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24-Aug-2005
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August 15, 2004 - Cambodia's PM tightens grip on political power
August 12. 2004 - Cambodian Parliament elects members of affiliated committees
Phnom Penh, (VNA) – Cambodia’s National Assembly on Thursday morning elected members for its nine affiliated committees by secret ballot. The voting followed an announcement of the Constitutional Council’s decision approving a working regulation of the third National Assembly. The National Assembly resumed its first session on Thursday. The session was presided over by acting NA Chairman Heng Samrin and attended by 112 of the 123 deputies from three major political parties, namely the Cambodia People’s Party (CPP), the Royalist Funcinpec Party, and the Sam Rainsy Party. The NA unanimously agreed to set up an ad-hoc committee in charge of revising the working regulation and addressing urgent issues raised by a majority of the legislators. Speaking at the morning session, Sam Rainsy, president of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party proposed that the affiliated committees be represented by all parties, including the opposition party, in order to ensure the principles of decentralisation, democracy and multi-party political system in Cambodia. However, the outcome of the voting this morning did not reflect his idea.-E
August 12, 2004 - In Cambodia, thousands of dollars at stake when it rains
August 12, 2004 - Canadians attacked, robbed in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Suspected thieves stabbed and robbed two Canadian tourists at a popular beach town in southwestern Cambodia, a newspaper reported Thursday. The unidentified Canadians, a 24-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, were assaulted early Wednesday after thieves broke into their Sihanoukville hotel room and stole $500 US, the Cambodia Daily reported. The victims were sharing the room with an unidentified British woman, who was not injured in the attack, the report said, quoting deputy police Chief Tak Vantha. Further details about the incident were not immediately available, but the pair was reportedly brought to Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, for medical treatment. Canadian Embassy officials were not immediately available for comment. Sihanoukville is 185 kilometres southwest of Phnom Penh.
August 12, 2004
- World Bank
slams Cambodia
12/08/2004 - 07:45:35
Rampant
corruption has paralysed private businesses and is hampering economic growth
in Cambodia, the World Bank has said in a damning report about the country’s
bribe-ridden investment climate. The report said four fifths of 800
companies surveyed across Cambodia acknowledged “the necessity of paying
bribes” in order to do business. The “unofficial payments” are
“frequently, mostly, or always required” and cost the firms “an average of
5.2% of total sales revenue”, more than twice the amount in Bangladesh,
Pakistan and China, said the report.
August 12, 2004 -
Corruption Choking Growth - World Bank
August 11, 2004 - Cambodia mulls building border trade zone
Phnom Penh (VNA) - Cambodia is considering building an 80-ha trade zone in Bantia Mienchey province bordering Thailand, which will be put under direct management of the two countries' trade ministries. The idea has been agreed upon by the two governments, said Thai Charge d'affaires in Cambodia Naxavuth Phot Saro at a recent workshop. He said the project is designed to unleash the two countries' economic potential, bolster export-oriented agricultural production and tourism, encourage investment and generate employment.
