Wednesday, 2 April 2008

Funeral Services Sunday For Photojournalist Dith Pran

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ (April 1, 2008) - Funeral services will be Sunday, April 6, for Dith Pran, the photojournalist who survived torture and starvation at the hands of the brutal Khmer Rouge and whose story was the basis of the 1984 movie "The Killing Fields."

A New York Times staff photographer for almost three decades after he came to America, Dith died last Sunday in New Brunswick, NJ, after a brief battle against pancreatic cancer. He was 65.

Viewing hours will begin on Saturday, April 5, at the South Plainfield Funeral Home from 2 to 4 p.m., and the family will welcome visitors and friends.

The service will be Sunday, April 6, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the funeral home.

Dith's family says he will be cremated in a private service the following day and his ashes will rest at a Buddhist temple in Philadelphia until his final resting place at a temple in Washington, DC, can be arranged.

The family asks that in lieu of sending flowers, contributions are invited in the name of Dith Pran. The family intends to put donations toward a foundation that will be established in the coming weeks according to the photojournalist's last wishes.

Cards, letters, and contributions can be sent to The New York Times, 4th Floor Picture Desk, 620 Eighth Ave., New York, NY, 10018, marked to the attention of Melissa Bellinelli. All items will be delivered to Dith's family.

Word of Dith's death in a New Brunswick hospital Sunday morning came from his long-time colleague at the Times, Sydney H. Schanberg. Dith was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January. He was hospitalized for three weeks starting in mid-February, and in early March he was released to the Roosevelt Care Center in Edison, NJ.

Escaping Cambodia in 1979, he was made famous by the movie which showed him in his role as a translator and journalist assisting Schanberg, then a foreign correspondent for the Times, covering the Cambodian civil war until the Communists took over in 1975. While most reporters left, Schanberg and a few others stayed and Dith continued to assist him as a photographer and translator.

Eventually Dith and the journalists were arrested by the Communists and held for execution when Phnom Penh fell in 1975. The photographer convinced authorities that the foreign journalists were French Nationals (they were not) and they were released. While Dith was sentenced to a Cambodian labor camp, where he somehow avoided death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge – unlike nearly two million of his countrymen – Schanberg won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his coverage of Cambodia. Schanberg insisted on sharing the Pulitzer with his friend.

To keep from being executed by the Khmer Rouge, Dith hid the fact that he was educated, acted dumb, and denied that he knew any Americans. The Times reports that he even threw away any money he had, dressed as a peasant, and posed as a taxi driver.

Four years later when the Vietnamese overthrew the Khmer Rouge, Dith returned to Siem Reap, the Cambodian village of his birth. Fearing they might discover his American ties, he escaped and on October 3, 1979, walked across the border to Thailand where he was reunited with Schanberg. His survival is a miracle; Dith lost 50 members of his family to the Khmer Rouge including his father, three brothers, a sister, nieces and nephews. Then Schanberg wrote "The Death and Life of Dith Pran" for The New York Times Sunday Magazine. That piece was the basis for the movie "The Killing Fields" and it made the story of Dith Pran a famous one.

Schanberg has said that it was Dith who coined the phrase "killing fields" to describe the piles of corpses and skulls he saw during his journey to freedom. "That was the phrase he used from the very first day, during our wondrous reunion in the refugee camp," Schanberg was quoted as remembering.

Dith and Schanberg, who wrote about his own guilt and fear about what had happened to his Cambodian friend, have been close friends for the many years since then. After Dith settled in the States he became a staff photographer for The New York Times and enjoyed a 30-year career there as an accomplished photojournalist.

During the past few weeks, Dith's bedside has been well attended by family and old friends including Schanberg, who told an inquiring editor that he did not want to stop right now to write a piece about Dith, preferring instead to entirely spend his days "taking care of my friend."

Before he died, while he was still able to receive visitors and converse, Dith's visitors included a documentary film crew, a group of Buddhist monks, journalism friends, and photographers.

Times's assistant managing editor Michele McNally said that actor Sam Waterson (who portrayed Schanberg in the movie) came to Dith's bedside to visit in the final days.
In early March, Dith told reporters that he intended to "beat the odds" of pancreatic cancer but that, ultimately, "this is my path, and I must go where it takes me."

Today in the Times, Dith was remembered for his "imaginative pictures of city scenes and news events. In one, he turned the cameras on mourners rather than the coffin to snatch an evocative moment at the funeral of Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger, a rabbi murdered in 1990."

The photojournalist founded the Holocaust Awareness Project to educate American students about the mass killings and reign of terror the Khmer Rouge brought down on Cambodia. He testified before the U.S. House and Senate subcommittees on East Asia and the Pacific, and was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1985.

Dith compiled “Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors” (Yale) in 1997. The child witnesses, now grown up, wrote of babies killed by bayonets and adults killed with the backs of hoes — to save on bullets. In a review of the book in The New York Times, Lance Gould wrote, “The overwhelming simplicity of the contributors’ recollections builds a solid, irrefutable censure of one of humanity’s most shocking crimes.”

The Times reports that Dith is survived by his companion, Bette Parslow; his daughter, Hemkarey; his sons, Titony, Titonath and Titonel; a sister, Samproeuth; six grandchildren; and two stepgrandchildren.

Schanberg says that Parslow along with Dith's first wife, Ser Moeun Dith, have both been at his bedside these past few weeks bringing the photojournalist rice noodles.

From his bed, Dith did a video interview with The New York Times a few weeks ago about his life story, and about the Khmer Rouge and the genocide and suffering of his beloved Cambodian people, hoping that the world will never forget what happened there in the "killing fields."

"He cared about this one story most of all," Schanberg said.

"Please, everybody, the world must stop the killing fields. One time is too many. If they can do that for me, my spirit will be happy," Dith said.

"The Last Word: A Video Interview And Profile With Dith Pran" can be seen here.

And The New York Times also published a multimedia presentation about Dith that can be seen online
here.

Journalist Stephen Wolgast contributed to this report

Jury selected in trial of Cambodian coup leader

The Associated Press
04/01/2008

LOS ANGELES—A jury was selected Tuesday for the trial of a Long Beach man who allegedly attempted to overthrow Cambodia's government in 2000.

Opening statements were to begin Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Yasith Chhun, the president of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, who has pleaded not guilty to charges that he orchestrated attacks on several government buildings in Phnom Penh.

Chhun met with former members of the Khmer Rouge military at the Cambodia-Thailand border in October 1998 to plan an overthrow of the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to prosecutors.

The failed coup resulted in the deaths of at least three CFF members and injured an unknown number of civilians, police and soldiers, according to the U.S. government.

Cambodia establishes diplomatic relationship with Qatar

chinaview.cn
2008-04-02

PHNOM PENH, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Qatar on Tuesday signed an agreement to establish the diplomatic relationship, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.

