofits that are already there and just kind of figure out what we can do and what our role will be,” she said.

Saving Hope International became recognized as a tax-exempt charitable organization in November. Its goal is focus attention on child sex workers and victims “to carry their story through imagery to the world.”

Sarah Stroschein, a St. Cloud State junior majoring in graphic design, and Laura Senko, a 28-year-old documentarian from Toronto, will accompany Severson on the monthlong trip.

“The research I’ve done is that the average age of a young girl being exploited is somewhere between 11 and 14 years old,” Severson said.

The 28-year-old from St. Cloud graduated with a major in nonprofit management and minor in photojournalism. She will be putting both knowledge areas to use in Cambodia, a country the group has not visited. The trip to Cambodia is the volunteer organization’s first major project.

“I lived in Mozambique, Africa, for three months in 1999, where there was a girl — one of many — whose home had been invaded by rebels and she was raped continuously over a period of time,” Severson said.

The United Nations estimates that 700,000 to 4 million women and children are trafficked globally. The highest concentration — 225,000 people — is estimated to come from Southeast Asia.

“I’ve gone overseas and seen the poverty and deprivation, so my heart has always been to bring hope to these children, which is why I called my organization Saving Hope International,” Severson said.

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Great Aussie barbeque may soon be made in Cambodia

Phnom Penh - They are environmentally friendly, socially responsible and a great talking point for guests - Australians may soon be throwing a shrimp on a traditional Cambodian clay barbeque.

That's the hope of Tom Drury of Thomas Imports in Sydney's Mosman.

Drury is currently advertising the handmade clay barbeques on internet trading site alibaba.com, but says he will approach large chains that show interest in going carbon-friendly such as Bunnings.

The barbeques are the brainchild of French environmental aid agency Geres, manufactured by mostly small and previously poor family businesses in the central province of Kampong Chhnang.

'I'm interested in Geres because they are involved with carbon reduction projects in Cambodia. I want to give a few dollars from every barbeque I sell to Geres in the hope of becoming a carbon neutral company,' Drury said by email.

Kimberley Buss, Australian carbon offset analyst with Geres, says the great Aussie barbie going green from Cambodia is exciting.

'I think a certain percentage, especially men, will always want their big, shiny barbeques,' she said in an interview. 'But they make a great talking point - every barbeque has a story.'

By redesigning the traditional Cambodian model so the grill sits closer to the fire, adjusting the number and size of the ventilation holes and keeping heat in with a metal jacket, Buss said the barbeques used 25-per-cent less fuel than conventional barbeques.

'It's a moral thing with a lot of buyers,' Buss said. 'And it helps people. There are two sisters making them at the moment who may not have had work before but now every time I visit they have something more - a new motorbike, new staff. It's great.'

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The Cambodian government has announced plans to re-launch.........

The Cambodian government has announced plans to re-launch the national airline, which was scrapped with massive losses on 2000. This time however the airline is being launched with the backing of massive Indonesian conglomerate Rajawali, and will be able to tap into the massively growing number of tourists to Cambodia.

Visitor numbers to Cambodia grew to 2 million in 2006, 60% of whom flew into the country. And with Cambodia being hailed as the new Thailand, because of its virgin white sandy beaches, and undiscovered tropical locations prompting a further 20% rise in tourism for 2007, it is hoped the new airline will be an added boost to the clearly flourishing Cambodia tourism market.

Liam Bailey head of international research for David Stanley Redfern Ltd gave his view on the possible effect the airline will have on the Cambodia property market: "New air routes are always good news for property markets, but the new Cambodia airline, and the likely increase in flights it will generate will be of special significance in Cambodia. The massively successful property markets of Malaysia, Thailand, and Thai islands like Koh Samui, have largely been fuelled by tourism, well in Thailand almost completely fuelled by tourism.

"But in Cambodia, property market growth has been largely limited to Phnom Penh, and fuelled by growth in commercial, business, financial and services sectors. The recent massive increases in visitor numbers, which will be helped by the new airline, will spread property market growth to other areas, and new Cambodian property hotspots will be emerging very soon - perfect timing given that the Phnom Penh property market is showing signs of levelling out."

Even though Cambodia property has been among the hottest for the past two years, it seems the surface has barely been scratched on the country's property investment profitability.

Find out more about Cambodia property at www.davidstanleyredfern.com/investment-property/cambodia.
About David Stanley Redfern

David Stanley Redfern Ltd is one of the U.K.'s leading overseas property investment specialists. The reasons for this are an incomparable range of international properties spanning 40 destinations worldwide, and unrivalled customer care, which lasts long after the purchase has been completed. Experienced, professional staff and membership to the overseas property market's regulatory body: the Association for International Property Professionals, as well as their stringent due diligence procedures gives buyers the confidence that any purchase with David Stanley Redfern is a safe one.
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Siem Reap port rehab plows ahead

The Chong Khneas Boat Association in Siem Reap says it plans to hold a demonstration unless provincial authorities do something about South Korean port investor Sou Ching Investment Co.'s collecting of money from tourists without ongoing development of the area.