Meanwhile, Cambodian Minister of State for Mining Industry and Energy Kh'lot Vandy stressed the need to consider the project's feasibility and prospects for the two countries' investment in it.--Enditem
August 11, 2004 - PHUKET AIRLINES: Plan to help set up Cambodian carrier
August 10, 2004 -
Myanmar PM arrives in Cambodia in midst
of ASEM deadlock
August 10, 2004 -
CAMBODIA 'MISSION' NEVER HAPPENED:
SHIPMATES
August 10, 2004 - Cambodia, China reiterate close friendship
Beijing, Aug 10 (VNA) - China is willing to enhance its traditional friendship with Cambodia in the 21st century, Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo said on Monday. Wu made the remark at a reception for Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk, and Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk in the Great Hall of the People. The Chinese-Cambodian relationship has withstood great changes and continues to grow stronger. The new leadership of China treasures the friendship between the two countries and is ready to deepen and consolidate the friendly, cooperative and good-neighbourly relationship in an all areas, Wu said. Sihanouk reiterated that Cambodia will continue to support the "one-China" policy.-Enditem
August 9, 2004 - Sport of kickboxing felled by Khmer Rouge returns
August 9, 2004 - Cambodia set to privatise railways
Phnom Penh (VNA) - A source from Cambodia's Transport and Public Work Agency said on Monday that the country will privatise its railways to attract investment in maintenance and purchasing modern means of transport. Under the privatisation plan, sponsored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Cambodian Government will retain its ownership of the railways and rent it to private companies. The Cambodian Government will use the rent to repay ADB debts while the private companies will be responsible for maintaining and repairing the railways. The Cambodian railways have been in use for 80 years with the average speed of a mere 15km per hour. It costs Cambodia about 100 million USD to rehabilitate its whole railway network to increase the speed to 50km per hour. The ADB estimates that at the end of the plan, Cambodia's railway transport capacity will increase from the current 600,000 tonnes per year to 3.6 million tonnes per year over the next 15 years and the transport charge will drop by 35 percent.--Enditem
August 9, 2004 - Job agents leave Indians in lurch in Cambodia
Dozens of Indians are facing deportation from Cambodia after being left in the lurch by unscrupulous job agents. The Indian Association of Cambodia has appealed to the Indian embassy in Phnom Penh to intervene on behalf of the Indians after the Cambodian government refused to extend their visas."All those who are affected are poor people, trying to make a living selling garments, mosquito nets and other goods," Association President Kiran Desai said.He said agents had lured most of them by promising good jobs and better living conditions."But in reality all of them are going through hard times," he said, adding that some of them had been in Cambodia for nearly two years and were living as petty traders in the rural areas.The Cambodian authorities had recently rounded up 75 of them and seized their passports. They were later released and some of them had since returned to India, Desai said."The association is deeply concerned on humanitarian grounds because all these people had been cheated, given false promises of a great job and life abroad but they are unable to even pay back their debts incurred to pay the agents and for their travel," he added.The Cambodian interior ministry had issued a warning to illegal immigrants and asked them to leave the country.The association cautioned Indians against falling prey to the job agents. "Most of our friends affected here are in a very bad situation and not able to support themselves," Desai said.According to him, the association had decided to publish newspaper advertisements in India so that poor people did not fall victim to the machinations of job agents.
August 9, 2004 - Poland to represent EU in North Korea and Cambodia
Rzeczpospolita has leant that Polish embassies will represent the EU in North Korea and Cambodia, while a Pole will become Asia relations assistant to the future EU Foreign Minister Javier Solana. Poland also lobbied to gain the same position in Belarus in relation to its embassy, but failed to convince the European Commission. The creation of the Union's diplomacy is one of the novelties related to the EU Constitution. This will lead to closing at least a dozen Polish embassies, which will be replaced by either a representative office of the European Commission or an embassy of one of the EU members allowed to represent the interests of other states. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A3) M.M.
August 8, 2004 -
Interview with
Cambodian kickboxing
champion E Pho Thoung (Ae Pu thong)
August 8, 2004 - Voluntary Teachers To Be Sent To Cambodia Under Aid Programme
August 8, 2004 - Hope for Cambodia’s women at last: Chief
NON-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Cambodia are collaborating with the Government to improve the socio-economic status of women. Royal University of Phnom Penh’s Head of Department of Psychology, Nhong Hema said for example, NGO volunteers are working closely with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to provide training in basic literacy (ability to read and write) and numeracy (ability to do basic Mathematics) for women with little or low education. “The setting up of the Ministry of Women and Veteran Affairs augurs well for the well-being of both men and women,” she told Daily Express. According to her, women are given exposure to new methods of agriculture encompassing the use of fertilisers for higher productivity as opposed to traditional methods. “Agriculture forms the backbone of the Cambodian economy.” Nhong said the Australian Government sent its experts to Cambodia to conduct research into higher-yield varieties of rice. Her working paper is on Women and Agriculture in Rural Areas with focus on Cambodia.
