June 25, 2004 - Cambodia's main parties reach agreement

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's two main political parties announced a power-sharing deal Saturday, paving the way for a new government after inconclusive elections caused an 11-month political deadlock. The two parties released a joint statement to announce the deal signed Friday night by Prime Minister Hun Sen, leader of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, and Prince Norodom Ranariddh, head of the royalist Funcinpec party."This is the main breakthrough. It is final. This reflects goodwill from both sides," Cambodian People's Part spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.  A caretaker government led by Hun Sen has run Cambodia since July 27 elections failed to give a clear mandate to any party.  The CPP won 73 out of the 123 seats in the National Assembly but could not garner the two-thirds majority needed to govern alone, forcing it to look for coalition partners. Funcinpec won 26 seats and opposition leader Sam Rainsy's p got 24. On-and-off talks between the CPP and Funcinpec stalled recently when the royalist party demanded a 50-50 split of Cabinet portfolios. However, it seems to have relented during the bargaining, allowing the CPP to control 60 percent of the seats.

June 25, 2004 - State lawmaker plans to move to Cambodia

By Andrew Garber
Seattle Times staff reporter

State Rep. Velma Veloria

State Rep. Velma Veloria, a well-known Seattle Democrat, is leaving office after 12 years in the Legislature to join her husband in Cambodia.T he decision is expected to create a rush of Democrats filing to run for the second position in the 11th District, widely viewed as a safe seat for the party. The district represents parts of South Seattle, Burien, Tukwila, Sea-Tac, and the southern part of Renton. Veloria said she decided last week not to run for office this year and will leave when her term expires in January. "Family comes first," said Veloria, 54, who was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States more than 40 years ago.  Her husband, Alonzo Suson, left for Cambodia last month to take a job as a field organizer for the American Coalition for International Labor Solidarity, she said. "I've been in office for a decade and I needed to move on and I needed to try to figure out what else I can do with my life," Veloria said. "I wanted to make sure I expanded my opportunities." Veloria said she's applied to work as a national project coordinator for the United Nations development program in Cambodia. She's also exploring teaching prospects to share her experiences as a state legislator. "I feel really good about what I've been able to do" in Olympia, she said, citing her work as chairwoman of the House Trade and Economic Development Committee. She also noted the creation of a joint legislative-oversight committee on international state policy. "As globalization continues, our state is going to be impacted more and more by international trade agreements. I think we need to keep track of that. Especially since the federal government doesn't do a very good job of it," she said. Three people already have filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission, indicating they're running for Veloria's seat: Robert Hasegawa, of Seattle; Edward Prince, of Tukwila; and Rosemary Quesenberry, of Renton. Veloria said about 64 percent of the voters in her district are Democrats. "A safe Democratic seat is a rare prize in politics," said Christian Sinderman, a Democratic consultant. "It sets off a free-for-all where an awful lot of people who would like to serve will jump in." Veloria said that although she's looking forward to moving to Cambodia, leaving office was not an easy decision for her. "For an immigrant woman to be elected to public office and to be given the opportunity to be in the mainstream has been the greatest gift that people have given to me," she said. Andrew Garber: 360-943-9882 or agarber@seattletimes.com

June 25, 2004 - Baby crocs stolen for drugs

TWO men have been arrested and charged with stealing baby crocodiles from farms in northwest Cambodia in a bid to feed their drug habit, police said today.Tol Kakda and Khun Polo, both 23, were nabbed last week for stealing six of the reptiles from farms in Battambang province, deputy district police chief Lach Long said. "They told us they were addicts and they stole the crocodiles to fund buying methamphetamines because they had no money," Lach Long said. He said the men had fled their village in December last year after a bid to steal an adult crocodile ended in disaster. "They tried to use a net to catch an adult, but it attacked one of the men, biting him on the arm, and they had to let it go," he said. The two men had recently returned home and were spotted by the baby crocodile owners, who alerted the authorities. Crocodile farming has boomed in recent years in Battambang and neighbouring Siem Reap provinces. The meat is sold to local restaurants and the skin used to make boots and leather garments. Agence France-Presse
 

June 25, 2004 - Treasures of Cambodia's Angkor Empire Come to Korea

June 25, 2004 -From Cambodia, timeless treasures

More than a century ago, the French naturalist Henri Mouhot accidentally came across an old history book about a kingdom in Indochina that had established its capital on a hill and built a huge temple called Angkor Wat. His discovery aroused the curiosity of a number of French archaeologists and explorers, who launched a series of expeditions to locate the hidden remains of the kingdom, located near Siem Reap, Cambodia.  Read more...