Association chairman Roeun Thoeun said Sou Ching is taking $1 from each foreign tourist at the port south of Siem Reap city but is not upholding its part of an agreement to provide the community with proper roads, parking and toilets.

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The problem has been occurring since the company started the project. So far the problem between villagers and Sou Ching has not been resolved.

Minh Bunly FACT

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"I see the company has lived up to about 20 percent of the agreement," Thoeun said. "We want to take that money (provided by tourists) and develop the infrastructure in the area ourselves."

Thoeun said some 220 locally owned boats take tourists from Chong Khneas to visit the Tonle Sap and many boat owners have complained that the construction activities of Sou Ching Investment are disrupting their livelihoods.

"Since the company arrived (in May 2007), there have been a lot of problems for villagers in the community," Thoeun said, pointing to environmental concerns arising from pollution caused by the port's development.

On January 2, the Boat Association of Chong Khneas, together with the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents (CATA), wrote a letter to Siem Reap Governor Sou Phirin requesting provincial authorities stop Sou Ching from collecting money from foreign tourists as of January 15. So far the company has not stopped.

Thoeun said the association's next step would be to organize a demonstration targeting local authorities for their perceived lack of support for boat owners and the Chong Khneas community. A date for the protest has not been set.

Meanwhile, Siem Reap district authorities on January 21 dismantled about 300 homes, moving them back five meters to allow Sou Ching Investment to widen a road.

CATA president Ho Vandy said Sou Ching has a contractual obligation with the local authorities to develop the area, first by building roads, parking lots and public latrines. The provision of infrastructure would then justify collecting fees from tourists, he said.

"Chong Khneas area is very messy; a bad environment with a lot of beggars disturbing tourists," Vandy said. "We do not oppose the company's development but the company wants to make cake without flour."

Vandy estimated that each day Sou Ching collects $1,500 to $1,800 from tourists to clean the area but said many tourists continue to complain about the cleanliness.

"We want to keep the area's future potential as tourist attraction," Vandy said.

In May 2007, the Council for the Development of Cambodia granted a license to SouthKorean firm Sou Ching Investment Co. Ltd to invest $2 million in a project to build a port at Chong Khneas, but the project was stalled by villagers' protests.

Sou Ching representative Var Chhoudeth said there was only a small core of protestors and they had been inciting unrest in the wider community.

Chhoudeth said his company has been developing the area with a canal for the boats, expanded roads and a car park, and was also cleaning the area.

"The boat association wants to take the money themselves but they cannot develop the area," Chhoudeth said. "What our company is doing is based on the agreement with the provincial authority."

Minh Bunly, project officer for the Fisheries Action Coalition Team, a local NGO working with the fishing community at Chong Khneas, said the company had provided the community with little infrastructure.

"The problem has been occurring since the company started the project," Bunly said.

"So far the problem between villagers and Sou Ching has not been resolved."

Siem Reap Deputy Governor Chan Sophal, who is in charge of overseeing the port development at Chong Khneas, said he was too busy to comment on the project when contacted by the Post.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, about two million foreign tourists visited Cambodia in 2007. Chong Khneas is one of the best-known destinations in Siem Reap. Read more!

Child labor surges with building boom

B ATTAMBANG – Sy Oeur was 12 years old when she dropped out of school in a desperate bid to keep her impoverished family afloat. Despite her age, she quickly found a job working ten-hour shifts in a brick factory for which she is paid 6,000 riels a day.

She says she doesn’t mind the long hours or dangerous work as she’s happy to be able to help her family.

Behind the glitz and glamour of Cambodia’s recent construction boom is an army of under-aged, under-paid workers such as Oeur. The surge in demand for cheap labor has prompted thousands of children, some as young as six, to abandon their schooling and accept hazardous work in factories or on construction sites.

A new research study released May 8 by local rights NGO Licadho and World Vision draws attention to the gross child rights violations that underpin Cambodia’s latest burst of economic development.

The study was launched in Battambang where an estimated 500 children are currently employed in the province’s 26 brick factories.

“Most of these children are forced to work at the brick kilns because of poverty,” Vann Sophath, deputy director of communication and advocacy for Licadho, told the Post at the launch.

Conditions in the brick factories meet the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) criteria for the “worst forms of child labor,” the report claims. Factory work hinders education opportunities – around 74 percent of child workers do not attend school – and carries health risks ranging from third degree burns from the kilns to respiratory problems from brick dust.

Factory owners “never pay for treatment” when their workers are injured on the job and very few factories have any safety procedures in place, said Sophath.

Protective glasses, helmets and work shoes were almost unheard of among the children interviewed, less than half of whom were wearing gloves, hats or masks during work. Fewer than 20 percent of the children interviewed in the report said they had received work safety information from their employers.

The most common tasks performed by children in brick factories include loading bricks to and from kilns, extracting and grinding clay, and operating machinery. Brick making machines are hazardous as hands or arms can be easily caught in the constantly grinding moving parts.

Children working at the brick kiln receive an average wage of 5,000 to 6,000 riel per day with children under ten years old receiving 1,000 riels.

“Work in the brick factory is quite hard but I do not have any choice because my family needs the money,” said Kouch Chantha, 14, who, like all his siblings, works weekend shifts at the factory.

