The Associated Press
(AP) — NEW ORLEANS - U.S. Rep. Joseph "Anh" Cao is due back in Louisiana this week after a congressional trip that took him to his native Vietnam as well as Cambodia, Laos and Japan.
Cao, a New Orleans Republican who left Vietnam as the U.S. pulled out of the war with the communist North Vietnamese in 1975, spoke of reconciliation with the communist nation. He was elected in 2008 as the first Vietnamese-American in Congress.
He had not visited his home country since 2001.
"Many of my aspirations sometimes are not in parallel with that of the Vietnamese government's policies, but I still hope that we can continue to cooperate and work together," Cao said according to reports in the online newspaper VietnamNet.
In Cambodia, Cao spoke dismissively of the Chinese government, speaking of the country's "imperialistic intents." The comments were in response to questions about the decision of the Cambodian government to deport 20 ethnic Chinese back to China, a move that some activists fear may lead to their arrest or persecution.
China recently signed economic agreements with the Cambodian government reportedly worth $1.2 billion.
Cao traveled to the Asian nations with Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., and Delegate Eni Faleomavaega from American Samoa. Cao's staff said he would talk about the trip when he returns to Washington.
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Sunday, January 10, 2010
Cao expected home this week from trip to Far East
Laos first stop as P Penh goes complaining
A small story sometimes has big implications. What is happening between Cambodia and Laos nicely fits this definition.
Cambodian Deputy Foreign Minister Long Visalo went to Vientiane last Tuesday. His mission to the northern neighbour was clear. The Cambodian government wanted to brief Laos about its dispute with Thailand.
In the Laotian capital, Long Visalo lectured some 200 Lao Foreign Ministry officials on the history of Preah Vihear, the ruling by the International Court of Justice in 1962 that the Hindu temple belonged to his country, as well as Cambodia's right to list it as a World Heritage Site under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in July 2008.
The Cambodian deputy minister also told his hosts about the border dispute between his country and Thailand, which started after the latter country made a U-turn on its previous stance which had been in support of Cambodia's attempt to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site.
The Cambodian campaign cannot be seen as anything but the start of its efforts to drum up backing from other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to help sort out the border conflict with Thailand for good.
And Laos will not be the only stop in this tactic. On the list, of course, are Burma and Vietnam (the latter is scheduled to take the Asean chair till December).
Phnom Penh's strategy is to turn the dispute over the overlapping land boundary of 4.6 square kilometres into a regional issue by trying to bring in the involvement of other Asean members.
Thailand thinks otherwise, with its intention to keep the matter as a quarrel between two neighbours which should be settled by the two neighbours only.
The more countries jumping in, the more difficult it will be to resolve the problem.
The talks in Vientiane did not cover the issue of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra - at least as far as the information made public shows.
But then again, the Thaksin issue is not a main factor at all for Cambodia.
Ending Thaksin's role as an economic adviser to Phnom Penh is Bangkok's condition for diplomatic normalisation with Cambodia. No country can stand seeing its citizen, who has been sentenced to jail, given recognition by another government.
But for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the root cause goes beyond last year when he added Thaksin to the long list of advisers to his government. It began right there on the border between Cambodia' Preah Vihear province and Kantaralak district in Si Sa Ket province.
The whole issue is about the temple and the land dispute in that area.
"You raise the issue of Thaksin, but you forget the issue of Preah Vihear," Hun Sen said in October, during one of his verbal onslaughts on Thailand.
It is not difficult for anybody to guess that there is no way in sight for the two countries to end the sour ties, given their vastly different positions which are beyond the reach of a compromise. But, as Asean members, they cannot leave relations festering this way, either. Other countries view what is happening between Thailand and Cambodia as an obstruction to Asean's attempts to bring unity into the club which, five years from now, is to become one single community. However, what can other Asean countries do but watch and hope that there will be a miracle to end the two neighbours' quarrel?
Another worry from the Thai-Cambodian spat is that it could spill over to poison ties between Thailand and other members in Asean who are very close to Cambodia. One of them is Laos. The history of their jungle warfare to drive out, first the colonialists and then the Western-supported governments, has made Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam brothers, who also have same positions on issues in Asean. As countries with Thailand as their immediate common neighbour, Cambodia and Laos have long been aware of the rising Thai influence in their country.
So far there are no problems in the relations between Thailand and Laos. But that does not mean everything will go smoothly. Problems still exist but they have been swept under the carpet by Vientiane over the past years because it needed help from Thailand to host the SEA Games last year.
Now the Games are over. Now the Cambodian deputy minister has visited Vientiane. And now the story of Thai-Laos relations in the post-SEA Games era begins.
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RP sends more peacekeepers to world’s hot spots - Davide
MANILA - Filipino soldiers deployed with United Nations peacekeeping forces are at an all-time high with more than a thousand military and police peacekeepers serving in various conflict areas around the world, according to the country’s UN delegation.
In his year-end report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Ambassador Hilario Davide Jr., permanent representative to the UN, said the Philippines had a total of 1,056 Filipino peacekeepers in nine UN peacekeeping missions at the end of 2009.
“We are proud of the fact that despite our limited resources, we were still able to fulfill our obligations as a member of the family of nations,” the envoy said.
He also assured the UN that it could continue counting on the Philippines as a “responsible and reliable” peace-keeping partner.
In a statement from the UN headquarters in New York, Davide said the figure, which represented a 40 percent surge in troop deployment compared to that of 2008, pushed the Philippines up to the 23rd position in the list of the top troop and police contributing countries.
The Philippines was 29th in the list with 626 peacekeepers deployed at the end of 2008.
“The 656 officers and enlisted personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the 415 officers from the Philippine National Police (PNP) currently serving with the UN represent the largest number of Filipino peacekeepers deployed overseas since the Philippines participated in its first UN peacekeeping operation during the term of President Diosdado Macapagal,” Davide said.
The Philippines first participated in UN peacekeeping operations in 1963 when it contributed a 40-member squadron from the Philippine Air Force to provide air support for the UN mission in the Congo.
Since then, Filipino peacekeepers have participated in UN operations in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Sudan’s Darfur and southern regions, Georgia, Golan Heights in the Palestinian territories, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, the Kashmir regions disputed by Pakistan and India, Kosovo, Nepal, and East Timor.
Davide also reported that the Philippines remains’ on the list of the top contributors of individual police officers to UN operations. He said most PNP peacekeepers are deployed in Africa with 169 serving with the UN-African Union Hybrid Mission in Darfur ; 29 with the UN Mission in Sudan; and 26 with UN Mission in Liberia. Another 153 officers are deployed in East Timor; 22 in Haiti; and one in Afghanistan.