The two countries agreed to select April 1 as the day to establish the diplomatic relationship, he told reporters at a press conference following talks between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and visiting Qatar Premier.

"We also requested seven projects from Qatar and they agreed with all requests," he said.

The requests include helping to train oil and gas experts for Cambodia, allowing Cambodian labor force to work in Qatar, bringing more investments, a direct flight from Doha of Qatar to Cambodia, strengthening gas and mines cooperation and buying rice products from Cambodia, Khieu Kanharith said.

Both sides will create a law about investments promotion, he added.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, arrived in Phnom Penh on Tuesday to pay an two-day visit to Cambodia.

Editor: Sun Yunlong
Cambodian garment workers sew clothes in a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Aug. 4, 2007. Cambodian garment manufacturers and labor unions have agreed to a US$6 (euro3.80) monthly raise for factory workers, averting potential further strikes by employees struggling to make ends meet, officials said Tuesday, April 1, 2008.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)


Cambodian garment workers iron clothes in a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Aug. 4, 2007. Cambodian garment manufacturers and labor unions have agreed to a US$6 (euro3.80) monthly raise for factory workers, averting potential further strikes by employees struggling to make ends meet, officials said Tuesday April 1, 2008.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian garment workers sew clothes in a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 4, 2007. Cambodian garment manufacturers and labor unions have agreed to a US$6 (euro3.80) monthly raise for factory workers, averting potential further strikes by employees struggling to make ends meet, officials said Tuesday, April 1, 2008.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

The Associated Press
Published: April 1, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian garment manufacturers and labor unions have agreed to a US$6 (€3.80) monthly raise for factory workers, averting potential further strikes by employees struggling to make ends meet, officials said Tuesday.

More garment workers had threatened to walk off their jobs this month unless they got a pay raise to keep up with the soaring food prices currently afflicting many poor Cambodians.

Employers and union representatives have been negotiating for weeks on how much to increase average monthly wages of US$50 (€32). A breakthrough was found Monday when the government prodded manufacturers to increase the wage by US$6 to keep workers on their production lines.

Chuon Mom Thol, president of the Cambodian Union Federation, which has more than 70,000 members, said he originally demanded an increase of up to US$15 (€9.50) a month.

He said that although he found the US$6 raise unsatisfactory, "it is still better than not getting anything at all."

Van Sou Ieng, president of Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, said employers had agreed to the government-proposed raise but "we will not go further than that."

He complained that the raise will add to production costs and make Cambodia "less competitive" in garment exports.

"Unions must also improve productivity rather than just asking for an increase of wages," he said.

In a statement issued Monday, Cambodian Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng called on workers who have been striking at some factories to end their protests. He urged them to return to work for the "benefit of yourselves, of the factories and our whole nation."

Without a pay raise while prices keep climbing, factories would have been likely to see a lot of workers walking off their jobs, said Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers.

He said many of his union's 80,000 members had already begun looking for other jobs but the US$6 raise could be "sufficient enough" to make them stay on.

"It will help them with their daily spending and to avoid staging more strikes ... but only if food prices begin to drop," Chea Mony said.

The garment industry is the major export earner in Cambodia, where some 35 percent of the country's 14 million people live on less than US$0.50 (€0.32) a day. The industry employs about 355,000 workers, mostly women.

Although high food prices alone are unlikely to pose a serious threat to Cambodia's economic growth, they are adversely affecting the country's poor, who spend approximately 70 percent of their total household consumption on food, according to the World Bank in its latest East Asian economic outlook update, issued Tuesday.

Wife teaches hubby fiery lesson

news24.com
01/04/2008 16:01 - (SA)

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian man who took his lover for a spin in his new car was caught out when he pulled into his driveway only to be confronted by his wife brandishing petrol, which she proceeded to pour over the vehicle and ignite, police said on Tuesday.

Seing Sokny, 25, was alerted to her husband's clandestine drive with his lover in the northern tourist town of Siem Reap by her girlfriends and decided to hit him where it hurt most, according to Svay Dangkum district police official Chheng Sophea.

"On Sunday, Paing Vibol came home after dropping the girl off and Sokny just walked up, poured a bottle of petrol over the bonnet and lit it up," Sophea said by telephone.

Vibol, 39, had purchased the Toyota Corolla just four days earlier for around $5 000.

Sophea said the husband took one look at his car in flames and fled the scene. He is now believed to be in hiding in Phnom Penh, more than 300km away, Sophea said.

Busy Thaksin to play golf in Cambodia

Wed, April 2, 2008

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will Thursday visit Chiang Rai for meritmaking before taking a golf trip to Cambodia over the weekend, his spokesman Pongthep Thepkanchana said on Wednesday.

Thaksin has not scheduled any public appearance Wednesday due to illness from a cold and coughing, Pongthep said.

In Chiang Rai, Thaksin is expected to perform a religious rite for his family's ancestor at a Phayao temple on the occasion of Songkran Festival.

He will then meet to lend moral support to House Speaker Yongyuth Tiyapairat who is fighting electoral fraud charges.

He is also to visit the afforestation project at Doi Tung.In Cambodia, he will play a round of golf with Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen.

The Nation

Cambodia, Qatar ink direct flight deal

Qatari PM received by his Cambodian counterpart

Direct flight agreement between Doha and Phnom Penh will help boost tourism between two countries.

middle-east-online.com
2008-04-02

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia and Qatar have established direct flights aimed at promoting tourism between the Middle East and the tiny Southeast Asian nation, officials said Wednesday.

The agreement was inked on Tuesday between Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, who is on an official two-day visit to Cambodia, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.

No date has been set for the start of air services between Doha and Phnom Penh, said Mao Havannal, chief of Cambodia's Civil Aviation Authority, adding that experts from both countries were studying potential flight schedules.

"When we have new flights, there will be more tourists, more business people and more income in tourism," Mao Havannal said.

Tourism is one of the only sources of foreign exchange for impoverished Cambodia, which is struggling to recover after nearly three decades of conflict that ended in 1998.

The kingdom, which is known for its famed Angkor Wat temple complex, aims to lure three million tourist arrivals annually by 2010.

More than 20 foreign airlines, including Japan Airlines and Dubai-based airline Emirates, currently operate direct flights to Cambodia, Mao Havannal said.

Last December, Air Finland became the first European carrier to fly directly between Cambodia and Europe.

Prime Minister Hun Sen And Queen Bun Rany Hun Sen?

Mrs Bun Rany and Mr. Hun Sen.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Courtesy of Khmerization @ http://khmerization.blogspot.com/

“A culture of a wife running her husband’s affairs must be stopped, especially if the husband’s affairs are the state affairs……So, my advice to Mrs Bun Rany is: to please butt out and stay away from your husband’s and the state affairs.”