August 7, 2004 - Cambodia to speed up final ratification of WTO membership
PHNOM PENH (Xinhuanet) -- Cambodian cabinet on Friday approved the membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and determined to finish the final ratification before the deadline expires in September this year. Cambodia along with Nepal were welcomed by the fifth WTO ministerial conference held in Cancun, Mexico last September into its fold. Accession to the WTO must be ratified by Cambodia's National Assembly by March 31, 2004, but the political deadlock after the July 27 election in 2003 made Cambodia fail to meet the deadline. The government sent a letter to the secretariat of the WTO on Jan. 26, asking it to extend the ratification process and got six more months to do it. When the Assembly ratifies the membership, Cambodia will join the WTO in 30 days and become its 148 member. Founded in 1995 and based in Geneva, the WTO now has 147 members. Enditem
August 7, 2004 - Cambodia moves closer to Khmer Rouge trial
Cambodia has moved closer to a long-awaited trial for surviving Khmer Rouge leaders with the cabinet reapproving a key UN-government agreement on getting the tribunal underway. Government spokesman Pen Thol says the ratification bill will be sent to the National Assembly next week for final approval along with 26 proposed amendments required for a tribunal to be set up.Up to two million Cambodians died of disease, starvation and execution during the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 regime. It's surviving leaders -- now mostly in their 70s -- have been cited for trial by scholars of genocide and crimes against humanity. Only two are in detention, with several other former top cadre living freely in Cambodia.
August 6, 2004 - Police officer implicated in Asian drug trade
August 6, 2004 - Warning on future of Cambodia's monarchy
A leading member of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy party says the country's monarchy could cease to exist as early as the end of this month. King Norodom Sihanouk has once again threatened to abdicate, reportedly in frustration at the political direction of Prime Minister, Hun Sen. National Assembly member, Son Chayy, says while the monarch has not carried through on previous abdication threats, this time he appears to be serious. Mr Chayy says with no constitutional framework in place to deal with abdication or succession to the throne, the monarchy appears doomed and the Prime Minister will be happy to see it go:"He very much wants to see the King abdicate as soon as possible, then he will take full control of the country. He can appoint any General, he can officially run the Army, and you know, this kind of thing is probably in the mind of our Prime Minister right now."
August 6, 2004 - Myanmar PM to visit Vietnam, Cambodia
next week
HANOI: Myanmar Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt will travel to Vietnam and
Cambodia next week, their foreign ministries said, for talks expected to
focus on the deadlock over October’s Asia-Europe Meeting. Khin Nyunt will
arrive in Hanoi Monday for a one-day official visit at the invitation of
Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. He will also meet with other senior
leaders of the communist nation, a foreign ministry official said. He will
then travel to Cambodia for an official visit on Tuesday at the invitation
of Prime Minister Hun Sen, the foreign ministry in Phnom Penh said. Vietnam
and Myanmar, both authoritarian regimes and targets of Western criticism
over their human rights records, retain close political links. afp
August 5, 2004 - BEIJING,
Aug. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Just five months after
revealing
her goal to become a pilot, "Tomb Raider" heroine Angelina Jolie has started
to take flying lessons at a Santa Monica airport. The sexy screen siren, who
is devoted to her work as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, aimed to get
a pilot's licence in order to deliver aid to refugees. CRIENGLISH.com
reported Thursday. The humanitarian Angelina is now well on her way,
taking flying lessons at a Santa Monica airport. Jolie said in March that
her dream is to retire in a few years and help deliver food and get people
from one place to another. Angelina also admitted that she has another
motivation to take to the skies - her adopted three-year-old son Maddox, who
was born in Cambodia.
August 5, 2004 -
Five women bound, robbed in hotel
FIVE Japanese women holidaying
in Cambodia were tied up and robbed at gunpoint at a hotel in the nation's
capital by three men, police said today. The women, aged between 21
and 23, were left bound in their Phnom Penh hotel room last week after
thieves stormed in and robbed them of $US900 ($1277), police and local
reports said. It took an hour for the women to free themselves and alert the
hotel and police, but by then the thieves had escaped. District police chief
Phorn Peng said police were still investigating the unusual tourist robbery.