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Saturday, January 09, 2010
Cambodia Confronts the "G" Word
The horrors of the Khmer Rouge's rule may be in the past, but the question of whether its crimes amounted to genocide lingers on.
BY BRENDAN BRADY
The hybrid Cambodian-U.N. tribunal has been trying five former top regime officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Its first trial, of Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch), the warden of a prison code-named S-21, where an estimated 15,000 prisoners deemed enemies of the revolution were tortured before being executed in the nearby "killing fields," concluded in November. A verdict is expected in March. Last month, the tribunal added genocide as a charge against the four remaining defendants for their alleged role in the slaughter of ethnic Vietnamese and Cham Muslims in Cambodia. The charges need to be finalized in the court's closing order, but it is widely thought that they will all be included in the formal charges against the defendants.
Duch admitted to his role in overseeing the S-21 prison. But the regime's chief ideologue, Nuon Chea (known as "Brother No. 2"), former President Khieu Samphan, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, and his wife and social affairs minister, Ieng Thirith, have all denied culpability for the charges they face. By all reliable accounts, however, they were the chief architects of the regime's catastrophic experiment to forge an agrarian utopia by methods that included forcing the population onto rural collectives; abolishing money, schools, and religion; and exterminating perceived enemies of the revolution.
In 1999, U.N. experts concluded that the Khmer Rouge should face charges for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. They said there was strong evidence -- including Khmer Rouge statements, eyewitness accounts, and the nature and number of victims of each group -- pointing to genocide against the Cham and Vietnamese as ethnic groups and against the Buddhist monkhood as a religious group.
In light of the denial and obfuscation of the former regime's leadership, the court's role in clarifying the historical record is now especially important. "That is part of the healing process," says David Scheffer, a former U.S. war crimes ambassador, "to confront these charges head-on inside the courtroom rather than see them abandoned forever." It was for this purpose of direct confrontation that the tribunal included an innovative "civil party" system allowing victims into the courtroom to air grievances and question the defendants.
Many advocates of minority rights applaud the addition of genocide charges as a way for these groups to reaffirm their rights in Cambodian society. Lyma Nguyen, a lawyer representing a group of 17 ethnic Vietnamese survivors, says the genocide charge would allow her clients to formally pursue the truth about why they were targeted and, in the process, "reconstitute their identity." Lawyer Lor Chunthy said the more than 200 Cham Muslim civil parties he represents are still consolidating their place in Cambodian society. "There is still discrimination against the Cham, so this sends an important message that Muslims in Cambodia are part of the country," he notes. Both lawyers said the groups they represent unequivocally think they were singled out because of their ethnic or religious identity.
Cambodian advocates of the charge also say it carries enormous symbolic weight that will help the tribunal receive local support. "The addition of genocide charges reflects what the millions of Cambodians who survived have wanted since 1979," says court spokesman Reach Sambath. The charge resonates with all Cambodians, he says, because, according to their understanding of the term, it best describes the crimes inflicted upon them. The Khmer term for genocide is pralaay puch sah, as it approximately sounds transliterated from Khmer, and literally means to "destroy from the root" or "kill the seed of the race." Given the Khmer Rouge's maniacal obsession with cleansing society of unwanted elements, it is not hard to see why Cambodians frequently use this particular expression to describe the regime's policies.
But genocide, in an international court, has a strict definition and is notoriously hard to prove. There is little doubt the Khmer Rouge led a campaign to wipe out groups it considered incompatible with the revolution. The question is whether the groups were targeted first and foremost because of their ethnic or religious identities, or because they represented perceived political and economic enemies of the state -- categories that fall outside the crime's definition. The fact that certain ethnic or religious groups suffered disproportionately and sustained severe repression of their practices does not necessarily constitute genocide.
This point is still vigorously debated among academics who study this bloody era in Cambodia's history. "They weren't mowed down because they were Cham. They were mowed down because they resisted and anyone who resisted during that time was killed," says David Chandler, a scholar on the Khmer Rouge and the author of A History of Cambodia. "They were forced to eat pork because they were Cham -- but that's not genocide."
Some observers fear that the genocide charge is being wielded by international powers for political gain. Philip Short, author of Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare, a biography of the now deceased Khmer Rouge leader, argues that the term genocide has been bandied around by foreign powers as a "political commodity." Short says that the U.S. government, whose war in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s is often believed to have contributed to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, has pushed for genocide to be applied to the regime so it can condemn the crimes and assume a moral high ground, while distancing itself from the circumstances that lead to the horror and terror.
"The Jews were killed in Germany because they were Jews. Not because of any resistance to the Nazis, but because they were considered detritus or scum. In Rwanda, the Hutus killed Tutsis simply because of their racial type," Short says. "But this wasn't the case in Cambodia. This regime was one of the greatest abominations of the 20th century. It's bad enough without now trying to [add] politically motivated charges."
The court's coinciding request for an additional $93 million from donor countries to finance the court over the next two years has also prompted murmurs that ulterior motives lie behind the new charge. "It smacks of a publicity stunt," says Michael Karnavas, the international defense lawyer for one of the accused, Ieng Sary. "It seems like this new charge is a way to show the importance of the tribunal and to help get funding." The court says there is no connection.
Piyamin Yusoh, an enlisted civil party with the tribunal, holds out hope that the genocide charges can draw attention to the persecution his people experienced during the Khmer Rouge's reign. He is the current Muslim leader, or hakim, of Svay Khleang village, the historical heart of Cambodia's minority Muslim community. It was here that the Cham staged a bloody, and unsuccessful, uprising after the Khmer Rouge carried out secret executions of their men. "I'm hoping the tribunal will acknowledge the particular suffering of the Muslim people," Yusoh told me in an interview I did for IRIN News. "We weren't allowed to practice our religion; we were forced to eat pork; our women couldn't wear hijabs. For us, this was humiliating. The Khmer Rouge wanted to annihilate all people who practiced Islam." The Khmer Rouge, he says, tried to "destroy us from the root," referring to what he perceived as genocidal intent.
But, as a participant in the tribunal, Yusoh is an exception -- many victims are unfamiliar with the tribunal and the legal classifications of the Khmer Rouge's crimes. A month before proceedings opened in the Duch trial last February, a survey showing that 85 percent of Cambodians had little or no knowledge of the tribunal was published by the University of California-Berkeley's Human Rights Center. That number would now certainly be lower following the publicity of the initial trial, but it nonetheless reflects the disparity between Cambodia's impoverished countryside and the highly technical legal machine in the capital, Phnom Penh.