Editorial by Khmerization:- I read with dismay the article in Ki-Media which has shown for the first time the tremendous power that Mrs. Bun Rany, wife of Prime Minister Hun Sen, had wielded. In the article, which was taken out of the interview PM Hun Sen and Mrs. Bun Rany gave on national TV, show that Mrs. Bun Rany was acting as if she was the prime minister and that Mr. Hun Sen was only her yes man.

For those who are unfamiliar with the chains of events don’t be surprised. A few weeks ago she asked her husband, Prime Minister Hun Sen, to ban three songs deemed immoral by her. All TV and Radio stations must not defy the ban or they will be severely punished. And in a swift change of mind, she asked her PM husband to reverse the ban. As if to show how much power she wielded, she again asked her husband to repeal the monogamy law enacted by the parliament, without the need for parliamentary approval (read the link below).

The Cambodian has a saying that: “If the husband is a major, then the wife is a colonel” (áž”ី្ដស័ក្កិáž”ួáž“áž”្ážšáž–áž“្ធស័ក្កិáž”្ážšាំ)- meaning that the wife is more powerful than the husband and is wielding the power behind the scenes. This is the case with Mrs. Bun Rany. In a full functional democracy, the duty of the wife of a PM or President is ceremonial and she will never meddle or will never be allowed to meddle in the affairs of her husband and of the state. Mrs Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States, and Mrs. Janet Howard, wife of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, had always stayed in the backgrounds and performed their charity works magnificently.

Mrs Bun Rany seemed to wrongly think that, as a PM’s wife, she is the PM herself and that her power is limitless. As if to prove how powerful she is, she has unashamedly quoted a Khmer saying of “If the husband is the PM, his wife must be the Queen”, as if to tell the public that she running the country, not Hun Sen. Her phrases, such as “what he (Hun Sen) say is the law”, “whatever I say is as good as words from the bible” and Hun Sen’s “decree” for the annulment of the monogamy law is a “forgone conclusion” are born out of her ignorance or a disregard for the democratic process. With such phrases coming out of her mouth, she has shown no regard for the constitution and treated the parliament with contempt and, in a stroke of a pen, her words and that of her husband’s become “laws”.

Mrs. Bun Rany has been known for some times to be wielding tremendous power behind the scenes, but this is the first time that it has come out in the open.

Mrs Bun Rany’s notoriety came to public attention during the infamous Pisith Pilika Affair. The actress Pisith Pilika was a mistress of her husband. During the affairs with the actress Mr. Hun Sen provided the actress with good remunerations of $200,000 deposited in her bank accounts and a brand new Landcruiser 4-wheel drive. The $200,000 and the Landcruiser was confiscated by Mrs. Bun Rany and, when the affairs was brought to her attention, the actress was ordered assassinated by her, using her husband’s bodyguards to do the job. Her husband, PM Hun Sen, was dumbfounded.

A culture of a wife running her husband’s affairs must be stopped, especially if the husband’s affairs are the state affairs. Cambodia had become what it is today (a backward country) partly as a result of generations of wives running the affairs of her husbands who happened to be the leaders of the country. The country has an elected parliament to enact the legislations. The PM has his advisors, ministers and minders to guide and advise him on state affairs. The un-elected wives must back off and stay in the backgrounds performing only charity works. So, my advice to Mrs Bun Rany is: to please butt out and stay away from your husband’s and the state affairs.

Cambodia: The High Cost of Closure

Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea attends a verdict at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh on March 20, 2008. Mak Remissa/AFP/Getty Images

With a $170 million price tag, the genocide trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders could be imperiled for lack of donor funds

by Susan Postlewaite

Dressed in a khaki shirt and slumped in his chair, eyes closed as the judges read the proceedings, the frail and white-haired "Brother No. 2" doesn't look the part of a mastermind of the 1970s reign of terror in Cambodia. Arrested at home near the Thai border last September, 82-year-old Nuon Chea is the top-ranking Khmer Rouge official to face trial for his role in the Cambodian genocide. But with his health deteriorating, the court worries he may die before the trial's conclusion. So haste is of the essence.

That's one factor that international aid donors must consider when deciding whether to foot the $170 million bill for the U.N.-sponsored trials of Nuon Chea and four other former Khmer Rouge officials. Trying them is proving far more costly than organizers had planned. The court's budget, originally $53 million for three years, has ballooned to $170 million for five years. And after a year and a half of operations, the hybrid court (run by both the U.N. and the Cambodian government) is running out of money. The Cambodian side has announced it runs out of funds in April.

Nearly 30 years after the end of the "killing fields" that left 2 million people dead, many Cambodians are wondering whether getting justice is worth the expense. Some think the trials in Cambodia are, as the former U.N. Secretary-General's representative in Cambodia Benny Widyono says, "a little too late."

Report of Overspending

But others feel that closure is necessary. "We want to see who is responsible for the killing," says Touch Vunly, a retired government soldier who now farms near Cambodia's border with Thailand, not far from the house where Khieu Samphan, who was a member of the Khmer Rouge central committee, lived before his arrest. Touch Vunly says he has no grudges, but he adds that he would like to know whether "the leaders have to take responsibility if they do wrong." In a country where criminal behavior has for years gone unpunished, that may be the argument that persuades donors that spending as much as it takes on the Khmer Rouge trials is good value.

One problem: Donors want to know what's happened to some of the money they've already
pledged. A U.N. audit report found inflated salaries and overstaffing on the Cambodian side of the court and harshly criticized the court for paying Cambodian staff $3,500 to $5,300 a month—in a country where teachers and civil servants still get less than $100. The high salaries mean the court has not been able to use lower local costs to make proceedings less expensive than in places such as The Hague, Netherlands, home to the war crimes trials for the former Yugoslavia.

Donors who have funded the tribunal until now aren't saying how much more they're willing to spend. The biggest donors have been Japan ($21.6 million) and France ($3.2 million). The European Commission, Australia, Canada, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, and India have limited their contributions to a few million dollars or less, according to the court's financial statements. (The U.S. hasn't contributed anything.) The donors declined to comment on future pledges except to say they have sent questions to the U.N. about the expense. Cambodia has pledged $1.5 million cash, but says in-kind contributions would bump it to about $5 million for such things as taking care of the defendants in jail and the land for the court.

The new budget would cover expenses including more than $120,000 a year in medical costs for the five elderly defendants: Nuon Chea; Khieu Samphan; Kaing Guek Eav, better known as "Duch"; and Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith. That includes round-the-clock doctor and nurse coverage at the court and an ambulance that often ferries defendants to Calmette Hospital 45 minutes away. And it also would pay for international doctor visits, particularly for Ieng Sary, the 82-year-old former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister, who has heart problems.