“I actually do not want to come but I am forced to work here by my mother because if I don’t come here I will have nothing to eat,” he said.

Most children, particularly those of a very young age, begin work alongside their parents and 30 percent said they lived at the factory in which they worked with either their parents or other relatives.

Pressure from parents who rely on their children’s wages to provide for the family means many child brick factory workers are resigned to their fate, said Chea Ravy, a child welfare worker at World Vision’s drop-in center for child workers in Battambang.

“They have only known one thing their whole lives: How can they build a dream?” Ravy asked.

Many factories in Battambang are taking on more child workers due to the recent constriction boom, said Eng Soeur, the owner of Ponlok Thmey Brick Factory which currently employs 50 workers. February and March were particularly busy months this year as brick prices rose to 400 riel per brick and his factory reported average sales of 150,000 bricks per month.

Although Soeur himself does not allow children to work fulltime at his factory, he does now allow child workers on weekends and holidays.

The construction boom has also resulted in a higher percentage of females working in brick factories.

Sok Seth, director of the Ministry of Labors’ Prey Konkhla Vocational Training Center – which includes a state-run brick factory which employs children – estimates that 70 percent of child brick workers are girls as boys are needed for heavier work on construction sites.

“The regulation in my center is not to hire children to work but we cannot enforce it 100 percent because the children sometimes come along for work with the mother,” Seth told the Post during a visit to the center on May 9.

Seth stressed that parents, as well as the brick factory owners, need to consider more carefully the future of their children and the dangers they face in this kind of work.

However, he added that if factory owners ceased hiring children the earnings of many families would decrease markedly, which is why many parents are not happy with the work of NGOs who are trying to combat child labor.

An estimated 1.4 million Cambodian children between the ages of seven and 14, or more than 50 percent, are engaged in some for of labor, mostly in the agricultural sector, according to international agencies.

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Property sales hit a bump as election nears

C ambodia’s red-hot property market has cooled significantly as investors fretting over the outcome of July national elections curb a buying spree that has seen land prices more than quadruple in some parts of the country, realtors and lawmakers say.

This trend, however, is likely to reverse itself as post-poll jitters die away, they add.

Sung Bonna, chief executive of the Bonna Realty Group, said the pace of sales had slowed by about five percent since mid-April and prices that have been on a scorching run for the past three years have flatlined.

While most agree that polling on July 27 is unlikely to be followed by radical land reforms or policies that restrict investment, realtors say people remain wary of change – especially political – and this is playing out in urban and rural property markets.

“In general, businesspeople involved in real estate are waiting to see what the situation is after the national election,” Bonna told the Post, adding that without buyers, property sellers have been forced to cap prices.

“Also, the rainy season isn’t a good time to go out and see land,” he added.

Realtors, however, including Bonna, predict the elections would register as only a small blip on the long-term pattern of rising Cambodian property prices.

“I think real estate will remain a tool that helps the country develop,” said Cheng Kheng, owner of Cambodia Properties Limited (CPL), adding that he expected prices to resume climbing a few months after the polls, once concerns over restructuring subside.

According to Kheng, many of the bigger spenders in Cambodia’s real estate sector have political party affiliations that were demanding more of their time as the election approached.

“I think people who have a lot of money to buy land are busy campaigning for the election.”

But the real estate sector slowdown has also hurt an unprecedented building boom that was a key factor behind Cambodia’s recent double-digit economic growth.


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In general, business-people involved in real estate are waiting to see what the situation is after the election.– Sung Bonna

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Several mega-projects around the capital appear to be languishing in the financial doldrums, according to economists who say a combination of domestic political concern and shaky global markets has discouraged investment in real estate.

“I don’t think construction firms would want to stop their buildings if they had enough money,” said Kang Chandararot, director of the Cambodia Institute for Development Study.

“But they seem to be lacking finances to finish their projects,” he said, adding that inflation had squeezed project funding, with rising prices for construction materials and labor impacting on new developments.

Cheam Yeap, a lawmaker with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) that is expected to dominate the July polls, said a CPP-led government could protect property investments, something that opposition politicians have demanded as the country attracts more foreign money. Read more!

Strange but true: inflating cambodian boy

TO Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where a father and mechanic “learned the hard way not to inflate children when he inserted an air hose designed to fill car tires into his 5-year-old son’s anus and blew him up”.

The Khmer-language Rasmei Kampuchea daily reported Try Sienghym was “playing” with his son Sok Sambo when the incident took place.

The paper said the child’s stomach became distended and his concerned mother rushed him to hospital, where he remains in a stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery.

“The father very much regrets playing like this now,” the paper quoted a family member as saying.

Police were not expected to take action against the father, blaming the incident on pure stupidity, against which there is currently no law.

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Cambodia: Garuda Add To Khemara's Misery

The misery continues for Khemara Keila FC when they conceded their second defeat in less than a week following their 1-0 loss to Moha Garuda at the National Training Centre.
Khemara had faltered to a 2-0 loss to Build Bright United a few days earlier.

And this time round, a 14th minute strike off P. Taboula was enough for Moha Garuda to pick up the win and the three points.