June 25, 2004 - Support by Cambodia and LAOS Helps U.S. POW/MIA Search

June 25, 2004 - Angelina Jolie's Adoption Agent Admits Fraud

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Hawaii woman who helped Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie adopt a Cambodian boy pleaded guilty on Wednesday to visa fraud and money laundering as part of a ring that paid poor women as little as $100 for their children, her attorney said. Lauryn Galindo, 53, and her sister in Seattle, Lynn Devin, received fees of $10,000 or more to arrange adoptions by U.S. residents of children described as orphans, even though many still had parents, according to the documents. Devin, who pleaded guilty in December, but has not yet been sentenced, and Galindo have agreed to surrender all property associated with the crimes, including a home in Hawaii and a Jaguar automobile. Galindo's public defender attorney, Jay Stansell, declined to comment further. The sisters operated an agency called Seattle International Adoptions, which paired hundreds of children from Cambodia with adoptive parents from 1997 to 2001, when suspicious U.S. immigration authorities halted adoptions from the impoverished Southeast Asian country. In one instance, Galindo faxed Devin documents with a notation saying "Father dead -- mother very poor -- Kampong Speu," referring to a 4-year-old girl who was with her birth mother in Cambodia, court documents show. Devin and Galindo then directed the adoptive parents to pay $100 to the birth mother and paid $3,500 to the Kampong Speu orphanage, described as "Cambodian ministry clerks, employees or officials" in the plea agreement. The adoption ring received a total of $93,700 for the adoptions cited in the case. Describing children as "abandoned" and misidentifying many of them brought the charges of visa fraud, while financial charges stemmed from efforts to hide the profits in Cambodia and avoid financial reporting of the transactions at a bank in Hawaii. Galindo could face up to 20 years in prison at a sentencing hearing set for September. Prosecutors have said that the investigation will not change the status of children adopted through the Seattle adoption agency. Jolie, who won a best supporting actress Academy Award in 2000 for her role in "Girl, Interrupted" and more recently starred in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and "Life or Something Like It," adopted her Cambodian-born son, Maddox, last year after meeting him in an orphanage in November 2001.

June 25, 2004- Cambodia: Changing Behaviour Crucial to Child Survival - How rampant are incidences of child morbidity and mortality in Cambodia?

Cambodia has the highest incidence of child mortality in the WHO Western Pacific Region and that rate is higher than any in the South-East Asia region. Almost half (45.6%) of the nation's children are malnourished. Again this is among the worst in the region. Read more...

June 25, 2004 - Additional Australian support for mine clearance in Cambodia

The Australian Government has announced a AUD$2.6 million package of assistance for Cambodia, to support landmine action and the victims of mines. Half of the funds go to the Cambodian Mine Action Centre while community specialists will also be placed in four of the worst mine affected provinces to select areas for priority clearance.  They are Battambang, Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey and Banteay Meanchey.  Australia's ambassador Lisa Filipetto said the funding demonstrated Australia's desire to support Cambodia's efforts to achieve lasting peace and prosperity.

June 24, 2004 - Financial sector initiates tasks for second half   Read more...