War Crimes Trials Are Expensive

Lawyers leading the case against the Khmer Rouge officials are hopeful that a lack of funds won't shut down the court.

"I don't think we will stop in mid-stride," says Robert Petit, chief co-prosecutor for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC), the tribunal's official name. Petit, a veteran of war crimes tribunals in Rwanda, Kosovo, East Timor, and Sierra Leone, says war crimes trials are expensive. The ECCC, for instance, requires translation of documents and proceedings into English, French, and Khmer. While only five defendants are facing trial now, the prosecutors' office is investigating others as well.

Petit won't say whether more arrests will come. But he argues one measure of the court's success will be its ability to create a legacy for future generations. "We have to make sure at the end the evidence and our interpretation of the evidence is available so they can use it to move forward. That is complex and requires funding." The donors' funding also is helping to pay for attorneys for the accused. Defense Support Section chief Rupert Skilbeck says he has funding to provide a strong enough defense for the five to envision possible acquittals. "Usually everyone thinks they're guilty, but they have not looked at the evidence," says Skilbeck, a British lawyer and also a veteran of other war crimes tribunals.

Cambodia isn't the only court that has faced money problems due to a lack of accountability or financial controls, says Michael Johnson, the former chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia who was also involved in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Bosnia and Herzegovina War Crimes Chamber. He says the Bosnia court—eight courtrooms and about 400 defendants—is running about $10 million to $11 million per defendant. But other courts such as Rwanda—purely an international court (not a hybrid local/international as in Cambodia)—ran about $30 million per defendant; Sierra Leone was also high. In East Timor, another hybrid court came out at about $10 million per defendant, but critics say it ended up with a standard of justice that did not meet international criteria. "There is a real lack of accountability within the administration of these systems," says Johnson, who favors a special adviser to monitor and cut costs.

U.N. Appoints Veteran Prosecutor

However the Cambodian side of the court does not want a special adviser, insisting it doesn't want "a new party to be above the court," according to a spokesperson. And if the U.N. side got a special adviser, the Cambodian side would also be entitled to one at 50% of the U.N. adviser's salary.

The U.N. intervened last week, announcing after a meeting in New York with officials of the ECCC that David Tolbert, who has been prosecuting at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, will become Assistant Secretary-General of the U.N. for three months to "advise the U.N. on its assistance to the ECCC." The U.N. says the appointment is "essential during the forthcoming months leading up to the first trial." Donors did not immediately react, but Heather Ryan, monitor of the Khmer Rouge tribunal for the Open Society Justice Initiative, says Tolbert's "leadership" will be a welcome addition at a time when the ECCC faces "pressing issues."

Support among Cambodians for the trials always has been mixed, but watching the defendants on TV is popular. Plus, more than a third of Cambodian's population is under age 15, and the younger generation knows little to nothing about the Khmer Rouge era, which is considered by the current regime to be too politically controversial to be taught in schools. Court supporters say the trials will set the historical record straight.

Oil, gas high on PM’s Cambodian agenda

HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani being received on arrival at Phnom Penh yesterday.


Wednesday, 2 April, 2008

PHNOM PENH: Oil and gas issues were high on HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani’s agenda on day one of his two-day official visit to Cambodia, a government spokesman told a press conference yesterday.

HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, who is also the foreign minister, met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and discussed co-operation and agreements, ranging from oil and gas exploration co-operation to direct airline flights, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told journalists. The talks were attended by HE the Minister of Finance Yousef Hussein Kamal who is also the Acting Minister of Economy and Commerce, and members of the official delegation accompanying the premier.

From the Cambodian side, the session was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Hor Namhong, Minister of Trade and Second Deputy Chairman of the Development Council Cham Prasit, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon and a number of senior officials.

Establishment of diplomatic relations between Qatar and Cambodia was declared during the talks.

A number of projects and agreements were handed over to the Cambodian side. They included an investment protection agreement, another on prevention of double taxation, a third one on economic, trade and technical co-operation and a fourth on employment of Cambodian labour, as well as a memorandum of understanding on political consultations between the two foreign ministries.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim later witnessed the signing of an agreement on direct flights between Doha and the Cambodian capital, as well as the northern tourist town of Siem Reap.

He also answered a call by Cambodia for foreign donors to assist it to prepare for an expected influx of oil and gas revenue from offshore oil reserves predicted to be tapped within three years.

He agreed to assist with training of Cambodians in oil and gas exploration, as well as teaming up with the Cambodian government in the future to increase exploration for oil, gas and minerals.

Cambodia has been described as Asia’s new mining frontier and the government is hopeful additional petroleum deposits lie under its massive inland Tonle Sap lake.

“He also negotiated for Qatar to begin farming cotton in Cambodia and agreed to loans for roads and irrigation,” Kanharith said. The leaders discussed a multi-million-dollar donation for a new school just outside of the capital.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim is scheduled to fly to Siem Reap today to visit the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex before flying out the same day.

The Cambodian prime minister hosted a dinner banquet in honour of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim on the occasion of his visit to Cambodia. – DPA/QNA

Editorial: He showed us the light by focusing on the dark

04/01/2008
San Antonio Express-News

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but when the words express disgust, revulsion and moral outrage, the picture should be worth more — a lot more.

What Dith Pran — and his photographs — gave the world was invaluable. They unveiled a harsh, ugly landscape that needed to be shown. The only thing worse than brutality is brutality committed in dark shadows, unseen by those who might raise their voices in protest.

If Pran protested, he did not have to. His photographs were eloquent enough, depicting the horrific regime of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It was in the mid-1970s, and he coined the term that would serve as the title for an Oscar-winning movie a decade later — "The Killing Fields."

Pran served as a translator for New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg. But, as Schanberg told PBS News, the translator would become as committed as the journalist himself. And, soon, translating was not enough for the young man; he had to document.

And document he did, his photographs a stark reminder that genocide did not end with Hitler or Stalin. He showed the world a land that was hard to imagine — and harder to stomach. And as he depicted this world — a world in which the regime killed 2 million people in four years — he braved many of the dangers faced by the soldiers on the battlefields.

"He had a smile that could light up a city block," Schanberg told National Public Radio. "He was a special person, and Buddhism was a big part of that... He believed in the tenet that you do good things and you will be rewarded... Pran did many, many of them for people who were at risk during the war."

Schanberg never considered his friend and colleague a mere "fixer," the term for local people who helped foreign correspondents.

"His legacy is really a magnificent one," Schanberg told the radio network. "At the very least, he was my equal... and often my better. That's what he was. He wasn't just an assistant..."
And he was motivated by the simplest — and noblest — cause.