In the meantime, Phuchung Neak FC had to fight tooth and nail before they were able to hold Kirivong Sok Sen Chey FC to a 3-3 draw.

The score at the break was 3-2 in favour of Kirivong Sok Sen Chey FC with goals coming off Ly Ravy (35th minute), O. J. Chukwuma (43rd) and O. A. Jothan (44th) while Phuchung Neak replied off Lappe Lappe (17th) and Hok Sochivorn (30th).

However, Hok Sochivorn turned up to be the toast for Phuchung when he nailed his second goal of the afternoon and the equaliser deep in injury time for the win.
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ASIA/CAMBODIA - A statue of Our Lady of Lourdes found by fishermen in Mekong waters

ASIA/CAMBODIA - A statue of Our Lady of Lourdes found by fishermen in Mekong waters, where it had left during the war 33 years ago

Phnom Penh (Agenzia Fides) - A group of fisherman found a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in the deep, muddy waters near the shores of the Mekong River, next to Phnom Penh, in the network of rivers that unite opposite the Royal Palace. On the afternoon of April 11, eight men of Cham origin, Muslims, found a cast-iron statue entangled in their fishing nets, weighing 160 kilos and measuring a meter and a half in height. It had been in the river for at least 33 years, since the beginning of the regime of Khmer Rouge.

Not knowing what to do with it, they sold it for $7 US dollars to some local inhabitants that intended to recycle it and use it for raw material. Some Christian people who happened to pass through the area immediately recognized it as a statue of the Virgin Mary. Thus, it was passed to new owners, from the parish of Areaksat, being sold at $1,000 US dollars, which immediately translated into 10 sacks of rice. It seems that its new owners did not want to make a business deal with a sacred image. The statue is now at the parish of Our Lady of Peace. The Christian community has immediately expressed its gratitude to the poor family, for having donated the statue.

For some time now, the account of the statue’s appearance in the river has been circulating around Phnom Penh. In this month of May, consecrated to the Virgin, the faithful take her daily offerings and flowers. Especially on Sunday, numerous Christians come together to pray before the image of Our Lady of Lourdes, that has been named, “Our Lady of Mekong.”

For now, the origin of the statue is completely unknown. With the conquest of religious houses during the war, the statue was surely thrown into the waters, where it remained 33 years. The parish of Areaksat, near to the site of the statue’s appearance, in times of war was not located there, but 2 kilometers away from the site. Some of the area’s elderly folk were questioned regarding the statue, but they have been unable to recognize it or offer information as to its location before it was thrown into the Mekong River. (PB) (Agenzia Fides 21/05/2008 righe 27, parole 372)

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Thousands of poll agents to guarantee fair election in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH,(Xinhua) -- Two hundred and forty trainers from Cambodia's four major political parties are preparing to train tens of thousands of poll agents who will watch the National Assembly Election Day process to ensure that votes are counted fairly and that their opponents play by the rules, a press release said Thursday.

Members of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), the Funcinpec Party, the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) and the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) will attend a party poll agent training conducted by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in Phnom Penh from May 26 to 31, an NDI press release said.

The party trainers will in turn train tens of thousands of their own party's polling agents, it added.

NDI's training will equip the political party trainers with the knowledge and skills to conduct systematic observation of the polls and report based on a standard polling agent manual and observation checklist based on the National Assembly election laws, regulations, procedures and code of conduct, the release said.

The NDI will invite all political parties that have officially registered for the National Assembly election to receive the party poll agent training, it said, adding that other political parties will be trained in a second batch.

The NDI provided a similar training prior to last year's Commune Council elections, in which more than 100,000 party poll agents watched the polling process.
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Royal cows signal 'quite good' rice harvest in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's royal cows performed an ancient ceremony on Friday, predicting the country will have a "quite good" rice harvest this year, despite global concerns over supplies of the grain.

King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the country's Royal Ploughing ceremony in a park outside the royal palace. Thousands of people watched on as royal astrologers observed what the cows ate to signal the coming year's harvests.

After a symbolic ploughing of a portion of the park's field, a pair of royal cows were led to seven dishes -- rice, corn, beans, sesame, grass, water and alcohol -- laid out on trays.

"Based on what the royal cows ate, the rice harvest will be quite good," chief astrologer Kang Ken declared before the crowd of onlookers.

He also said the corn harvest would be good, but the bean crop would be average.

The traditional ceremony marks the start of the planting season in the kingdom.

Farmers who joined the ceremony hailed the prediction.

"This means that we will not face rice shortages in the coming year," said 58-year-old Kao Tob, a rice farmer in Kampong Chhnang, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh.

Even if the harvest is strong, Cambodians face soaring food prices. Inflation reached double digits late last year and now hovers around 11 percent.

Good-grade rice -- Cambodia's staple food -- has nearly doubled in price this year.

It now costs nearly 0.90 dollars per kilogramme (41 cents per pound), deepening the poverty of the one-third of the population who live on less than 50 cents a day.

World rice prices have soared this year, a trend blamed on higher energy and fertiliser costs, greater global demand, droughts, the loss of rice farmland to biofuel plantations, and price speculation.
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Informal marriage brokers active in Cambodia despite official ban

PHNOM PENH, May 23 (Xinhua) -- There are more than 100 informal marriage brokerage agencies still at operation in Cambodia despite the official ban and closure of three South Korean ones, state media said Friday.