For regular Cambodians, the tribunal's most important task may be delivering some sense of justice in the form of concrete results, rather than contributing to endless legal debates that could risk prolonging the process. "Scholars have been debating [whether the Khmer Rouge's crimes constituted genocide] for 20 years," says Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, a custodian of primary documents on the Khmer Rouge. "For the victims, it meant watching someone take a piece of wood to the back of your husband's head. You can call it smash, crush, or whatever, but it was, most importantly, what people experienced."
That is how Ly Sarfyas, a 66-year-old woman in Svay Khleang, feels about the tribunal. "I would just like to kill them myself," Sarfyas, who was left without any family after the Khmer Rouge's rule, told me. "It's difficult to wait for the court, but it's what we are relying on."
Ailing Cambodian toddler gets help from Long Beach group
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
When the toddler steepled her fingers in the traditional Cambodian greeting, she earned their smiles and good will. But it was the somber results of her physical exam and tests that put Socheat Ngor on the fast track to treatment as the newest child to receive help from Hearts Without Boundaries.
Socheat, 2, lives in poverty in a village in southern Cambodia. At the age of 4 months she was diagnosed with a heart ailment that would require surgery not readily available in her home country.
Hearts Without Boundaries, a Long Beach nonprofit that has helped bring two Cambodian children to the U.S. for life-altering surgery, learned of Socheat's ailment from family in Long Beach.
At that time, she was put on a list of children in need of help and it was arranged for Socheat and her family to meet with members of the Hearts Without Boundaries team, who were in Siem Reap with doctors from Variety Children's Lifeline who make annual trips to Cambodia to help children with mild heart ailments and diagnose and assess others.
Susan Grossfeld, a volunteer who was instrumental in brokering the deal that brought one of the Cambodian children to the U.S. last year, said she was instantly enamored of Socheat.
"She's tiny and has a tiny voice," said Grossfeld.
Grossfeld added that what the girl lacked for in size she made up for in spirit and vivacity.
"People fall in love with her right away," Grossfeld said.
In the past two years, Hearts Without Boundaries has helped arrange for two children with heart defects to come to the U.S. for life-altering surgeries they could not receive in Cambodia.
The first two patients, Davik Teng, 9, and Soksamnang Vy, 1, had congenital defects called ventricular septal defects, or holes in their hearts.
In the case of Socheat, Hearts Without Boundaries had started working with her family to raise money to send the child to Singapore or Thailand for the procedure.
However, when Socheat was examined by Dr. Paul Grossfeld, a cardiologist from Rady Children's Hospital who helped with the successful treatment of Vy, he found her ailment was worse than expected and her need for more rapid treatment became evident.
Socheat suffers from a defect known as tetralogy of Fallot.
"This is a much more complex defect and surgery," said Susan Grossfeld, who is Paul Grossfeld's wife.
In addition to having a large hole in her heart, Socheat also suffers from a second hole in the heart, an obstruction of blood flow to the lungs and other problems.
And in recent weeks, her health as suffered.
According to Dr. Luy Lyda of Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, Socheat has had difficultly breathing and has visited the emergency room three times in recent weeks.
Susan Grossfeld, who brokered a deal with the Children's Heart Center and the Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas to perform surgery on Vy, has gone back to the Nevada heart group and hospital.
They have agreed to donate their staff and facilities once again.
Because of the severity of the ailment, however, time is short. Grossfeld says the hope is to have Socheat in the U.S. and operated on within a month or two.
"We don't want to wait any longer than necessary," Grossfeld said.
It also has to be determined if the child is healthy enough to travel.
Hearts Without Boundaries is rallying to prepare and pay for travel documents, arrange lodging and find funding for Socheat and her mother to come to the U.S.
Hearts Without Boundaries founder Peter Chhun, who is still in Cambodia, was thrilled when told of the Las Vegas offer.
"I am so excited, I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight," Chhun said via phone from Cambodia.
Anyone interested in donating to Hearts Without Boundaries for Socheat can find information on-line at heartswithoutboundaries.org.
greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291 .
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Cambodia: As rickshaws get cycled out, some look back
In Cambodia a decade ago, some 10,000 cyclo drivers – as rickshaws are called here – wheeled along Phnom Penh streets. Today there are fewer than 1,500.
For six years, Porn Eab has pedaled his rusting rickshaw along Phnom Penh’s narrow lanes and wide avenues. The work leaves him exhausted at the end of the day, when the wiry man parks his rickshaw in an alleyway and beds down for the night on its bucket seat.
“It’s a hard job. It makes my legs tired,” says Mr. Porn while he waits for customers, one hand resting on his cyclo, as the vehicles are known here.
But the cyclo, once an iconic fixture in this bustling Asian city, has seen better days. Some 10,000 cyclo drivers wheeled along Phnom Penh streets a decade ago. Today there are fewer than 1,500 cyclos here, according to a local advocacy group that helps the often-impoverished cyclo drivers.
“People take pity on the cyclo drivers,” says Im Sambath, a project officer with the Cyclo Center. “They think the work is too hard for the drivers, so they are reluctant to take them.”
It’s also a sign of changing times. Although Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the region, its economy has pushed forward over the past decade. The city’s once placid streets have become thick with traffic. “Cambodians want to be modern,” says Mr. Im. “The economy is developing. People want to use faster vehicles because they think the cyclo is slow.”
Indeed, wheeling down Monivong Boulevard, a main thoroughfare that bisects the city, a cyclo is passed by a swarm of motorcycles, trucks, and flashy new cars. Huffing and puffing in the curb lane, traffic whizzing by just inches away, the man pedaling the cyclo is quickly left behind.
And although he would rather be doing anything but this, Roeun Rom, a part-time driver and farmer, says it’s the only way to make money for his children back home in the provinces when the rice isn’t ready to be harvested. “I have no choice,” Mr. Roeun says. “I need to keep driving cyclos.”
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Friday, January 08, 2010
Cambodia approves China-Cambodia Consular Convention
PHNOM PENH, The Cambodia's government on Friday approved the China-Cambodia Consular Convention aimed to not only improve the two countries' diplomatic ties but also to facilitate the trade flows between the two countries, said the government's release.
"The cabinet meeting agreed and approved a draft agreement on China-Cambodia Consul given gradually increasing of economic, trade, investment and tourism relations between Cambodia and China," said the release.
"This convention is also aimed at protecting the rights and the individual interest of the two peoples," it added.
The government release also said that Cambodia has six consular offices in China.
Cambodia received 2.16 million tourists last year compared with about 2.13 million in 2008, a two percent increase, while 114,894 tourists from China.
China is also the Cambodia's biggest foreign direct investment (FDI), according to the state-run investment agency of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).
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Hun Sen only PM candidate of Cambodia's ruling party: CPP
The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) reassured Thursday that Prime Minister Hun Sen is the only candidate for the prime minister from its party for the next elections.