While street muggings are common in the Cambodian capital, where a sense of
lawlessness prevails and guns are commonplace after a decades-long civil war
that only ended in 1998, such a calculated attack on foreigners is rare.
Japan is the number two source of tourists in Cambodia after South Korea.
August 5, 2004 - Hanoi accuses UNHCR of inciting Montagnard exodus
HANOI (Reuters) - Hanoi has accused the U.N. agency on refugees of inciting ethnic Montagnards -- often dubbed "America's forgotten allies" -- to cross the border into Cambodia, state media reported on Sunday. In recent days, the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) continues wrong actions to lure the ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands to illegally cross the border to Cambodia," Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said in a statement. The UNHCR said 42 Vietnamese Montagnard asylum-seekers emerged from the jungle of northeast Cambodia last weekend and more were expected at the U.N. refugee offices in the region. Around 100 of the Christian Montagnards from Vietnam's Central Highlands have managed to reach the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. Human rights groups say at least 200 more are hiding in the region. "The work by UNHCR is wrongful, serving the plot of some people hostile with Vietnam," Dung said in the statement carried by several state-run newspapers on Sunday. He insisted that the tribal people in Cambodia were not asylum-seekers and said that the UNHCR has caused "instability in the border area between Vietnam and Cambodia". On Thursday Dung said dozens of Vietnam's tribal people were staying in camps in Phnom Penh. Hanoi may allow their return and it was ready to talk with Cambodia and the UNHCR if some of them wanted to go to a third country and were accepted by that country. The Montagnards, who sided with the United States in the Vietnam War, say they fled persecution in Vietnam following Easter Day protests in April over land and religious rights. In the Sunday statement, Dung quoted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen as saying Cambodia did not allow "its territory to be turned into refugee camps". Cambodian troops have reportedly rounded up some Montagnards and handed them back to Vietnamese border guards, but it was unclear how many more have fled or died in the jungle. More than 1,000 Montagnards won asylum in the United States after fleeing to Cambodia from the Central Highlands in the wake of a crackdown in 2001.August 4, 2004 - Cambodian economy to see 4.5 pct growth in 2004: IMF
August 4, 2004 - International Travel Rebounds in 2004:Cambodia in top 10
August 4, 2004 - GMS transport forum opens in Cambodia
Phnom Penh, Aug. 4 (VNA) - The eighth Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Transport Forum opened in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Participating at the two-day forum are representatives from six GMS member countries and international organisations, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank (WB), the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC), the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Speaking at the opening ceremony, Senior Cambodian Minister for GMS cooperation Khy Tainglim said at the 2002 forum, the first of its kind, the GMS leaders adopted a framework agreement encompassing 11 programmes of top priority. Of these programmes were projects to build three economic corridors. Additionally, the GMS countries are undertaking other projects to build a Singapore – Kunming railway system, develop seaports in Viet Nam and Cambodia, and implement an agreement on cross-border transportation and one-stop customs procedures. Khy said he hoped that the PMs of Viet Nam and Cambodia will inaugurate the Phnom Penh – Ho Chi Minh City section, which is located in the North – South Economic Corridor, in early 2005. Cambodia will work closely with donors to complete the Bangkok – Phnom Penh – Ho Chi Minh City route by 2007 so that visitors will take only one day to travel from Bangkok to HCM City on the route. At the forum, participants will focus on reviewing the GMS’s programmes in the transport sector, including