Saturday, 27 September 2008

Germany Pledges $4.3 Million More To Cambodia War Court

PHNOM PENH (AFP)--Germany will give another EUR3 million ($4.3 million) to Cambodia's U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal, the country announced in a statement Friday.

The money comes as international backers have shown an increased willingness to fund the tribunal, following the appointment of an ethics monitor to grapple with ongoing corruption claims within the court.

This month, the U.S. made its first donation to the court with a pledge of $ 1.8 million. Japan, Germany, France and Australia made pledges earlier this year.

The German embassy said its most recent donation will be used for court operations over the next two years.

The tribunal recently announced a budget shortfall of more than $40 million.

The war crimes court has twice been hit by allegations that Cambodian staff paid kickbacks for their jobs, leading international donors to withhold funding in July.

The tribunal, which began work in 2006, originally was budgeted at $56.3 million over three years, but cost estimates quickly rose to more than $100 million.

Tribunal staff expect the first Khmer Rouge war crimes trial to begin by early 2009.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-79 rule.

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