"His mission," Schanberg said, "was to tell the world what was happening to his people."

Pran, a hero who wielded nothing more menacing than a camera, died of pancreatic cancer the other day; he was 65.

Jane Freiman Schanberg/Associated Press Dith Pran bravely put a spotlight on the horrific actions of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge.

Cambodian inflation hits 9-year high

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
dailytimes.com.pk

PHNOM PENH: Annual inflation in Cambodia has hit a nine-year high of 10.8 percent, largely due to soaring fuel and rice prices plus the declining value of the US dollar, its de facto currency, the World Bank said on Tuesday.

The surge in prices for the year to December 2007, the most recent month for which data was available, was unlikely to threaten the Southeast Asian country’s rapid economic growth but could hit its poorest people hard, the bank said.

The cost of rice, the staple food of the country’s 14 million people, has nearly trebled in the last three months to $0.92 a kg amid worries about international supply constraints, prompting Prime Minister Hun Sen last week to ban exports for two months. reuters

Trial of Cambodian coup-plotter underway in California

Tuesday April 1, 2008
AFP

The trial of a US-based Cambodian rebel leader accused of attempting to overthrow the government in his homeland began here Tuesday as jury selection got underway.

Chhun Yasith, 51, the president of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF), is charged with orchestrating a failed but bloody coup attempt against Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh in November 2000.

Chhun Yasith, an accountant, was arrested by the FBI at his home in Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, in June 2005.

He faces four charges including conspiracy to kill in a foreign country and engaging in a military expedition against a nation with whom the United States is at peace. He could be jailed for life without parole if convicted on all charges during his trial at Los Angeles Superior Court.

Prosecutors say Chhun Yasith was the mastermind of an attack eight years ago on government institutions in Cambodia's capital, including the ministry of defense, the Council of Ministers and a military headquarters building.

In the attempt to overthrow Hun Sen, about 60 armed men stormed into Phnom Penh firing AK-47 rifles and rockets at government buildings, leaving at least four people dead. More than 100 people were jailed for the attack.

Several policemen were wounded in the attack, codenamed "Operation Volcano," that left an unknown number of CFF attackers dead and wounded, but which left Hun Sen unscathed according to US prosecutors in Los Angeles.

A federal indictment against Chhun Yasith alleged that he traveled to the Cambodia-Thailand border in August 1998 to meet Cambodian military personnel opposed to the ruling party.

Prosecutors say the CFF was born at the meeting and that the defendant agreed to raise funds to help bankroll the coup attempt.

To sit or to be sat on.. boat trip to Phnom Penh








Travel Pod

The Tonle Sap is a huge natural lake in the heart of Cambodia separating Siem Reap on the northern side, from the Kampong Chhnang province in the south. During the dry season (like now), the lake is at its smallest at appr. 2700 sq km and just a metre deep, but during the wet season it swells to 16.000 sq km and about 9 metres deep. Arguably the fastest way to get from Siem Reap to the capital Phnom Penh is by boat crossing the Tonle Sap and then venturing further inland along the Tonle Sap River. I say "arguably" because the last time I opted for a boat trip over the longer bus, I found that the guys selling me the boat tickets had been fairly optimistic on the time it would take (I think a 6 hour boat trip turned into a 10 hour one then, doing no ends of good to my humour).

This time round however the 8 hours wasn't far off the mark from the quoted 7 hours, and the boat was a lot more comfortable (read: less full) than last time when I went from Siem Reap to Battambang. Hordes of waving kids along the river, and fishermen doing their daily chores with a smile to the ferry, meaning the passing boat isn't too much off a hindrance (anecdotally the fishermen along the Siem Reap to Battambang route hate the passing fast boats as they severely disrupt the fish). Steven left the boat "slightly grumpy" (in his own words), as two rather rotund English girls had taken turns (almost) sitting on him en route. It's spectacular how badly burnt these girls got from sitting 8 hours on the top deck of a boat ploughing along through an unrelenting sunny day, but on more than one occasion I've likewise been guilty of undervaluing the benefits of applying a liberal slap of factor 30 to the bod. But it is surprising why it's always the English that choose to wear the colours of the St. George's Cross on their bodies as well as their football t-shirts.

The warm welcome of a horde of tuk-tuk drivers at the dock in Phnom Penh didn't help the mood either. Their hand-made signs with "Tuk-tuk driver. Good English! Decent price!" contain at least two demonstrable lies, when the simple answer "no" tot their shouts fails to settle in after even three or four attempts, and the first quote for a trip through the city with a straight face is quoted at 15 dollars (no way should you be paying anything more than 2 dollars for a trip within the city with a tuk-tuk). And why a tuk-tuk driver is unable to understand that if you've just told the guy standing in front of him that you don't need a tuk-tuk, that this will probably apply to his as well, is completely beyond me. I've had plenty of arguments with tuk-tuk drivers on what is so difficult about the word "no" (maybe to the dismay of Steven and Kim), and one guy even had the gall to blame me for the fact that he wasn't earning any money that day, because "I wasn't using his tuk-tuk" (this remark nearly cost him his nose). Should you read anything about mass culling of tuk-tuk drivers going on in Phnom Penh, I'd just like to pencil myself in a the first prime suspect.

Right, I'm off for a draught Angkor at one of the many places with a happy hour here. What is 50 dollarcents worth these days?
Cheers!

Take That !

The charred car (Photo: Reach Krong, Koh Santepheap)

April 01 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian man who took his lover for a spin in his new car was caught out when he pulled into his driveway to be confronted by his wife brandishing petrol, which she proceeded to pour over the vehicle and ignite, police said on Tuesday.

Seing Sokny, 25, was alerted to her husband's clandestine drive with his lover in the northern tourist town of Siem Reap by her friends and decided to hit him where it hurt most, according to Svay Dangkum district police official Chheng Sophea.

"On Sunday, Paing Vibol came home after dropping the girl off and Sokny just walked up, poured a bottle of petrol over the bonnet and lit it up," Sophea said by telephone.

Vibol, 39, had purchased the Toyota Corolla just four days earlier for around $5,000.Sophea said the husband took one look at his car in flames and fled the scene.

He is now believed to be in hiding in Phnom Penh, more than 300km away, Sophea said.