June 24, 2004 - US likely to extend preferential policies to Cambodia garments

June 24, 2004- Staff woes at Raffles hotels in Cambodia drag on

June 24, 2004- 2nd guilty plea in case of Cambodian baby adoptions

By JOHN IWASAKI SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A Hawaii woman who worked with her sister's Mercer Island agency to arrange adoptions of Cambodian children who were not orphans pleaded guilty to visa fraud and money laundering yesterday in federal court. Lauryn Galindo, 53, admitted in a plea agreement that she had made false claims to federal authorities to get children into the United States, even though they had "at least one known living parent." Her clients, who included Washington residents, are considered victims by the federal government and aren't expected to lose their adopted children.Galindo's sister, Lynn Devin, pleaded guilty in December to visa fraud and money laundering. She is to be sentenced Aug. 6. Devin operated Seattle International Adoptions Inc. from her Mercer Island home, while Galindo served as Cambodian adoption facilitator. The sisters placed hundreds of children with new families. Among their clients was actress Angelina Jolie, who adopted a child from Cambodia.  Their prosecutions are part of "Operation Broken Hearts," a two-year federal investigation into Cambodian adoptions. Two years ago, federal officials grew alarmed over reports of irregularities and stopped adoptions in Cambodia by Americans.  Galindo's misrepresentations stretched from January 1997 through December 2001.  Galindo could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison and fined up to $750,000 for three felonies. Besides arranging fraudulent visas, she laundered money through a bank in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She and two Cambodian co-conspirators laundered about $153,000 given by adoptive parents, who were directed by Devin to wire money to Cambodian banks, according to court documents.  The third felony count arose from a federal indictment in Hawaii, where Galindo evaded bank-reporting requirements by illegally structuring financial transactions.  Galindo declined to comment yesterday, but her attorney, Jay Stansell, portrayed her as a humanitarian and was pleased with the settlement.  "She wants to move on, and we're looking forward to putting the case in the context of Cambodia," Stansell said. "We want people to know who she is and what her work was."  That story will come out at sentencing, he said. Galindo is scheduled to appear Sept. 24 before U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly.  Her plea agreement indicated that she will seek to have her sentence reduced because of several factors, including "extraordinary public service and charitable work" and "childhood trauma."  Galindo's parents attended yesterday's proceedings. "I'm here; I support her," her mother said in brief comments outside the courthouse.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lord previously said that none of the adopted children is at risk of being removed from his or her home, and the government reiterated that position following Galindo's plea.  "I haven't heard anything contrary to that," said one of the adoptive parents, Elise Potter, when told of yesterday's development. She and her husband, Doug, adopted two Cambodian girls through Galindo in 1999 and brought them to their Whidbey Island home in Clinton.  Like Devin, Galindo agreed to forfeit cash and property gained illegally through adoptions. Their assets include Galindo's home in Hanalei, Hawaii; bank accounts in Mercer Island, Honolulu, Cambodia, Hong Kong and Singapore; and a Jaguar convertible.  Magistrate Mary Alice Theiler restricted Galindo's movements to Washington and Hawaii and denied her request to travel to Asia to volunteer in United Airlines' humanitarian program in Cambodia.  Galindo's request was based solely on humanitarian reasons "and not any ulterior motive," Stansell said.  He said his client had "spiritual needs" and was not a flight risk.  Theiler scheduled a hearing tomorrow on the travel request. 

June 22, 2004- Cambodia: Garmet Sector Will Survive After Quotas-US

Cambodia’s textile and apparel sector can look forward to a positive future despite increased international competition in the post-quota era, United States officials said today. According to Robert Hagen, director of the US State Department’s office for international labour, the Asian country’s involvement in a 1999 agreement linking quota bonuses to labour standard improvements would allow it to position itself as a socially responsible exporter.  Under the agreement, Cambodian garment factories submitted to a unique factory inspection system set up by the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO) that will continue until well after World Trade Organisation textile and apparel quotas are abolished in 2005.  “Frankly I’m optimistic … that Cambodia will survive and prosper,” Hagen said. 
“There is a consumer market for garments that are not made in sweatshops and I think there’s a strong business case to be made for socially responsible production as well.”  His comments were backed by Mark Storella, US deputy chief of mission in Phnom Penh, who said the ongoing monitoring would help to give Cambodia a competitive edge.  “As we go into the brave new world of the post multi-fibre agreement, Cambodia has at least one year right now where it has something absolutely no-one else has: continued ILO monitoring,” Storella said.  Cambodia’s garment industry accounts for more than 90 per cent of the country’s total export earnings and employs an estimated 24,000 workers.