Giving speech at the party's commemoration of the 31st anniversary of the downfall of the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) regime, Chea Sim, president of the CPP and president of the Senate said that Hun Sen will be the "only candidate from his party for prime ministerial position" in next general election.
Hun Sen, 57, has been in power for already 25 years and is considered the longest government leader in office in Asia.
After several decades of civil war, Cambodia held its first general election in 1993 under the full supports from the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).
Since then, Cambodia hold its election every five years and HunSen was re-elected prime minister ever since.
Source: Xinhua
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U.S. to consider turning Cambodia's debt into development aid
The United States Congressman Eni Faleomavaega told Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursdaythat he will discuss with his colleagues about Cambodia's debt if it can be turned into assistance for development projects in this country, a Cambodian official said.
Eang Sophaleth, Hun Sen's spokesman told local reporters that during the meeting with Hun Sen on Thursday morning in Phnom Penh,Eni Faleomavaega said he will discuss with his colleagues after returning to the United States about the debt.
Eni Faleomavaega, who was accompanied by his two Congressmen Joseph Cao and Mike Honda, was making a two-day visit to Cambodia.
Cambodia has several times asked the United States government to consider canceling its debt amounting to some 300 million U.S. dollars it borrowed since 1972.
The U.S. has not yet answered to Cambodia's request for the debt written-off.
Cheam Yeap, chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Commission and a senior member of the Cambodian People's Party said several countries including China have written off Cambodia's debts owed some decades ago.
Cambodia is also asking Russia to cancel its debt that amounts around to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.
Source: Xinhua
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Thursday, January 07, 2010
U.S. to consider turning Cambodia's debt into development aid
PHNOM PENH, The United States Congressman Eni Faleomavaega told Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursdaythat he will discuss with his colleagues about Cambodia's debt if it can be turned into assistance for development projects in this country, a Cambodian official said.
Eang Sophaleth, Hun Sen's spokesman told local reporters that during the meeting with Hun Sen on Thursday morning in Phnom Penh,Eni Faleomavaega said he will discuss with his colleagues after returning to the United States about the debt.
Eni Faleomavaega, who was accompanied by his two Congressmen Joseph Cao and Mike Honda, was making a two-day visit to Cambodia.
Cambodia has several times asked the United States government to consider canceling its debt amounting to some 300 million U.S. dollars it borrowed since 1972.
The U.S. has not yet answered to Cambodia's request for the debt written-off.
Cheam Yeap, chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Commission and a senior member of the Cambodian People's Party said several countries including China have written off Cambodia's debts owed some decades ago.
Cambodia is also asking Russia to cancel its debt that amounts around to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.
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Cambodia marks liberation under cloud of crackdown
Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen greets supporters upon his arrival at his party headquarters, to mark the 31th anniversary of the toppling of Pol Pot's genocidal regime, in Phnom Penh. - Reuters pic
Before the festivities, attended by thousands of people in the capital Phnom Penh, the premier vowed to arrest anyone seen handing out leaflets opposing his rule, the latest in what rights groups say is a growing campaign to silence dissent.
Hun Sen’s warning to his critics, who say the government is abusing its power to crush all forms of political opposition, came five days after a court issued an arrest warrant for main opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
The crackdown coincides with trouble in one of Southeast Asia’s most impoverished economies after an unprecedented boom which saw economic production expand 10 per cent annually in the five years up to 2008. Since then, foreign investment has collapsed, tourist arrivals have plummeted and construction has stalled.
Data this week showed about 30,000 workers in the garment industry, a mainstay of the economy, lost their jobs last year as exports to the United States shrank.
Opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, sued by Hun Sen in July after she accused him of defamation, today called on the public to resist what she said were intimidation tactics by authorities. “We must still continue to express opinions, not back down because of threats,” she said. “We must give a clear message that we can’t accept the closure of free expression.”
Hun Sen on Tuesday announced the threat to arrest anyone handing out leaflets that express opposition to him or his policies. He said he had seen some such leaflets that were printed in neighbouring Thailand for distribution in Cambodia.
“Leaflet distributors be careful, I will arrest,” he said.
He also rejected claims he had been using the courts to intimidate his opponents and warned Rainsy to “be prepared” to go to prison, adding that his long-time political rival, who is now in exile in Europe, would not be pardoned.
The threat appeared effective. No opposition leaflets appeared during today’s celebrations marking an invasion by Vietnamese forces in 1979 that toppled the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.
The National Assembly, dominated by the ruling Cambodia People’s Party, passed legislation last year outlawing protests of more than 200 people and tightening existing defamation laws in what opponents said were measures to prevent criticism and keep rival politicians in check.
Risk analysts say despite corruption and concerns over human rights and judicial interference, Cambodia’s political and economic stability should remain intact in the foreseeable future, with little threat to the government’s grip on power.
South Korea and China, the country’s biggest sources of investment, signed agreements late last year to pour more money into Cambodia, which will open its first stock exchange later this year as part of a $2 billion project to build a new financial centre.
Rainsy, who heads a party named after him, is accused of causing criminal damage after uprooting several border demarcation posts to appease farmers. — Reuters
Cambodia's ruling party warns KRouge court
PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodia's ruling party Thursday warned the country's UN-backed court not to disrupt national progress in its pursuit of Khmer Rouge leaders, as it marked the 31st anniversary of the regime's ouster.
The court is preparing to give a verdict in its first trial, of former torture centre chief Duch, while four other senior leaders of the hardline communist regime are awaiting trial on war crimes and other charges.
But Cambodian and international prosecutors have openly clashed over whether the court should pursue more suspects, while the Cambodian investigating judge has refused to summon high-ranking government officials as witnesses.
"We oppose any attempts to use the chamber for ill-intentions that would have an impact on peace, national reconciliation and development, which are our hard-won achievements" said Chea Sim, president of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP).
Addressing thousands of supporters during a rally to mark the anniversary of the toppling of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime by Vietnamese-backed forces in 1979, Chea Sim pledged the party's continued backing.
"CPP offers its support to the current process of (the tribunal) in trying crimes committed by senior leaders of the Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge) regime," he said.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is also the deputy leader of the CPP, has repeatedly warned that pursuing more suspects from the hardline communist regime could spark civil war.
The process has often been hit by allegations that Hun Sen's administration has attempted to interfere in the tribunal to protect former regime members who are now in government.
After several years of haggling between Cambodia and the UN, the tribunal was created in 2006 to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.
Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation or overwork as the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime tried to create an agrarian utopia. After being toppled they continued to fight a civil war until 1998.
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Asian villages carve out a new life
By STEVE MOLLMAN
The village of Tmatboey in the northern plains of Cambodia seemed to have little going for it. It lacked clean water; there were no real roads. The people toiled mostly at subsistence farming, barely scraping by.