River bank collapse near Russey Keo

A view of collapsed houses along the bank of the Basak river in Phnom Penh April 1, 2008. At least 40 houses were damaged by river bank erosion, police said.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)


A view of collapsed houses along the bank of the Basak river in Phnom Penh April 1, 2008. At least 40 houses were damaged by river bank erosion, police said.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodians look at houses which have collapsed along the bank of the Basak river in Phnom Penh April 1, 2008. At least 40 houses were damaged by river bank erosion, police said.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

People take goods from collapsed houses along the bank of Basak river onto a rescue boat in Phnom Penh April 1, 2008. At least 40 houses were damaged by river bank erosion, police said.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodians sit on top of the roofs of houses which have collapsed along the bank of the Basak river in Phnom Penh April 1, 2008. At least 40 houses were damaged by river bank erosion, police said.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodians carry their goods from houses which collapsed along the bank of Basak river in Phnom Penh April 1, 2008. At least 40 houses were damaged by river bank erosion, police said.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A rescue boat patrols the site of collapsed houses along the bank of the Basak river in Phnom Penh April 1, 2008. At least 40 houses were damaged by river bank erosion, police said.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A Cambodian girl swims as she carries her goods from her house which collapsed along the bank of the Basak river in Phnom Penh April 1, 2008. At least 40 houses were damaged by river bank erosion, police said.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

The Mother Support Group Network promotes exclusive breastfeeding in Cambodia

Members of a ‘Mother Support Group’, just one of in network of community outreach programmes working to promote exclusive breastfeeding in Cambodia.

UNICEF’s yearly flagship report, 'The State of the World’s Children', launched 22 January 2008, makes a call to unite for child survival. Here is one in a series of related stories.

KA HANG, Cambodia, 31 March 2008 – The air is humid and the bright green rice fields of Ka Hang rustle gently, poised for another monsoon rain shower. A dozen or so mothers, with babies in their arms and toddlers running circles at their feet, make their way towards a canopied shelter.

The women are attending a group discussion organized by members of Cambodia’s Mother Support Group Network – a network of community-based associations that actively promote exclusive breastfeeding across rural Cambodia as part of the country’s Baby-Friendly Community Initiative.

The mother of a healthy three-year-old, Sun Vandy, 35, explains her reasons for joining the Mother Support Group Network: “I wanted to take care of the children,” she says. “I wished to help them and their mothers and to be proud of my village.”

‘Model Mothers’

Ka Hang’s ‘Model Mothers’ are actively working to support exclusive breastfeeding to reduce infant mortality rates in Cambodia.

Ms. Vandy, who is a Model Mother in her group, points out that it is challenging to sustain exclusive breastfeeding during the rainy season, especially for poor women who must work in the fields during this labour-intensive phase of rice cultivation.

Ms. Vandy tries to reach out to pregnant women and new mothers during traditional festivals, when the villagers gather for celebrations. She reminds families that breast milk is not only the best way to feed babies, it is also the least expensive.

The initiative expands

Since its launch in 50 villages by the Cambodian Ministry of Health in 2004, the Baby-Friendly Community Initiative has been expanded considerably. Today, the initiative covers 2,675 villages – 20 per cent of all the villages in the country.

The UNICEF-supported initiative also receives support from Cambodia-based non-governmental organization Reproductive and Child Health Alliance, as well as CARE Cambodia.
Mother Support Groups across rural Cambodia are to thank in significant measure for saving the lives of infants.

Seeking the best for their children

Bou Sreynoun, 25, is a mother of three. She has first-hand experience with the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding.

Ms. Sreynoun fed her first-born son a mixture of breast milk and water and noticed that he was often sick. Since joining a Mother Support Group, she has learned alternate feeding practices. Her three-month-old child, Koeun Sikheng, has been exclusively breastfed and is healthier because of it.

Personal stories of breastfeeding like Ms. Sreynoun’s are an irreplaceable piece of the communication strategy in Cambodia. The sharing of knowledge which takes place as part of the Mother Support Group Network is aimed at reaching the country’s rural women who, like the mothers of Ka Hang, seek the best means to protect the health of their infants.Participants in a typical group include the village chief, a traditional birth attendant and two model mothers.

Additionally, village health support group volunteers are on hand to serve as intermediaries
between the villagers and health centre staff.

Besides holding frequent, informal discussions with pregnant women and nursing mothers in their own villages, members of Mother Support Groups from several villages also gather together for quarterly meetings at a local health centre to exchange notes on their experiences.

Long Beach man goes on trial in Cambodian coup case

From wire reports
04/01/2008

LOS ANGELES - Jury selection is set to begin today in the trial of a Long Beach man who allegedly led the attempted overthrow of Cambodia's government in November 2000.

Yasith Chhun, the 51-year-old president of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, is charged with conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, conspiracy to damage or destroy property in a foreign country, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the United States, and engaging in a military expedition against a nation with which the United States is at peace.

Chhun has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

According to the prosecution's 31-page trial memorandum, Chhun met with former members of the Khmer Rouge military at the Cambodia-Thailand border in October 1998 to plan an overthrow of the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The Khmer Rouge and its leader, Pol Pot, ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The Communist organization was blamed for the deaths of more than 1 million people through execution, forced labor and starvation in what became known as the country's "killing fields."

After raising money in the United States - including staging a May 2000 fundraiser at the Queen Mary - the CFF launched "Operation Volcano," a major assault on Cambodian government buildings and the Sen administration, prosecutors claim.

On Nov. 24, 2000, Chhun orchestrated attacks on buildings housing Cambodia's Ministry of Defense, the Council of Ministers and a military headquarters facility, prosecutors said.

The failed coup resulted in the deaths of at least three CFF members, prosecutors said. An unknown number of civilians, members of the Cambodian National Police and Cambodian military were injured during the attempted coup, prosecutors said.

Chhun and his wife, Sras Pech, 42, are also facing separate federal charges alleging they ran a fraudulent tax-preparation business in Long Beach. Trial in that case is scheduled to begin on July 1.

Australia to Co-Sponsor Regional Interfaith Dialogue

Published in M2 PressWIRE on Tuesday, 01 April 2008

Bob Mcmullan Mp Parliamentary Secretary For International Development Assistance Member For Fraser, I will visit Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 1 to 4 April, to attend the 'Phnom Penh Dialogue 2008 on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace and Harmony.'

Australia, together with Indonesia, New Zealand and the Philippines, is co-sponsoring the Phnom Penh Interfaith Dialogue.

With our co-sponsors, we are committed to fostering mutual respect, understanding and tolerance among different religions and cultures across our region.

The Dialogue will involve faith and community leaders and interfaith experts from each ASEAN country, Australia, East Timor, Fiji, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

The Australian delegation comprises individuals from major faiths and religions, community workers and academics, all of whom are active in promoting interfaith values within their broader communities.

While in Phnom Penh I will meet with senior officials from the Royal Government of Cambodia and representatives from major aid donors.

I will also take the opportunity to check on the progress of a number of Australian aid activities including work to support landmine victims and activities aimed at improving the incomes of the poor.

I will also visit the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. For further information, please contact:Sabina Curatolo (Mr McMullan's Office) Tel: +61 0400 318 205 AusAID Public Affairs Tel: +61 0417 680 590 Release date: 01 Apr 2008

Sam Rainsy’s wife faces arrest?