the North-South Economic Corridor, the East-West Economic Corridor, the study on the Southern Economic Corridor, and updating the GMS development matrix. The six countries will also report on their progress on the implementation of the GMS programmes and progress on the negotiation and implementation of annexes and protocols of the GMS cross-border transport agreement. At the forum, the Vietnamese delegation informed international donors of progress on the implementation of the North – South Economic Corridor’s Kunming – Hai Phong road project and Ba Vet – Ho Chi Minh City road project, the East – West Economic Corridor’s National Highway No. 9 construction project. It also provided international donors with 20 projects to upgrade roads and seaports, of which 14 projects will be carried out in central Viet Nam and the Central Highlands. The forum is expected to close on Aug. 4. The GMS groups Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, and the Chinese province of Yunnan.-Enditem
August 4, 2004 - Grim outlook painted for Cambodia
August 4, 2004 - Cambodian PM warns of civil unrest if king abdicates
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned Wednesday of civil unrest in the country if King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated. Hun Sen made the remarks after he met with Russian Ambassador to Cambodia on Wednesday. He said it is a rule in Cambodia's constitution that "the king shall be the head of state for life," and the constitution also stated that "in the case of the death of the king, the new king shall be elected by the Throne Council within a period of not more than seven days." "If Cambodia allowed the king to abdicate at any time, what kind of consequence will be occur. it will cause great panic among the people, even the civil unrest," the premier warned. In recent months the king has repeatedly said he plans to abdicate, claiming he is old and has a lot of health problems. Cambodia's King and Queen left the country on Jan. 19 for a routine medical checkup and treatment in a foreign country and has not returned since then. As a symbol of unity and eternity of the nation, King Norodom Sihanouk has played important role in critical times in the country's politics in recent years. In his letter to reply to the opposition party leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday, King Norodom Sihanouk said he would not change his mind regarding his decision to abdicate. Moreover, the king said he wishes to have a successor who is "clean and gentle" and who will "strive to serve the country and the nation." Enditem
August 4, 2004 - Cambodia expands fight against foreign pedophiles
August 4, 2004 -
Cambodia's King Sihanouk leaves
TOKYO — Cambodia's King Norodom
Sihanouk has ended an "extended goodwill visit" to North Korea, North
Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday. In a
dispatch from Pyongyang, KCNA said King Sihanouk headed home with his wife,
Prince Norodom Yuvaneath and several officials. (Kyodo News)
August 4, 2004 - Child sex allegations against Frenchman in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Aug 4 (AFP) - A French bar manager working in the Cambodian capital has been arrested and accused of having sex with nine children aged as young as 12, police said Wednesday. Michel Blanchard, 39, who has lived in the kingdom since 2001, was arrested at home Tuesday after police were tipped off by child protection activists, Phnom Penh deputy chief of the anti-human trafficking department Keo Thea told AFP. "He is accused of committing debauchery against under age boys and if the court finds him guilty, he could face between 10 and 20 years' imprisonment," he said. Hang Vibol, director of Action Pour les Enfants (Action for Children) who has previously worked with police to catch paedophiles, said the group had been trailing Blanchard for two months. Blanchard is expected to appear in court on Thursday when a judge will decide whether to bail or detain him pending an investigation. At least 21 foreigners have been jailed in impoverished Cambodia or deported to face trial since 2003 as the kingdom attempts to stamp out its reputation as a paedophile haven.