June 22, 2004- UK suspends Cambodian child adoptions

Evidence on the illegal baby trade in Cambodia uncovered by ITV News correspondent John Irvine has led the British Government to suspend all adoptions of Cambodian children with immediate effect. Children’s Minister Margaret Hodge MP told the ITV News Channel: “It is the first time that the Government has had to take action to suspend adoptions from a country. "But as your report showed […] there was child trafficking as a route to adoption with mothers either being forced to give up their children for payment or choosing to give up their children for payment.” The exclusive report by Asia Correspondent John Irvine first aired on the ITV Evening News on 24 March 2004. He uncovered crucial evidence of mothers selling their babies to local scouts for as little as £15, and these then teaming up with orphanages which provide children for lucrative adoptions in the West. The report highlighted that rampant corruption within the Cambodian adoption trade made it almost impossible to know under what circumstances children are parted from their mother. With almost no legislation in place, it is easy and relatively risk-free for traffickers to capitalise on the country’s abject poverty. Some countries - including the US - had already decided to suspended adoptions from Cambodia altogether. But at the time of the ITV News report, the UK had no plans to do so. Margaret Hodge told the ITV News Channel: “There do appear to be pretty widespread systems in place on a huge number of so-called orphanages where these children are found so that there is no way that one can track their birth mothers. "And then people who run the orphanages often also are the same people who arrange the adoptions of children to countries abroad. "We have found no actual proof [but] I was alerted to this problem at an early stage by the film and the work that you yourselves had done, and John Irvine had done on his trip to Cambodia.” John Irvine said: “I am glad that the Government has responded to the facts on the ground in Cambodia. "The UK found itself out of step with other nations like the US and France who were concerned enough to stop adoption from Cambodia some time ago. "No country in good conscience can in any way - unwittingly or not - help facilitate a trade whereby a mother can sell her baby for the equivalent of £15.”

June 22, 2004- MANILA ADB approves grant for Cambodia's road maintenance project

(Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a grant of 2.2 million US dollars to demonstrate the poverty reduction impact of maintaining Cambodia's national road network. The project will pilot test sustainable road maintenance in three provinces of the northwest of the country -- Battambang, Pailin, and Banteay Meanchey, the Manila-based ADB said Monday in a statement.  It will set up the administrative and financing framework necessary to oversee roadworks and support the development of small-scale contractors to carry out the maintenance. The project will also provide supplementary funding for the maintenance of about 600 km of roads over the three-year life of the project, creating jobs for the poor and ensuring long-term access to and from remote rural areas.     "The project is expected to reduce poverty by 5 percent to 10 percent in areas where the roads are maintained and generate about18,800 jobs," according to Peter Broch, an ADB Transport Economist.     "In the long run, if the project establishes a sustainable roadmaintenance system, the impact will increase as it will open up permanent access to services and income for rural communities. Forexample, agriculture can diversify into investments dependent on better access, including small-scale agro-processing and various support services and industries," Broch said.     About 90 percent of the country's poor, or about 3.6 million people, live in rural areas. The average incidence of poverty in the project area is estimated at 39 percent. Enditem

June 22, 2004 - Thai police go down hard on gamblers

BANGKOK: Thai police have arrested more than 500 gamblers and bookmakers in a crackdown on football betting since the start of the Euro 2004 championships, police said Monday.  Police said they had arrested 51 bookies and 464 gamblers since the championships kicked off in Portugal, and seized 197,430 baht (US$5,800) in cash and about 243 million baht (5.59 million dollars) in betting slips.  Thai police last week ordered local Internet providers to block access to England-based betting web sites in an effort to stem record gambling expected in the kingdom during the ongoing Euro 2004.  Football betting is illegal in Thailand, but it is a massive underground industry fuelled by the country's passion for football and obsession for gambling on anything from kick-boxing to fighting fish.   The kingdom's crackdown has forced thousands of Thais to flock to neighbouring Cambodia's casinos near the border to place bets on Euro 2004. ・AFP  

June 21, 2004 - Vietnamese goods stake out Cambodian market share - Read more...

June 21, 2004 - ILLEGAL LOGGING IN CAMBODIA LEVELS PROTECTED NATIONAL PARK

PHNOM PENH-World Bank and Cambodian officials have discovered rampant illegal logging in a protected Cambodian national park that the World Bank and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have spent millions of dollars to preserve, RFA's Khmer service reports. The team of World Bank representatives and northern Rattanakiri and Stung Trang provincial authorities discovered the illegal logging after it conducted a fly-over inspection May 11-12. - Read more...

June 21, 2004 - Footballing Elephants a big draw in Thailand By Jan McGirk in Bangkok

The plan to buy a share of Liverpool FC with public money may have been dropped but Thailand remains crazy about football. Yesterday, a team of 10 elephants took on a prisoners' squad in Ayutthaya, the former royal capital. The final score was 5-5.  They played with an oversized 8kg ball. The human players were rather reluctant to head it. Elephants slid in the mud, but made up for a slow start by using their trunks.  More than 200 spectators braved showers to watch the game. Mahouts from the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal put the animals through their paces. The elephants eventually resorted to stopping scoring by sprawling in front of the goal.  "We train the elephants every day to kick the ball, and to keep from stepping on the other people," said Pattarapon Meepan, 19, a mahout who works at the Elephant Palace.  Prison officials organised the match as a distraction from their crackdown on illegal betting in the Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal. Thousands of Thais have been flocking over the border to Cambodia, where gambling is legal, to bet on their favourite teams.