"The government doesn't allow operation of marriage brokerage services at all" because they are exploitative, English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodian Daily quoted You Ay, secretary of state at the Ministry of Women's Affairs, as saying.

She said foreign men who frequent or live in Cambodia desire to marry local women out of "true love," but insisted that foreign marriage ban will remain valid until relevant legislation is drafted.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is expected to meet with the Interior Ministry over finalizing such a sub-decree in the coming month, she added.

Foreign marriage brokerage agencies came into spotlight in Cambodia after the International Organization for Migration issued a report stressing the vulnerability of Cambodian brides flocking to South Korea in increasing numbers.

The government in response banned all marriages between Cambodians and foreigners on March 29, pending new legislation to regulate the process.
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WORLD BANK GROUP: World Bank Extends Cambodia Country Program, Approves Two New Projects to Help Govt. Fight Poverty

The decision to extend the current CAS three more years resulted from extensive consultations with the Government and other stakeholders, including the donor community, the private sector, and the civil society. These consultations confirmed the continued relevance of the CAS strategy of improving governance through a wide range of development initiatives, said Ian Porter, Country Director for Cambodia. 'The Bank's assistance strategy recognizes the positive changes in Cambodia over the past three years, and the solid progress the Government has made in implementing the ambitious reform agenda,' Porter said. 'This progress has enabled the World Bank and other donors to continue working with the Government to deepen their reform efforts.' First approved in 2005, the Cambodia CAS provides support for tackling some of the critical governance issues threatening the country's ability to reduce poverty and achieve Millennium Development Goals. It aims to improve governance through private sector development for growth; public financial management for better service delivery; land administration, management and allocation for agricultural investments and growth; and decentralization and social accountability for better governance and empowerment of communities.

The Cambodia CAS was the first Bank Group CAS produced jointly with the Asian Development Bank, the UK Department of International Development, or DFID, and the UN system, which have all endorsed the extension.

Together with the CAS extension, the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors also approved two lending projects for Cambodia, aimed at helping the government fight poverty by improving access to roads, as well as providing poor people with land for agricultural development.

Under the Road Asset Management Project (RAMP), the Bank will provide $30 million worth of financial and technical support to help the government perform periodic maintenance on selected sections of the country's road network, as well as establish related systems. Studies have shown that road access helps reduce poverty as it allows poor people easier access to the markets. An improved road system also enables the government to bring social services to remote, rural areas.

This five-year project also receives financial support from the Asian Development Bank, and the Australian Agency for International Development. The Royal Government of Cambodia also contributed toward the project cost, which stands at $56.1 million.

The second project, the Land Allocation for Economic and Social Development Project (LASED) will receive a total of $11.5 million in funding from the World Bank, which complements technical cooperation support from the Government of Germany. LASED will support the Government's social land concession program.

Under the project, local communities will identify appropriate state land, and select poor, landless families to receive land as well as livelihoods assistance within their own communities. The five-year project will be implemented by the local communities, with assistance from the Government's land and decentralization support agencies.

CONTACT: Elisabeth Mealey, World Bank Group Tel: +1 202 458 4475 e-mail: emealey@worldbank.org Read more!

The dark side of Phnom Penh: Cambodia’s capital city is still haunted by the ghosts of the Khmer Rouge

By Jack Souther

Somewhere over the Mekong Delta we crossed from Vietnamese into Cambodian airspace. It’s only a 40-minute flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh but it spans one of the most historically volatile regions in all of Southeast Asia. Back in the 18th century, before the Vietnamese annexed it, the rich agricultural land of the Delta was part of the Khmer Kingdom. Since then Cambodia’s border has been buffeted by war, violated by its Thai and Vietnamese neighbours, and ignored by foreign powers.

As we begin our descent into Phnom Penh I get a fleeting glimpse of the mighty Mekong River that runs through the centre of the city. Moments later a friendly immigration officer welcomes us to Cambodia and takes only a few minutes to process our visas. Kosal, a stocky, dark skinned fellow in his early 40s greets us with a big smile. He will be our guide in Phnom Penh. The trip to our hotel takes us past stately French Colonial houses, some restored, others crumbling into ruin. Built 100 years ago when Cambodia was part of French Indochina, they now stand side by side with Art Deco mansions that once belonged to officials of Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s pre revolutionary government.

The traffic, a mix of tuk tuks, motorbikes, and pickups, is less frantic than that in Ho Chi Minh and, perhaps because it is smaller, the pace of life seems more relaxed. After a sumptuous dinner at the Amoc Cafe we return to the Juliana Hotel, order a drink from the bar, and settle down at a table in the lush poolside garden. It’s hard to imagine that 33 years ago foreigners like us were banned from the country and the people of Phnom Penh were fleeing their city in terror, abandoning their homes, shops, and most of their possessions to a handful of Khmer Rouge soldiers.