August 3, 2004 - Myanmar Prime Minister to visit Cambodia
Phnom Penh (VNA) - Prime Minister Khin Nyunt of Myanmar will pay an official visit to Cambodia next Tuesday as guest of his Cambodian counterpart, Hun Sen, said the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in a press release on Tuesday. The two leaders plan to hold talks, informing each other of the respective situation in each country and comparing notes on international and regional issues of mutual concern.PM Khin Nyunt is scheduled to pay a courtesy visit to Acting Head of State Chea Sim during his one-day visit to Cambodia.--Enditem
August 3, 2004 - INSIDE INDOCHINA:Politics Could Stymie Cambodian Reforms
August 3, 2004 - Cambodia PM Opposes Testing Anti-HIV Drug
Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday he opposes the testing of drugs on Cambodians, a position that could derail a planned trial for an anti-AIDS medicine here. His remarks seemed directed at a test, partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, of the drug Tenofovir DF by the California-based biotech company Gilead Sciences Inc. "Please, don't use Cambodians for (any drug) trial," Hun Sen said at a groundbreaking ceremony for a hospital, noting that his country had been selected to test AIDS medication. "If a trial is needed, please do it on animals, and don't use Cambodians."Hun Sen did not single out any project, but his remarks come amid a controversy on the ethics of testing Tenofovir, called Viread DF by Gilead Sciences Inc., in Cambodia.The study, which seeks to recruit almost 1,000 sex workers, is being conducted by researchers from the University of California San Francisco with funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the University of New South Wales.Half those volunteers in the Cambodia experiment will be given Viread, and the others will take a placebo. A year later, researchers will compare the two groups to determine if significantly fewer volunteers taking Viread were infected with HIV than those receiving the dummy pill.Members of a local sex workers' rights group, Women Network for Unity, said in March they would refuse to participate, citing a lack of insurance against potential side effects.Activists at last month's International AIDS conference in Bangkok also protested the test, saying the prospective participants were being exploited.The protesters, led by the AIDS activist group Act Up, accused the researchers of purposely providing insufficient prevention education to the volunteers because it needs infection data to analyze Viread's potential to protect against the virus.The protesters also demanded that the company take care of the lifetime medical needs of any volunteers who contract AIDS during the experiment - partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.The study was approved by the ethics council of Cambodia's Health Ministry last year, but has not yet formally started, said Khol Vohith, a research officer at Cambodia's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Diseases.Saphonn Vonthanak, a chief of the center's research unit, said he heard about Hun Sen's remarks but was unable to comment on them or say if the Cambodian leader was referring to the Viread study. He said the center would seek clarification.Cambodia's current HIV infection rate is 2.6 percent among people of 15-49 age group, the highest in Southeast Asia.Women Network for Unity welcomed Hun Sen's remarks, saying he was "defending the interests of the Cambodian people.""I'm very glad with what the prime minister has said. I wish for the study to fail, and I will get our girls together to celebrate when it actually fails," said Sou Sotheavy, one of the group's leaders.
August 3, 2004 - Cambodia to repatriate 77 fishermen
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodian authorities were Monday preparing to repatriate 77 Vietnamese fishermen who were arrested last week and accused of being illegal immigrants, officials said. The Vietnamese were arrested in the southwestern port of Sihanoukville last Thursday while buying ice to take with them fishing, but would be returned without charge, deputy provincial police chief Tak Vanntha said. "After investigating for a few days, we have decided to send them back, following Cambodian immigration laws. They are only workers hired by an unidentified Cambodian businessman," Tak Vanntha told AFP. Cambodia and Vietnam have overlapping sea claims in the Gulf of Thailand and spats over fishing rights in the disputed waters are not uncommon. Earlier this month a Cambodian fisherman claimed two of his colleagues were killed by the Vietnamese navy, who fired on their boat when they refused to stop for a search.August 3, 2004 - Cambodia to get US$31m in US aid
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - The US government will give Cambodia US$31.5 million to help improve education and health care in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, officials said Monday. The US Agency for International Development will provide a US$29.5 million grant to fight infectious diseases and promote healthy habits among mothers, children and families, the US Embassy said in a statement. The World Bank estimates that 45 per cent of Cambodia's 13 million people live on less than US$1 a day. The country's infant, child and maternal mortality rates are some of Southeast Asia's highest. Another US$2 million will go to the Education Ministry to improve teaching methods and increase "the relevance of the basic education curriculum to the everyday life of Cambodian students and families," the statement said. With more than 40 per cent Cambodia's population under age 15, the government and families have scant money for children's food, clothes and education, according to an official report released in February. Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries, relies on hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid. Agreements covering the grants were set to be signed Tuesday by US Ambassador Charles Ray and Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.August 3, 2004 - US grant to improve health and education in Cambodia