June 20, 2004 - Labor movement for Cambodians is hardly working

The Grand Hotel D'Angkor, in the shadow of the ancient Angkor ruins in Siem Reap, Cambodia, stands as one of the crown jewels of the Singapore- based Raffles chain, owners of Swisshotel and of some of the most renowned hotels in Asia. On my stay there earlier this year I mused that the company must have trained the staff to project the beaming smiles with which they invariably greeted me.  Read more...

20 June 2004 - U.S., Vietnam agree to share information on missing soldiers, prisoners of war

June 18 2004 - Breakthrough Announced in POW/MIA Accounting

June 18, 2004 - Vietnam Sentences Six to Death for Drug Trafficking

HANOI (Reuters) - A Vietnam court has sentenced six people to death and three others to life in prison for trafficking $1.6 million worth of ecstasy pills and heroin from Cambodia to Vietnam, state media reported Saturday. Another man was sentenced to six years in jail Friday at the end of a three-day trial of the gang, who are all Vietnamese, the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper said. The court in the southern province of Tay Ninh, which borders Cambodia, heard the group had smuggled 228 lb of heroin and 606 ecstasy pills into Ho Chi Minh City over two years until June 2003. Trafficking 1.32 lb of heroin is punishable by death by firing squad or life in jail in the communist country. The newspaper said three other gang members, two Cambodians of Vietnamese origin and a Cambodian border guard, remained at large. Wednesday, Vietnam's appeal court sentenced to death five people, including a U.S. passport holder, for smuggling heroin to Vietnam from the Golden Triangle and Cambodia, and shipping the drugs to Japan by sea and air.

June 18, 2004 - Drug gang faces firing squad in Vietnam

HANOI: A Vietnam appeals court has sentenced a US citizen and four other members of an international drug ring to death, rejecting their requests for clemency. The five were among 11 members of the gang who were convicted and bring to nine the total number in the case who will face the firing squad. Four of the 11 had been sentenced to death in an earlier court hearing. The gang was charged with trafficking 39.45 kg of heroin, 50 kg of marijuana and 6000 ecstasy pills between Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan and the Netherlands from 1993 to 2002. Among the five sentenced on Wednesday were US passport holder John Nguyen, or Nguyen Nhu Hung, who had originally been ordered to serve a life prison term, an official at the appeal court in southern Ho Chi Minh City said yesterday. The four others, including an ex-policeman, also had their original jail sentences changed to the death penalty. It is common for Vietnamese appeals courts to increase penalties for serious crimes. The gang brought heroin in from the Golden Triangle and Cambodia, and shipped out the drugs to Japan by sea and air. They also bought ecstasy pills from the Netherlands to sell in Vietnam, the court said.

June 18, 2004 - Ratification of regional trade 'road map' due next year

The details of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region's Cross Border Transportation Agreement (GMSCBTA) as a road map to facilitate cross-border trade and investment among its six members are set to be completed this year to ensure ratification next year.

June 18, 2004 - Thai betting boosts Cambodia   

Thousands of Thais flooded into Cambodia this weekend to place bets on the European soccer championships, which is illegal in their own country. Police Maj.-Gen. Pongsaphat Pongcharoen, deputy chief of the Immigration Police Bureau, said 5,619 people traveled to Cambodia over the weekend, the Bangkok Post reported Monday. Anther police immigration officer told the paper he thought the overall total for the weekend could reach 10,000. Soccer betting remains illegal in Thailand but demand for it has been booming despite an energetic police and military crackdown campaign. Thailand has faced the harsh reality that it was fighting a losing battle against soccer betting and last year launched a feasibility study on legalizing the vice, the newspaper said. 
In the meantime, however, the practice remains illegal in Thailand, and a boon to the tourist-dependent, impoverished neighboring economy of Cambodia.