In her book First They Killed My Father (Harper Collins), Loung Ung describes the day the soldiers arrived and ordered everyone to leave on the pretense that the U.S. was about to bomb the city. “You can return in three days,” they were told. It was the first of many lies designed to control the terrified people. At checkpoints outside the city the Khmer soldiers offered good jobs to anyone who had worked for the Lon Noi government. Those who identified themselves were killed. The others became virtual slaves in work camps and rural communes where many died of starvation and disease.

I asked Kosal if he remembered that terrible time. “Yes,” he replied, “my experience was very similar to that of Loung Ung. Almost every family in Cambodia was affected one way or another by Khmer Rouge violence. They killed three members of my family and I have lost track of the others.”

The convoluted history that paved the way for the Khmer Rouge takeover and the subsequent tragedy of Pol Pot’s social experiment is a tale of political intrigue, deceit and social collapse. Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953 and for 20 years, under the autocratic rule of Norodom Sihanouk, it enjoyed a period of relative prosperity.

But discontent with Sihanouk’s repressive policies came to a head in 1970 when a military coup led by general Lon Noi overthrew him. After fleeing to Beijing Sihanouk set up a government in exile allied with a revolutionary movement lead by Pol Pot, whose peasant army had been waging a limited guerilla war against the government since 1963. Sihanouk nicknamed them the Khmer Rouge and his support drew thousands of new recruits into the revolution.

In the meantime the Vietnamese war was spilling over the border, and in 1969 U.S. president Nixon authorized the secret bombing of suspected communist bases in Cambodia. Over the next four years an estimated 250,000 Cambodian civilians, mostly peasants, were killed by B52 carpet-bombing. The survivors, bitter and displaced from their land, flocked to join the Khmer Rouge and, with aid from China, Pol Pot’s guerrilla skirmishes escalated into full-scale civil war. On the 17th of August 1975 truckloads of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge soldiers stormed triumphantly into Phnom Penh and replaced the Lon Noi government with a regime even more brutal and horrific than the war that brought them to power.

Our brief stay in Phnom Penh was an emotional roller coaster that took us through the depravity of the Pol Pot years to the measured optimism of modern Cambodia — from the unspeakable horror of the killing fields to the tranquility of the Royal Palace.

“We will go first to Tuol Sleng Museum,” Kosal tells us as we pile into a tuk tuk and head off in a cloud of exhaust from the aging motorcycle towing us. The sprawling low buildings of the museum were once occupied by a high school but, with the addition of razor wire, barred cells and long rows of leg shackles chained to the floor, the Khmer Rouge converted it to a prison. Security Prison 21 (S21) became the largest centre of detention and torture in the country — the place where those suspected of being a threat to Pol Pot’s regime were brought for interrogation. Few of them left alive. Between 1975 and 1978 more than 17,000 people were trucked from S21 to the killing fields of Choeung Ek.

It’s 15km from S21 to Choeung Ek, a deceptively tranquil place where tree shaded paths wind past 129 mass graves now muted by greenery. The skulls of more than 8,000 victims are displayed in a memorial stupa, but no one knows how many thousands of hapless people were executed and dumped here by the Khmer Rouge.

This, I thought, is Pol Pot’s legacy — the grisly remnants of a mad man’s dream. Brother number one, as he referred to himself, had the vision of a self-contained agrarian society, a pure Khmer society without foreign influence where hard working peasants would replace the decadent upper and middle classes of the cities. As soon his troops entered Phnom Penh he set the country’s clocks to year zero and the all-powerful Angkar (organization) of Pol Pot’s Democratic Kampuchea set out to change society through relocation, forced labour and purges.

Driven by paranoia and absolute power the Angkar executed anyone perceived to be a present or future threat to the regime. Employees of the former government were the first to go, followed by the intelligentsia. According to Kosal even wearing glasses, a sign of wealth and intelligence, could be a death sentence.

The purges soon escalated into full-scale genocide and many of those not killed outright by the Angkar died of starvation or disease, in a country that had killed most of its doctors and had no medicines. Before it was over at least two million Cambodians, almost a fifth of the population, had died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. And those remaining were barely able to feed themselves.

The nightmare of Pol Pot’s dream came to an end in 1979 when the Vietnamese, fed up with border incursions and Khmer Rouge attempts to retake the Mekong Delta, launched a full-scale invasion of Democratic Kampuchea. They drove the Khmer Rouge out of Phnom Penh, replaced the Angkar with a new government, and maintained a military presence in the country for the next 10 years. But Pol Pot and the remnants of the Khmer Rouge retreated into the jungle and continued sporadic attacks on the government until they were finally defeated in 1998, the same year that Pol Pot died of a heart attack at age 70. Like most of his Khmer Rouge henchmen he was never brought to justice.

As we left Choeung Ek my mind still carried the image of thousands of skulls staring at me through empty eye sockets. It’s a tribute to the human spirit that Kosal and those of his generation who survived the genocide are able to put the horror behind them and live normal lives.

Although Cambodia is still plagued by factional infighting and corruption it has come a long way in the last 20 years. We stop for lunch at “Friends,” a restaurant that not only serves great tapas, but also provides former street kids with training in the hospitality industry. Outside, a group of school children is painting murals and as I watch them I think of their parents. When they were the ages of these kids they were being trained as child soldiers. They witnessed the deaths of their families and had neither schools nor enough to eat.