Details are Sketchy
April 1, 2008

File this under “rumors on the Internet,” for now.

Rumor came out as Cambodian ruling party has planned to arrest former Sam Rainsy Party MP Tioulong Saumura, wife of opposition leader Sam Rainsy. This news came out in Phnom Penh as ruling party Cambodian People Party and main opposition party Sam Rainsy Party have prepared for the political crisis between CPP and SRP faceoff at the upcoming election.

Cambodia Daily Newspaper’s letter to the editor accused that she has detained one of the SRP political activist to prevent her leaving to the current ruling party. Accuse made while she wasn’t in Cambodia but government accepted the case of her illegal detention against her party activist that she did not make it.

She is now in Paris and will be back tomorrow, and would get arrested upon her return to Cambodia.

No telling if this is true. But if it is, it sounds like an incredibly bad idea. Stay tuned.

Residents, City at Impasse Over Lake Land

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 April 2008

Khmer audio aired April 01 (1.35MB) - Download

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining the development of Phnom Penh's Boeung Kak lake.]

On a recent evening, small groups of residents of the Boeung Kak lake area sat chatting, as the still, stagnant water stirred below their makeshift wooden homes. A slight stench rose from the lake, as looks of concerns crossed the brows of several in one group.

They were worried, they said, about losing their land and their homes without proper compensation from the government in a municipal development deal that will affect thousands of people.

Var Ieng Leang, a 56-year-old with grey hair, was one of them.

"Frankly, I suffer from worry and disappointment," she told VOA Khmer. "I cannot sleep well, or eat well, because I think of the land price for the development. I don't know what the government has calculated about the price of our land, with the market land price or not."

Var Ieng Leang, with many others, would like to see the government compensate her $1,500 per square meter, the market price for land in the capital now.

She is holding out for the money, at odds with the municipal government, which is offering a fixed price for homes in the area.

The municipal government is leasing the land to development company Shukaku, Inc., for 99 years, at $0.60 per square meter per year, according to a copy of the lease agreement obtained by VOA Khmer. That's about $798,000 per year for 133 hectares, for a total lease of about $79 million.

The agreement is to develop the lake area into a center of trade, culture, tourism, residence and entertainment, including strong security and a high measure of safety, according to the lease agreement.

The government has issued three choices for residents of this shabby neighborhood: stay in place once the development is finished; move into a residence on the outskirts of the city; or receive monetary compensation for leaving.

It is the third option that has many residents vexed.

The fixed price of land is far below market price, they say.

The development will affect more than a thousand homes jutting over the water of the lake over 103 hectares and another thousand perched on shore over 30 hectares.

There are 4,252 families living around the lake. Many of these residents support the development, but they say they have not had clear communication from city officials over compensation and other options.

"If the government pays the government-regulated price to us, it is not right," said Leang Eng, 45, told VOA Khmer, "because it will destroy the government's policy of poverty reduction."

Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Pa Socheatvong told VOA Khmer that the market price is not acceptable to the city.

"But we must find the middle way to solve this problem, because Boeung Kak belongs to the government," he said. "However, we respect the people's right to live, and the development will not cause people's development to be lost."

Soeng Bunna, director of the Bunna Realty Group, said the market price for legal land in Phnom Penh is between $800 to $2,500 per square meter and is especially high in residential areas near the water.

A 2007 report by the NGO Forum on Cambodia said that even if all of the $79 million is used to compensate the families, each family would only receive an average of $18,588, or about $400 per square meter, well below the current market price.

It is not clear how the government will pay that much to the families on top of investing in infrastructure. For now, the development site is quiet, but residents say they worry that after the elections, forced evictions will occur.

World Bank: Growth Despite Inflation

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 April 2008

Khmer audio aired April 01 (773KB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired April 01 (773KB) - Listen (MP3)

Cambodia's economic growth is expected to remain positive, despite nettling concerns over inflation, World Bank officials said Tuesday.

Inflation has increased in recent months, and it is not likely to decrease to its original level, which is a concern of the poorest Cambodians, a World Bank official said, following a semiannual report.

Cambodia's economy grew by 9.6 percent in 2007, according to the World Bank. That growth rate is expected to shrink in 2008, even as inflation hit a nine-year high at the end of 2007, the World Bank said.

"As we said in the report, the high inflation rate will not pose any serious threat to Cambodian economic growth for 2008, but it does impact the poor," said Huot Chea, a economist for the World Bank's Cambodia office.

Inflation will not decrease to its original level, but is likely to increase next year, from 5 percent to 10 percent.

"I guess about 25 percent of the poorest people in our country spend 70 percent of their total income on food," Huot Chea said. "So as long as food prices are rising, it automatically has a worse impact on their daily living standard."

Earnings that once bought 2 kilograms or 3 kilograms of rice can only buy 1 kilogram, he said.
The government has responded positively on inflation, he said, citing as example the recent ban on rice exports, the lifting of a ban on imported pigs and pork products and the release of a rice surplus on the market at a subsidized price.

However, sustained inflation could further hamper the government's poverty reduction efforts, said Tim Conway, a senior poverty specialist in the World Bank's Cambodia office.

Chea Peng Chheang, secretary of state for the Ministry of Finance, said Tuesday that estimates of the World Bank echoed predictions of the ministry.

Cambodia's high economic growth rate is sustainable, he said, because the growth is based mostly on agriculture, as well as tourism and construction.

"Of course, there will be an impact from inflation," he said. "But this inflation mostly affects countries that have important business with America."

Poverty reduction is not likely to be affected, he said, because the government has a strategy to prevent and delay the rate of inflation.

'Killing Fields' Survivor Dith Pran Passes

By Cheoung Pochin, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
01 April 2008

Khmer audio aired March 30 (1.11MB) - Download (MP3) Khmer audio aired March 30 (1.11MB) - Listen (MP3)

Dith Pran, a New York Times photographer and survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime whose plight was made famous by the film "The Killing Fields," died in New Jersey Sunday morning, friends of the deceased said.

The cause of death was pancreatic cancer.

Sidney Schanberg, a former colleague at the Times and life-long friend, told VOA Khmer Dith Pran had been a determined reporter, staying in Cambodia as the Khmer Rouge rose to power in order to document for the world the brutality of the regime and the story of the Cambodian people.

Born Sept. 23, 1942, in Siem Reap province, Dith Pran was captured by the Khmer Rouge after refusing to evacuate Phnom Penh with his family in 1975, instead staying to help Schanberg in his coverage of the conflict.

Schanberg has said that he and other journalists would have been killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers in April 1975 had Dith Pran not intervened.