The villagers didn't realize they had a valuable asset -- hiding in plain sight, so to speak: a tourist attraction that a niche group of international travelers would happily pay to see, even if it meant a stay in basic accommodations.
It's a bird. Actually, two: the long-legged giant ibis and the white-shouldered ibis, both among the rarest in the world. In the eyes of hard-core bird-watchers, they carry near-mythical status.
And now they're making money for Tmatboey. In 2004, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which credits itself with having saved the American bison a century ago, set up the Tmatboey Ibis Ecotourism Project to lure bird-watchers. During the most recent peak season, November 2008 to May 2009, providing services to bird-watching visitors brought in more than $12,000 all told, a fortune by local standards. About 30% went into a community fund for improving basics like education and plumbing; today, life in Tmatboey has been significantly improved by new wells, water pumps, roads and a new school.
In villages in many parts of Asia, nonprofit groups from around the world are putting into practice that time-worn proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Rather than donating clothes or books, handing out mosquito nets or building schools, they're bringing money-making enterprises to rural Asian communities. Some involve training in activities such as sewing and bamboo craft; many are tourist-related.
Among environmental groups, there has been a shift in the past decade or so toward "a more integrated view of conservation and development," says Graham Bullock, a former ecotourism coordinator for the Nature Conservancy's China program. For instance, says Tom Clements, a technical adviser to the Wildlife Conservation Society's Cambodia program, the Tmatboey project works "by empowering local people to manage their own tourism enterprise, in a way that explicitly links revenue received to conservation outcomes."
The goals of each organization vary, of course, as do the circumstances of each village. "One size definitely does not fit all," says Mr. Bullock. But more organizations now seek "the participation and empowerment of local communities," he adds.
Below, a pair of projects aimed at helping villages help themselves.
Chi Phat Commune, Cambodia
The Chi Phat Commune -- a collection of four villages that's home to about 550 families, or nearly 3,000 people in all -- sits on the banks of the Piphot River in Cambodia's Cardamom mountains near the Thai border. Getting there from Phnom Penh takes four to five hours and involves two highways and a scenic ride upriver on a long-tail boat.
The villagers get by mostly on rice farming and fishing. To make extra money, some work as laborers on nearby plantations. Others sell livestock and other goods at the local market.
And some engage in illegal activities like poaching and logging -- which, along with land-clearing for farming, have exacted a heavy environmental toll. While large animals including elephants still roam the Cardamoms, their numbers -- along with those of scaly anteaters, wild pigs, deer, monkeys, bears and lizards known as Bengal monitors -- are dwindling. And so is their habitat, one of Southeast Asia's largest remaining tracts of rainforest.
After studying the Chi Phat village situation, the Wildlife Alliance, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit founded in 1994 with the goal of protecting wildlife, forests and oceans, concluded that poverty was the root cause of wildlife and forest loss in the Cardamoms. The alliance also saw that ecotourism -- the area's thick forest, winding streams and rivers and abundant wildlife make it ideal for mountain biking and trekking -- offered the possibility both of alleviating poverty and leading villagers to see value in the nature surrounding them.
Before Wildlife Alliance started to help develop Chi Phat as an ecotourism gateway (its Web site: www.mountainbikingcardamoms.com), though, it approached not only villagers, but also local authorities and tour operators to see if the project could fly. One challenge would be attracting customers; little has been written about the area. Another would be explaining ecotourism to the locals.
"Often throughout the world, NGOs enter a local community telling them that tourism is the answer to their problems and very much raising expectations, without any consultation with local tour operators to see whether there will actually be any market for what they are proposing," says Mark Ellison, who runs Asia Adventures, an independent tour operator. "Then one or two years down the line they sit back and scratch their heads wondering why after all the training, capacity building, meetings, and infrastructure development, no tourists are coming."
Today a handful of private companies make up the Friends of Chi Phat tour-operator group, which works with Wildlife Alliance to attract tourists. They market Chi Phat as a destination, handle reservations and bring guests to and from the village.
The "Friends" operators can charge tourists whatever they wish, but they pay upfront for services provided by the villagers, such as cooking, guiding, bike maintenance and lodging. About 80% goes to the villager providing the services; the remaining 20% goes into a community fund that improves the village's education, water supply, roads and so on.
Of course some training was needed at first: The villagers of remote Chi Phat were not accustomed to seeing tourists, much less catering to them. In fact, says Mr. Ellison, "until a few years ago many of the locals had not even seen a foreigner."
So in early 2008, Wildlife Alliance -- which established a permanent base in the village in January 2007 (after more than four years of research) -- and its tour-operator partners set up training programs in sanitation, hospitality, English, first-aid and waste management.
A bike mechanic, for instance, was brought in from Phnom Penh to teach villagers how to maintain a modern mountain bike. The hiking and biking trails were created by former hunters and loggers from the village, who now serve as trail guides. So far they've finished two mountain-biking trails (both there-and-back routes) and four circular trekking trails, including some night-camping sites. More trails are in the works.
Not surprisingly, old habits die hard. One villager who was asked to head the group for transporting guests on motorbikes was caught transporting something else instead: a wild pig. The local village council demoted him, with a warning that another transgression would get him kicked out of the project.
"People have been dependent on the forest for livelihoods and domestic needs for quite some time now -- and still are," says Oran Shapira, a 33-year-old Israeli working in Chi Phat for the Wildlife Alliance. "This will not completely change in one day or one year. It's a process."
Tourists stay in a handful of villager huts that have been converted -- with help from the Wildlife Alliance -- to accommodate guests. They're still rustic, but a little better-equipped than before. Squat toilets were added, for instance, so that guests didn't have to relieve themselves in the fields.
The first guests arrived early in 2008, and by year's end there had been about 200. Last year, the village received more than 670 guests, who biked, hiked, swam in the river and played volleyball with the locals.
Asia Adventures charges $250 a person for a three-day trip that includes a one-day mountain-biking excursion and transport to and from Phnom Penh. In 2008 the village collected about $7,000, says Mr. Shapira; last year, more than $19,200.
David Miller, who works for the Australian Taxation Office in Canberra, visited Chi Phat for three nights in December 2008. He wasn't expecting luxury: "You don't go visit a place in the middle of the jungle if you're expecting comfort all the way," he says.
He went on a guided hike one day and on a mountain-biking trip another. "Cycling through remote jungle, and not recognizing much of the flora, made it much more exciting" than biking back in Australia, he says. His tour guides were village men who didn't speak English but were friendly, communicated well with body language, and knew the forest like the back of their hands.