Later on the grounds of the Royal Palace I found a quiet place to sit and unwind. Watching the saffron-robed monks strolling serenely through their manicured gardens I try to put the genocide out of my mind. If I had not actually seen the torture chambers of S21 and the killing fields of Choeng Ek the whole thing could have been just a chilling dream.

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Thousands of poll agents to guarantee fair election in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Two hundred and forty trainers from Cambodia's four major political parties are preparing to train tens of thousands of poll agents who will watch the National Assembly Election Day process to ensure that votes are counted fairly and that their opponents play by the rules, a press release said Thursday.

Members of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), the Funcinpec Party, the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) and the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) will attend a party poll agent training conducted by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in Phnom Penh from May 26 to 31, an NDI press release said.

The party trainers will in turn train tens of thousands of their own party's polling agents, it added.

NDI's training will equip the political party trainers with the knowledge and skills to conduct systematic observation of the polls and report based on a standard polling agent manual and observation checklist based on the National Assembly election laws, regulations, procedures and code of conduct, the release said.

The NDI will invite all political parties that have officially registered for the National Assembly election to receive the party poll agent training, it said, adding that other political parties will be trained in a second batch.

The NDI provided a similar training prior to last year's Commune Council elections, in which more than 100,000 party poll agents watched the polling process.
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High food prices forces WFP to cut number of beneficiaries

BALINDONG, Lanao del Sur -- Because of high food prices in the world market, the World Food Program (WFP), the United Nation's food assistance arm, has announced that it will reduce the number of beneficiaries for its food-for-education project in Mindanao.

"It's even more important today for the WFP to provide the food assistance," Valerie Guarnieri, country director for the Philippines, told a gathering of parents and teachers in Lilud-Raya village here early this week.

But Guarnieri said the WFP has to cut back on the number of beneficiaries for the 2008-2009 school year owing to the pressure of rising food prices on its resources.

She hoped the reduction in the number of beneficiaries would be temporary as the WFP has intensified its campaign for more donations.

The WFP purchases rice in the international market, where the price of the staple grain has gone up by 40 to 60 percent, explained Guarnieri.

Guarnieri's announcement about the reduced number of beneficiaries was made after a discussion with the parents and teachers about the food supply situation in the town and their difficulties in coping with the rising prices of rice.

In this mountainous town on the side of Lake Lanao, rice is sold at P45 per kilo. Traditionally, the rice comes from Marawi City.

"It is very disturbing to hear how much high [rice] prices are affecting you," Guarnieri told the gathering.

Residents also told of their difficulties in finding cheap National Food Authority rice, since this is sold only in Marawi City, a 30-minute ride away.

"Back when rice was still cheap, they even had difficulty having adequate food," Guarnieri later told reporters in a press conference in Marawi.

The WFP, which aims to reduce the effects of high food prices among the poor and those caught in conflict and natural disasters, has described high food prices as a "silent tsunami threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger."

Guarnieri worried that hungry families would, among others, most likely decide against sending their children to school.

The WFP cited a study showing that 40 percent of parents who do not send their children to school cited lack of food as a big contributing factor.

The food-for-education program, the WFP's major program in the country, focused on conflict-affected areas in six Mindanao provinces. It seeks to help bring and keep children in school.

The program provides 12.5 kilos of rice each month to every pupil from Grade 1 through Grade 6 on the basis of 80 percent proven school attendance.

Over two years -- from July 2006 to April 2008 -- the program was able to assist nearly 187,000 children in 800 primary schools. It has also provided hot meals onsite to 16,000 children in 277 schools and daycare centers.

Another change in the program is its focus on fewer geographical areas, usually towns, but intensified coverage of the population within an identified target area.

Mishael Argonza, WFP's national program officer, said they would choose, based on a set criteria, towns in conflict-affected areas to be covered by the program and then pour its food assistance for as many deserving people as possible, to give the efforts focal impact.

Guarnieri visited Lanao del Sur along with popular television personality KC Concepcion, WFP deputy country director Alghassim Wurie, and Cetin Yalcin, country general manager of the global express delivery service firm TNT, in a bid to raise public awareness and understanding about hunger.

Concepcion is WFP's national ambassador against hunger in the Philippines, while TNT is its global partner in food assistance operations.

The visit to Lanao del Sur is a prelude to the launch on June 1 of "End Hunger: Walk the World," a global advocacy by the WFP in partnership with TNT to raise more resources for food assistance to Mindanao.

Guarnieri said the experience of the villagers of Lilud-Raya opened her eyes to the reality that the rice crisis has been affecting not only Metro Manila and urban centers but rural areas as well.

Last year, the WFP, the world's largest humanitarian agency, handed out food to 88 million people, mostly women and children, in 78 of the world's poorest countries.

After closing its 24-year operations in the country in 1996, the WFP returned in 2006 to contribute to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Mindanao by addressing the food security needs of vulnerable people in conflict-affected areas.

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Ex-Khmer Rouge minister in court

The Khmer Rouge's former social welfare minister has made her first appearance at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court.

Ieng Thirith, 76, is seeking bail on charges of crimes against humanity relating to the regime's brutal four-year rule in the late 1970s.