June 16, 2004 - US to give $5.6 milion to Cambodia to fight trafficking

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - The United States will give Cambodia US$5.6 million to fight human trafficking, which has sent hundreds of Cambodians to neighbouring countries to work as forced labourers, prostitutes and beggars, US officials said Tuesday. A US Embassy statement said Cambodia is facing serious challenges in fighting human smuggling, yet its government has "demonstrated the political will to combat trafficking ... with creativity and determination." The US$5.6 million aid would be distributed through programmes and nonprofit groups over the next two years, the statement said. In an annual report on global trafficking released Monday, the United States said Cambodians were trafficked to Thailand and Malaysia for forced labour and prostitution, and children were also trafficked to Vietnam and Thailand to beg on the streets. It did not give any numbers, but human rights groups say hundreds of Cambodians are trafficked each year. The report praised Cambodian authorities for increasing arrests and prosecutions of traffickers last year, noting that police investigations into more than 400 trafficking-related cases led to 142 people being jailed from five to 20 years.

June 14, 2004 - 14 dead in Cambodian bus crash

A bus collided with a truck on a highway in Cambodia, killing 14 people and injuring 28 others.  Ten of the dead were female garment workers travelling on the bus to the coastal city of Sihanoukville for a day at the beach, said Sin Sovanthy, a provincial traffic police chief. He said the truck driver, who was also killed, is suspected of falling asleep at the wheel.  The two vehicles were traveling in opposite directions when they crashed early Sunday about 58km west of the capital Phnom Penh Some of the 28 injured are in a critical condition, Sin Sovanthy said. This is the worst accident I have ever seen," he said. Last year, 824 people died in road accidents, up from 535 in 2002.

June 14, 2004 - Robbers lynched in Cambodia

ABOUT 100 people tied up two alleged robbers and then beat them to death with stones and bamboo sticks in a muddy rice paddy on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, police said today.  The events are the latest lynching by Cambodians fed up by lax law enforcement. The two were killed after allegedly robbing a motorbike from a 19-year-old man and repeatedly stabbing him. The man was wounded in the attack, police chief Ou Chantha said. Police arrived at the scene after the killing and no one was arrested, he said. Tired of weak law enforcement, many Cambodians often take justice into their hands by lynching alleged thieves. Police usually arrive too late to rescue the lynching victims.

June 14, 2004 - UNHCR to Open Office on Vietnam-Cambodia Border

PHNOM PENH佑ambodia has agreed to let the U.N. refugee agency open two offices along the Vietnamese border to aid minority Montagnards fleeing alleged persecution in Vietnam, RFA's Khmer service reports. We plan to allow the UNHCR to open offices to access the Montagnards, but we still need the cooperation of the local authorities in that area," Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak told RFA on Monday. The timeline for opening the offices was unknown. The two offices will be opening in Rattanakiri and Mondolkiri provinces, where most Montagnards cross the border. Cambodia has faced a storm of criticism over the last year since it forced the UNHCR to close its operations in the northeastern provinces. Last week 15 ambassadors from the European Union gathered in Phnom Penh to urge Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to regard the Montagnards as refugees and respect Cambodia痴 obligations under the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention. After meeting with the EU delegates, Cambodian Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong told reporters the government would be easing its stance against the refugees and will allow many of them into UNHCR custody for third-country resettlement. The Government of Cambodia will soften its stance for those [Montagnards] who are deemed real refugees and granted identification by the UNHCR in order to relocate them to the third countries. For those who are not qualified as refugees, we will send them back," he said. The government has already interviewed many Montagnards to see if they qualify as refugees, Hor Namhong said. How the Cambodian government is assessing the Montagnards・refugee status was unclear. Meanwhile, Bureau for Asia and the Pacific of the UNHCR Director Jean-Marie Fakhouri is scheduled to go to Phnom Penh in July to sign a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia on the handling of the Montagnard refugees. The Montagnards, who protested in Vietnam April 10-11 to demand religious freedom, return of ancestral lands, and the establishment of an independent state, suffered hundreds of injuries and at least 10 deaths during a crackdown by police and pro-government mobs, according to witnesses. Since then many more have fled across the border to Cambodia

June 8, 2004 - Laos' power transmission line to be fishined next year

June 6, 2004- Working team of Cambodia's two major parties to meet again

Phnom Penh (VNA) - The Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the  FUNCINPEC party have decided to begin the second round of their working team's talks on Thursday. The two parties will dicuss a cooperation agreement and power sharing, FUNCINPEC President Prince Norodom Ranariddh told the press on Tuesday. Prince Ranariddh said that to speed up the process of establishing a new government, the two parties' working team will work continuously without interruption as in the first round and that disagreed points at the talks will be settled by himself and CCP Vice President Hun Sen.