On his bike trip, he passed large swaths of burned land. (Fires not only clear land but also chase out animals, making them easier to catch.) "I don't know of many other ways to offer alternatives to these people so they will stop cutting down the rain forest," he says. "Action like ecotourism is better than no action at all."
Nawung, Indonesia
In 2006, an earthquake in central Java reduced many small villages to near rubble. But aside from some light damage to a few ramshackle buildings, the quake had little outward effect on Nawung, a rural village of about 500 people in the foothills near Yogyakarta. Below the surface, however, was a different story: Geological shifts caused the village's few natural wells to dry up.
It was a blow to farming, the village mainstay, already a challenge in the dry, hilly land. The village needed a new gig.
Enter Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund, a century-old German aid organization that bolsters rural communities through reconstruction, livelihood training and disaster-risk reduction. Some years ago in Kosovo, it reconstructed homes and taught returning war refugees to cultivate saffron as a cash crop.
At the time of the Java earthquake, more than half the people of Nawung earned less than $1 a day, says Sae Kani, an ASB program manager for Indonesia who specializes in disaster-risk-reduction education. Young villagers typically left to find work in retail, manufacturing, housekeeping or construction in places like Jakarta and Yogyakarta.
But in 2007, ASB noticed the village had something going for it -- a new road linking Nawung with Yogyakarta, 45 kilometers to the west, and other significant towns, including Sleman, to the northwest, and Wonosari, to the south. The road -- a scenic route through hills, forests and paddy fields -- significantly boosted the trade and tourism potential between Nawung and Yogyakarta, a hub for Indonesian arts and crafts, as well as other towns and villages.
Within this setting, ASB set out to help make the village self-reliant by teaching villagers to make crafts and foods that they could sell to nearby merchants and retailers.
The ASB team -- three field staff members and a project manager (plus, in the beginning, an architect and engineer) -- moved into the village and set up workshops to train villagers in four skills: bamboo weaving, stone carving, textile making and food preparation.
The food-preparation group is the largest, with about 50 members, all women. Tumiyem, a mother of two small children who like many Indonesians goes by a single name, is one of them. Through an interpreter she says that before the training, "we knew nothing about cooking snacks." Now, she says, the benefit is two-fold: The women can generate extra income and "we can gather with our friends regularly."
About 18 men studied stone craft; now nine of them churn out soap dishes, small statues and water fountains for gardens. The textile group -- three women and two men -- sew pillowcases and containers.
ASB helps with marketing and business connections, teaches bookkeeping and profit management, and provides a little start-up capital for each group. The food-preparation group, for instance, received about $550, part of which went to buy supplies.
Sales are climbing. Last year a woman named Atun who makes chips -- primarily from banana and cassava -- sold about $390 of her snacks from July to November, compared with $110 in the first six months of the year. The stone-masonry group, which sells most of its products to a pair of buyers from Yogyakarta, saw the biggest jump in sales: Between March and November, it pulled in nearly $900, up from about $110 for all of 2008.
ASB has spent about $100,000 on the project, along the way building things such as a small showroom to display the village's goods, production and storage houses for the bamboo-weaving and stone-masonry groups and a Web site (www.nawung.com). Its three staff members in Nawung will stay through the end of this year, when ASB plans to focus more on tourism development and improved marketing for village handicrafts.
The German nonprofit also set up a microfinance fund within each group so members can take out small loans. For instance in the food group, borrowers can obtain three-month loans at an interest rate of 5% a month. (The interest income is used to benefit the groups, such as for raw materials.) And villagers have a good track record of repaying the loans, which they've used for a variety of purposes. Last spring, for example, a member of the stone-craft group named Tukino borrowed $21 to buy fertilizer and pay his children's school fees.
Today, Nawung is on the upswing: New homes are springing up, streets are better paved and cellphones are a more common sight. More important, when ASB leaves, the skills it has taught will likely remain.
—Steve Mollman is a writer based in Asia.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Vietnam - HCM City marks Cambodia’s Liberation Day
January 7, 1979 was the a very violent day the Vietnamese soldiers invading Cambodia. The day that Cambodia had lost so many things which we are mourning until today. After Vietnamese soldiers invaded Cambodia, they robbed everything including raped women and children and also killing them very cruel.
The 31st anniversary of Cambodia ’s Liberation Day (January 7) was celebrated in Ho Chi Minh City on January 5.
Prominent amongst the participants were Truong Minh Nhut, the President of the city’s Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association and Luon Kim Khuon, Cambodian Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City .
They both stated that Liberation Day is a historical milestone for the spirit of international solidarity and the special friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia .
Over the past 30 years, relations between the two countries have been taken to new heights.
Cooperation and friendship between cities and provinces in both countries, especially Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh, have also constantly developed.
On behalf of the Cambodian people and Government, Luon Kim Khuon expressed thanks to Vietnam for its assistance during Cambodia ’s struggle for national liberation in the past and its current reconstruction. He also expressed his gratitude to the Vietnamese soldiers who fought and died during the war in Cambodia
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Cambodia Aims for 700,000 Tonnes 2010 Rice Exports
Jan 6 - Cambodia could export as much as 700,000 tonnes of rice this year, exporters and government officials said on Wednesday, as the country steps up its efforts to become a leading shipper of the grain.
"I think we have the ability. We can do it," Chan Tong Yves, a secretary of state at the Agriculture Ministry, told Reuters, referring to the capacity to ship that volume of milled rice.
After decades of upheaval, the Southeast Asian country enjoyed a decade of relative stability and strong economic growth until the global crisis caused an economic contraction last year.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cambodia exported 500,000 tonnes of rice in 2008. No figures are yet available for 2009.
Demand for Southeast Asian rice is growing from the Middle East and big importers such as the Philippines. Thailand is the world's biggest exporter, followed by Vietnam since India enforced a ban on rice exports in late 2007.
Ny Lyheng, deputy general manager of Cambodian rice export firm Baitang (Kampuchea) PLC, said efforts were being made to improve the quality of local rice in order to sell more, seeing potential in the European Union, United States, Canada, Australia, the Philippines and Russia.
He said the European market had been duty-free for Cambodian rice since last September, under the EU's "Everything But Arms" initiative aimed at supporting exports from poor countries.
"The world is paying attention to us because Cambodia is becoming an emerging rice market," Lyheng said.
He estimated that his Baitang company could contribute about 300,000 tonnes of the 700,000 tonnes Cambodia was forecast to export this year.
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Bulldozer crushes 400,000 pirated CDs in Cambodia
Phnom Penh, Jan 6 : Cambodian authorities used a bulldozer to crush 400,000 CDs and DVDs in a crackdown on piracy, national media reported Wednesday.
Police drove the machine over the pile of counterfeit discs that were stacked on the road outside Wat Phnom, the capital's landmark Buddhist temple.