Three of the five former Khmer Rouge leaders held by the court have already had their requests for bail denied.

One of them, 76-year-old Khieu Samphan, was taken to hospital on Wednesday morning with high blood pressure.

A spokesman for the tribunal, Reach Sambath, said that his condition not urgent "but necessitated attention".

The former head of state's efforts to write a book had led to stress, he said.

Starvation

Ieng Thirith was one of the Khmer Rouge's founding members and its most powerful woman.

Her husband, Ieng Sary, was foreign minister and her sister was married to the movement's leader, Pol Pot.

Prosecutors say that as social welfare minister, she knew that tens of thousands of people were dying from starvation and disease on brutal collective farms - but did nothing to stop the disaster.

Ieng Thirith denies any wrongdoing. In court her lawyer argued that she required regular treatment for both mental and physical conditions.

A ruling on bail is expected next month. The trials themselves are expected to begin later in the year.

The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. During this period an estimated 1.7 million people died from starvation or overwork as leaders tried to create a classless agrarian society.

Hundreds of thousands of the educated middle classes were tortured and executed.

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Three opposition parties compete with ruling CPP

Three opposition parties in Cambodia are competing with the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) for the parliamentary election on July 27, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday.

They are competing with his CPP sharply and they are also competing with each other for gaining votes, Hun Sen told a graduation ceremony at the National Institution of Education.

Each party is trying to get the position as the main opposition party in Cambodia when they aired on radios before the election campaign starts, he added.

The three opposition parties are the Human Rights Party (HRP) of former senator Kim Sokha, the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) of Prince Norodom Ranariddh and the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), Hun Sen said.

He reclaimed that if the co-ruling Funcinpec party does not have a seat in the National Assembly during the general election, his CPP will lead the government alone.

The SRP is the main opposition party in the current National Assembly of Cambodia.

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Egat considers coal venture

Subsidiary may invest in Indonesian mines

YUTHANA PRAIWAN

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand is considering investing in a coal mine in Indonesia through its wholly owned subsidiary Egat International Co to secure fuel for power generation.

Egat governor Sombat Santijaree said the state utility had been approached about acquiring the mining licences of several coal mines, mainly located in Kalimantan and Sumatra. Egat is now looking into the mines' commercial viability.

''Some mines have finished the exploration process and some are being explored and we will have to make an in-depth study to find the exact figure of coal reserves. If [the mines] prove viable, we hope to obtain the output to use in coal-fired power plants in Thailand,'' Mr Sombat said.

Egat would seek local partners to help operate the mines in order to reduce financing risk and other uncertainties.

Mr Sombat also said that Egat expected to finish selecting sites by the end of this year for four coal-fired power generators in Thailand with a total output of 2,800 megawatts. It expects the plants to start operating between 2015 and 2017.

Coal prices have risen dramatically over the past two years as power producers worldwide seek to reduce their reliance on more costly fuel oil and natural gas. Mr Sombat said it was becoming increasingly difficult to secure long-term contracts to buy imported coal.

He said many coal exporters were likely to reduce long-term purchase contracts to between three and five years from 10 years. This is forcing power generators to seek more supplies in the expensive spot market, where prices are likely to rise further from current levels of US$100-110 per tonne.

''If Egat fails to prepare to secure fuel for coal-fired power plants, power tariffs [by the time the new plants start operating] would be higher than expectations,'' Mr Sombat said.

The coal mined in Indonesia is the sub-bituminous grade, which has low sulphur emissions and is well suited to new cleaner-burning technology.

Egat is preparing to seek permission for a study from Indonesian government mining regulators and will send its own technical staff to the country to study the operations.

In any case, attempts to build new coal-fired power plants in Thailand are likely to be opposed by community and environmental activists, despite plant operators' attempts to persuade the public that new technology can greatly reduce the environmental impact of the plants.

Mr Sombat said that if Egat could not build plants in Thailand, it would shift to buying power from a coal-fired plant on Kong Island in Cambodia.

Koh Kong Power Light Co, a joint venture involving Italian Thai Development Plc, Egco Group Plc and Ratchaburi Power Generating Holding Plc, is scheduled to sell a total of 3,600 MW to Egat starting between 2019 and 2021.

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No bull for pop heartthrob

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's leading pop heartthrob has backed down on threats of legal action against a farmer who named a stud bull after him, the singer said on Friday.

The nation's most popular singer-actor, Preap Sovath, 36, had threatened legal action against the owner of a $10 000 (about R80 000) Brahman breeding bull he named after the sex symbol.
Sovath was quoted in a range of local media to be taking action to protect his wife, who had reportedly become distressed after seeing advertisements offering the services of the bovine Preap Sovath for $100 per mating, with satisfaction guaranteed.

But Friday the Cambodian equivalent of Ronan Keating said he would not be taking any action.

"No, no, no. I don't care anymore and I am too busy," Sovath said by telephone.

Theories for the change of heart abound, including a rumour it was partly due to the unsuitability of alternative names offered by the farmer.

A moniker such as 'Little Preap' was unlikely to enhance the careers of either the bovine or bopping version of the star, fans admitted. - Sapa-dpa Read more!