The United States has announced grants of 31.5 million US dollars to fund programs to improve health and education in Cambodia. Of the total, 29.5 million dollars will go towards health.Infectious diseases, infant mortality, maternal health and family planning will be targeted. Other projects include improving access to support services for sufferers of sexually-transmitted-infections, implementing social marketing of condoms and promoting reintegration plans for street children returning home
August 2, 2004 - Phnom Penh - Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy returned home on Monday, brushing off threats from Prime Minister Hun Sen to arrest members of his party he claims are building a rebel force to topple the new government. Rainsy left for France and the United States last month as a controversial bill was about to be signed to allow the formation of a new government after a year-long deadlock. He claimed he feared for his life. The other 23 members of parliament elected from his Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) to the national assembly also left the kingdom, saying they were afraid they would be forced to vote for the bill ensuring Hun Sen's reelection, but have returned. Rainsy, a sworn rival of Hun Sen, said he had received bipartisan support from US politicians who "warned the Phnom Penh government of Hun Sen not to touch any members and leaders of the Sam Rainsy Party." Asked about the accusations of building a rebel force, he told reporters at the airport: "Nobody believes that... After the international community warned Hun Sen, they (the authorities) won't do anything." Hun Sen warned on July 25 that people involved should turn themselves in within 15 days or face arrest, but no arrests have so far been made. Police in Banteay Meanchay province said Monday that 45 SRP supporters have turned themselves in, saying they were cheated by the party which had promised to give them some positions in the army that did not eventuate. Kuon Bun Huon, deputy provincial police chief overseeing security, told AFP the SRP had appointed 132 people to the rebel force in his area. "Those people who turned themselves in said they were cheated by SRP members who promised to give them positions in the army such as spokesmen," he said. State-run television reported that seven SRP supporters in Phnom Penh have made similar claims. The national assembly meanwhile met for the first time since electing Hun Sen back to the premiership and his coalition partner Prince Norodom Ranariddh as its president and began forming nine parliamentary committees. - Sapa-AFP
August 2, 2004 - Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos Will Help U.S. With Missing Servicemen
(Bloomberg) -- Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos agreed to work with the U.S. on trying to find servicemen missing in action in their border areas during the 1964-1975 Vietnam war, the U.S. Defense Department said. The four nations completed two days of talks last week in Siem Reap in Cambodia, only their second such meeting since 1975, the Department said in a statement in Washington. Thailand hosted the inaugural four-way talks last year.``Delegates agreed to reactivate senior-level trilateral discussions on cases in the border areas,'' the Department said. More than 1,800 U.S. service personnel are unaccounted for from the Vietnam war, according to the Defense Department. Investigating teams have accounted for 700 U.S. personnel missing in action since 1975, it said. More than 88,000 Americans are missing from all conflicts that involved U.S. armed forces. The delegates agreed to form two three-way teams involving the U.S., Vietnam and Laos or Vietnam and Cambodia and the U.S. to investigate cases of service personnel missing in action, the statement said.The cases also involve servicemen last known to be alive when they went missing, which U.S. President George W. Bush has made a priority of the joint investigations. ``Without your cooperation, this mission could not continue,'' the Department cited Jerry Jennings, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for prisoners of war/missing personnel affairs, as telling the delegates in Cambodia. Laos offered to host the next meeting of the four nations next year, Agence France-Presse reported.
August 02, 2004 - Genocide tribunals James A. Goldston IHT -,Third is the danger that the Extraordinary Chambers will be a one-off, rather than the beginning of a long-term search for accountability and reform of Cambodia's legal system. Given time and resource constraints, it is unlikely that more than a dozen defendants will be tried. But thousands took part in the violence. Done properly, these proceedings could spark lasting changes in Cambodia's ordinary courts. By showcasing positive models of judging and lawyering, the trials may stimulate public demand for fair and effective trials in other cases. Cambodia's government and international donors should respond to this demand by launching reform programs that extend beyond the life of the Extraordinary Chambers.
The last and greatest challenge is time. Pol Pot died in 1998. "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea and the former head of state, Khieu Samphan, who live freely in Cambodia, are aging. It has taken a quarter century of difficult negotiation to reach this point. Any further delay might doom the new court. With sufficient funding and a determination not to compromise on quality, the Extraordinary Chambers can provide an example of law serving justice in a country that has seen far too little of either. James A. Goldston is executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which pursues rights-based law reform worldwide.
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