The Cambodia Daily newspaper reported that the discs were either pirated copies of local music and films, or foreign pornographic movies. Most were confiscated from shops in and around Phnom Penh.
Kong Kantara, an under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Culture, told the newspaper that the authorities have stepped up efforts to combat piracy of intellectual property.
"In 2008 we destroyed only 100,000 CDs and DVDs, but (in 2009) we cooperated closely with the Ministry of Interior to raid every pirating place that steals content from film companies," he said.
"We did not arrest offenders, but we fined them according to the copyright law because they pirated the CDs and DVDs from the (rightful) owners," Kong Kantara added.
Under Cambodian law vendors who sell counterfeit discs face fines of around USD 2 per disc if they are caught. The authorities said they plan to expand the crackdown across the country.
Movie and music piracy is commonplace in Cambodia, and many shops openly sell copies of both foreign and local movies and CDs for between USD 1 and 2 apiece.
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Elixir Gaming Technologies Announces Participation Consolidation Agreement with Leading Cambodian Casino Resort NagaWorld
- New Agreement Includes Expanded Operations and Favorable Consolidated Contract Terms –
- Elixir Gaming in Final Stages of Asset Valuation Analysis and Anticipates Recording Non-Cash Impairment Charge of $11.5-$13.5 Million –
HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Elixir Gaming Technologies, Inc. (NYSE Amex:EGT) (“Elixir Gaming” or “the Company”), a leading technology and solutions provider to the Pan-Asian gaming industry, today announced that it has entered into a Machine Operation Participation Consolidation Agreement (“Agreement”) with NagaWorld Limited (“NagaWorld”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong listed NagaCorp Ltd. (HKSE:3918), which includes a commitment to place an additional 200 electronic gaming machines on a participation basis at its NagaWorld casino resort. In addition, the Agreement serves to amend and consolidate terms for all Elixir Gaming machine operations at NagaWorld, including increasing the overall average revenue share to Elixir Gaming to 25% and extending the contract duration. Elixir Gaming currently operates 440 gaming machine seats at NagaWorld, which achieved average win per unit per day (WUD) of over $200 for the months of November and December 2009. NagaWorld is a luxury casino resort in Cambodia and is the only licensed full service casino in and around the capital city of Phnom Penh.
Under the terms of the Agreement, Elixir Gaming exercised its option pursuant to its July 25, 2009 expansion contract to place 200 additional electronic gaming machine seats (“Additional Machines”) in certain prime areas of NagaWorld’s casino lobby floor and will share in the gross revenue generated by each of these machines. Elixir Gaming anticipates 120 of the Additional Machines to be in operation within the first quarter of 2010 and the remaining 80 to be in operation within the second quarter of 2010. In addition, the Agreement serves to amend and consolidate the terms of the Company’s prior contracts with NagaWorld, which will have the effect of regulating all slot and operations management of a maximum of 640 gaming machine seats at NagaWorld. The amended and consolidated terms are effective December 30, 2009.
Under these terms, Elixir Gaming and NagaWorld will have joint control over the operation of all the Company’s electronic gaming machine seats, including floor staff and respective audit rights. Elixir Gaming and NagaWorld will share the revenue and certain operating costs, such as marketing and floor staff, at a 25% / 75% split, respectively, and Elixir Gaming will receive on a daily basis its relevant portion of the daily win in cash. The contract duration is six years and expires on February 28, 2016. Furthermore, the terms include a first right of refusal for any other suitable and available areas for the operation of electronic gaming machines on the casino lobby floor of NagaWorld under the terms of this Agreement. Elixir Gaming would generally have a period of two months from the time of availability to consider the placement of its units in the relevant area and no additional commitment fee would be required for the placement in such area provided that the Company’s total number of operating gaming machine seats do not exceed 640.
In consideration for the Agreement, Elixir Gaming shall pay to NagaWorld a $1.38 million one-time non-refundable contract amendment fee and an upfront commitment fee of $4.10 million for the Additional Machines. Both the one-time contract amendment fee and commitment fee are to be paid in three installments. The first 50% installment thereof was paid on December 30, 2009, the second 25% payment thereof is due on or before January 15, 2010, and the third and final 25% installment is due on or before January 31, 2010.
Elixir Gaming will be entitled to 100% of the WUD from the Additional Machines until it has received the accumulated total of $5.47 million (the $4.10 million commitment fee plus Elixir Gaming’s 25% share of the WUD). As with all of the Company’s gaming machine seats placed under an upfront commitment fee arrangement, Elixir Gaming collects 100% of the cash gross net win from these units of which 25% is recorded as revenue.
Clarence Chung, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Elixir Gaming, commented, “We are pleased to work with our partner NagaWorld to continue to expand its slot floor operations. With the addition of these 200 units, Elixir Gaming’s installed machine base at NagaWorld is expected to reach 640 seats during the second quarter of 2010. With these additional units, Elixir Gaming will have gaming machines installed covering most of the currently available prime ground floor slot space at NagaWorld. Given NagaWorld’s position as the exclusive casino license holder in the Phnom Penh area and our demonstrated success with our current slot operations at NagaWorld, we feel confident that we can continue to drive strong growth in participation revenue and cash flow with these additional placements.”
Also today, Elixir Gaming announced it is in the final stages of its annual valuation review of its gaming machine assets as required by U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The review is being conducted in an effort to formulate the Company’s future deployment plans and determine the usability of its machines with a view to optimize machine performance. In accordance with GAAP and subject to final evaluation by an independent valuation firm, the Company anticipates recording a non-cash impairment charge in the range of $11.5 to $13.5 million as of December 31, 2009.
A substantial portion of the impairment is the write-down to fair market value of certain gaming machines in inventory deemed as non-performing for the Company’s current target markets or their customers’ preferences. To a lesser extent, the impairment also includes the write-down of the Company’s Philippine operations’ gaming assets based on whether the current carrying value of the machines in operation in this market is higher than the expected value as forecasted by the projected future cash flows. The Company considers the write-down prudent based on its assessment of gaming machine performance in its respective markets.
While the Company believes the Philippines remains a viable market for Elixir Gaming and its operations there are expected to continue to be a meaningful contributor to positive cash flow, based on market knowledge gained from its operating experience over the last year, the Company has re-evaluated its growth assumptions for its operations in this market. Despite the downward revision of the revenue assumptions, with the benefit of the ramp-up of several immature venues and targeted marketing initiatives the Company still expects to improve average WUD in the Philippines in the range of 20% to 30% from current levels over the next two to three years.
The Company anticipates it will purchase additional gaming machines to supplement existing inventory and source future targeted deployment plans. Given the Company’s strong current and projected future cash flow generation capability from its operations at NagaWorld (including the recoupment of commitment fees paid and the Company’s share of net wins from its machine installed base at NagaWorld), the state of the previously-owned gaming machine market, and its strong relationships with gaming equipment manufacturers, Elixir Gaming anticipates funding its 2010 gaming machine purchases for its existing project pipeline from cash on hand and expected net cash flow from operations.
Clarence Chung concluded, “Elixir Gaming remains focused on and committed to its operations in its existing markets of Cambodia and the Philippines. The valuation review of our gaming machine assets will complete the Company’s restructuring of its operations under our new management and the resulting write-down will not only help the Company to better align revenue and the related costs but also will rationalize the carrying value of the assets against the projected income for the Philippines market. Further, the reduced depreciation expense will accelerate the time needed for us to achieve positive GAAP earnings.
“With the completion of our restructuring, our improved financial flexibility, and continued strong cash flow projected from our operations at NagaWorld, we feel confident we now have the right operating model, experience, and relationships to capitalize on high-potential growth opportunities in the emerging Asian gaming markets and to enhance shareholder value.”
About Elixir Gaming Technologies, Inc.
Elixir Gaming Technologies, Inc. (NYSE Amex:EGT) is a provider of gaming technology solutions. The Company secures long-term contracts to provide comprehensive turn-key solutions to 3, 4, and 5 star hotels and other well-located venues in Asia that seek to offer casino gaming products. The Company retains ownership of the gaming machines and systems and receives recurring daily fees based on an agreed upon percentage of the net gaming win per machine and provides on-site maintenance. The Company has established a strategic presence in the Asia Pacific region with a focus on the Philippines and Cambodia markets. For more information please visit www.elixirgaming.com.
About NagaCorp Ltd.
NagaCorp Ltd. (3918.HK) operates NagaWorld, the only licensed 5-Star Hotel Casino Resort in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. NagaCorp holds a casino license issued by the Royal Government of Cambodia, which gives the company the rights to operate the casino for 70 years commencing January 1995 with 41 years exclusivity within a 200 kilometer radius of Phnom Phen (except the Cambodia-Vietnam boarder area, Bokor, Kirirom Mountains, and Sihanoukville.) One of Cambodia’s most popular tourist destinations, NagaWorld currently has, among others, 508 rooms, 176 table games, a premium meeting, incentive travel, convention, and exhibition (MICE) facility, a retail shopping area, a collection of restaurants and bars, a karaoke lounge, and a spa. NagaCorp Ltd. is incorporated in Cayman Islands with limited liability and its securities are listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Elixir Gaming, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Those forward-looking statements include statements regarding expectations for the business of Elixir Gaming, its working capital requirements and future revenue and profitability. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual circumstances, events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include, but are not limited to, risks related to Elixir Gaming’s inability to place gaming machines at significant levels, whether the gaming machines placed generate the expected amount of net-win, the ability of Elixir Gaming to acquire additional capital as and when needed, the ability of Elixir Gaming to collect revenue and protect its assets and those other risks set forth in Elixir Gaming’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 filed with the SEC on March 30, 2009 and our Form 10-Q for the three months ended September 30, 2009 filed on November 10, 2009. Elixir Gaming cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Elixir Gaming does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur.
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Trade between Cambodia and Vietnam down 26 per cent
Phnom Penh - The global economic crisis caused a 26 per cent slump in trade between Cambodia and Vietnam through November, but officials in both countries expect a strong rebound this year, national media reported Wednesday. Two-way trade between the south-east Asian neighbours stood at 1.175 billion dollars, statistics released by the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh revealed. Vietnamese exports to Cambodia made up the lion's share, worth 1.017 billion dollars.
The commercial attache at the Vietnamese embassy told the Cambodia Daily newspaper that trade would likely double between the two nations this year. That echoed earlier comments made by Cambodia's commerce minister.
"The economic (ties) between Vietnam and Cambodia in investment and trade are growing," said the embassy's Le Bien Cuong, predicting improved figures in a number of areas particularly commodities and construction materials.
Vietnam, a close political ally, is also a key investor in Cambodia with significant interests in agribusiness, telecoms and banking. Last month the two nations signed an agreement that could result in investments worth billions of dollars, including one for a bauxite mining concession.
Exports of fuel and steel products totalling 560 million dollars made up more than half of Vietnam's exports to Cambodia. Bilateral trade stood at 1.64 billion dollars in 2008, up from 1.2 billion dollars the previous year.
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Cambodia lectures Lao officials on temple dispute with Thailand
Vientiane - Cambodia's deputy foreign minister visited Laos to provide a background briefing on Preah Vihear, an 11th-century Hindu temple on the Thai-Cambodian border that has sparked a nasty diplomatic spat between the two countries, news reports said Wednesday. Long Visalo on Tuesday gave a lecture to more than 200 Lao Foreign Ministry officials on the history of Preah Vihear and the border dispute it has created between Laos' southern neighbours, the government-run Vientiane Times reported.
The ongoing diplomatic rift between the two countries has raised serious questions about the cohesiveness of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Cambodia, Thailand and Laos are members.
Cambodia has attempted to involve ASEAN in resolving the border dispute, but Thailand has refused, arguing that it is an issue that should be settled bilaterally.
Long Visalo noted that the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear was under the sovereignty of Cambodia and in July 2008 UNESCO listed the temple as a World Heritage Site.
Thailand objected to the UNESCO listing on the grounds that a plot of land adjoining the temple is still subject to a border dispute.
A diplomatic spat over the listing escalated into a tense standoff last year between the two countries' armies near Preah Vihear, which left several soldiers on both sides dead.
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Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Cambodia records more cases of malaria and dengue fever in 2009
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia has seen a rise in reported cases of dengue fever and malaria in 2009, local media reported on Tuesday, citing health officials here.
Ngan Chantha, director of dengue control at the Ministry of Health, was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying that there were11,652 cases and 37 deaths reported in 2009 compared with 9,456 reported cases and 65 deaths in 2008.
While infections increased 30 percent, deaths were down by half, he said.
When asked if the number is expected to increase in 2010, Chantha said it would depend on how well individuals protect themselves and their families from the mosquito-born virus.
Figures for malaria cases in 2009 are still being tallied, said Ministry of Health and World Health Organization officials, but are already higher than in 2008, when there were 58,887 cases and 209 deaths.
In 2009, 60,157 recorded malaria cases led to 213 deaths from January through September.
"We don't have the full numbers, we're still collecting the totals from the provinces, but yes, in 2009 there were more cases than in 2008," said Duong Socheat, director of the National Center for Parisitology, Entomology and Malaria Control. He blamed more migrant movement and more mobility for more cases of malaria.
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