Dith Pran escaped the "killing fields" in 1979 and was reunited with his family and Schanberg.
He continued to work as a photographer for the Times and to crusade for the plight of Cambodians still embroiled in conflict and poverty.

Dith Sermoeun was Dith Pran's first wife and mother of his four children. She was by his bedside during the final weeks.

Before his death, she said, his memory was slipping and he was able to say little.

Rice Price Hike Due to Outside Forces: Expert

By Poch Reasey, VOA Khmer
Washington
01 April 2008

Khmer audio aired March 31 (3.99MB) - Download

Cambodia's position between two giant rice exporters, combined with a rising global demand for the staple, has played a big role in a national rice shortage and rising prices, an economist said Monday.

The government rolled out emergency measures last week to curb the rising price of rice, which was sparked in part by rumors of a rice shortage.

Both Vietnam and Thailand had been buying rice from Cambodia for further export, lowering the supplies of rice and raising its domestic price, Yong Sang Kumar, executive director of the Center of Education and Development of Cambodia said, as a guest on "Hello VOA."

"Because Cambodia is located between the two big rice export countries, Vietnam and Thailand, and because of the increase in rice demand in the world market, these two neighbors came to Cambodia to buy our rice to meet their demand," he said. "So they played a role in the rice shortage in Cambodia."

Cambodia was not the only country to deal with a rice crisis in recent weeks. Last week, the Philippines signed a deal with Vietnam to import more than a million tons of rice, and South Korea said it would have to auction off 50,000 metric tons of government-stored rice, to stabilize prices at home. On Monday, India announced it would limit rice exports to boost local stocks.

Kim Savuth, director of Cambodian National Mills Association, said on "Hello VOA" Monday the government's measures had proven positive.

"In general, I notice that the price of rice has gone down a little bit," he said. "Since Prime Minister Hun Sen’s appeal last week, people seemed to have calmed down. People who were stocking up on rice did not come back to buy any more."

Kim Savuth urged Cambodian farmers to reserve their rice crops to ensure that Cambodia would have enough rice to feed its population of 14 million people through the next harvest.

The Cambodian government should come up with an estimate on Cambodia's current rice at hand, to find whether there will be a shortage into December, Yong Sang Kumar said.
This would tell them what measures to take next, he added.

Police Save 5 After River Bank Collapse

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 April 2008

Khmer audio aired April 01 (1.23MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired April 01 (1.23MB) - Listen (MP3)

Police late Tuesday rescued five people from the banks of the Tonle Sap, 6 kilometers north of Phnom Penh, after a riverbank collapsed.

Mud along the shore fell into the river, taking with it 39 small wooden homes, and officials originally worried fatalities.

No one ultimately died in the collapse, but police fished five villagers out of the river.

50-meter-long bank of Tonle Sap River collapses in Phnom Penh

chinaview.cn
2008-04-01

PHNOM PENH, April 1 (Xinhua) -- A section of about 50 meter long bank of the Tonle Sap River collapsed on Tuesday afternoon in suburb Phnom Penh, drowning 38 poorly-constructed river-side houses but causing no human death so far.

The collapse occurred beside the National Road No. 5 in the Russy Keo District, some 300 meters north of the symbolic Cambodian-Japanese Bridge across the river, district governor Klang Hout told reporters on the scene.

No one was found dead but some family properties were lost, he said, adding that at lease a hundred residents were affected.

The reason of collapse was not clear yet, but overburden might be the answer.

In Cambodia, disadvantaged people used to build simple houses on river banks and feed on fishing and boating. Most of the times, the government is believed to be short of finance and personnel to replace these people to safe places.
 
Editor: An Lu

ANZ appoints new CEOs for Indonesia and Cambodia

banking-business-review.com
1st April 2008
By Staff Writer

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has appointed Joseph Abraham and Stephen Higgins as the new CEOs for its Indonesian and Cambodia offices, respectively.

Mr Abraham will be responsible for Australia and New Zealand Banking Group's (ANZ) retail and institutional business in Indonesia and the group's partnership with Panin Bank. Most recently, Mr Abraham was chief of staff for client relationships for SCB in Singapore.

As ANZ's senior representative in Cambodia, Mr Higgins will be CEO of ANZ Royal Bank, which was established in Cambodia in 2004. He has been head of investor relations at ANZ since 2005 after joining the investor relations team in 2000.

Both country CEOs are subject to regulatory approval and will report to Alex Thursby, managing director of ANZ Group for Asia Pacific region until the commencement of the CEO South and South East Asia.

Mr Abraham is due to start with ANZ on April 15, 2008 and Mr Higgins joins his new role on May 5, 2008.
Mr Thursby said: "Country CEOs will play a crucial role in ANZ's growth strategy in Asia, including being responsible for the ANZ-branded retail and institutional businesses, and our partnerships in their markets, as well as managing relationships with governments and regulators in that country."

Cambodian garment workers to get US$6 a month pay raise to cope with inflation

The Associated Press
Published: April 1, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian garment manufacturers and labor unions have agreed to a US$6 (€3.80) monthly raise for factory workers, averting potential further strikes by employees struggling to make ends meet, officials said Tuesday.

More garment workers had threatened to walk off their jobs this month unless they got a pay raise to keep up with the soaring food prices currently afflicting many poor Cambodians.

Employers and union representatives have been negotiating for weeks on how much to increase average monthly wages of US$50 (€32). A breakthrough was found Monday when the government prodded manufacturers to increase the wage by US$6 to keep workers on their production lines.

Chuon Mom Thol, president of the Cambodian Union Federation, which has more than 70,000 members, said he originally demanded an increase of up to US$15 (€9.50) a month.

He said that although he found the US$6 raise unsatisfactory, "it is still better than not getting anything at all."

Van Sou Ieng, president of Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, said employers had agreed to the government-proposed raise but "we will not go further than that."

He complained that the raise will add to production costs and make Cambodia "less competitive" in garment exports.

"Unions must also improve productivity rather than just asking for an increase of wages," he said.

In a statement issued Monday, Cambodian Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng called on workers who have been striking at some factories to end their protests. He urged them to return to work for the "benefit of yourselves, of the factories and our whole nation."

Without a pay raise while prices keep climbing, factories would have been likely to see a lot of workers walking off their jobs, said Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers.

He said many of his union's 80,000 members had already begun looking for other jobs but the US$6 raise could be "sufficient enough" to make them stay on.

"It will help them with their daily spending and to avoid staging more strikes ... but only if food prices begin to drop," Chea Mony said.

The garment industry is the major export earner in Cambodia, where some 35 percent of the country's 14 million people live on less than US$0.50 (€0.32) a day. The industry employs about 355,000 workers, mostly women.

Although high food prices alone are unlikely to pose a serious threat to Cambodia's economic growth, they are adversely affecting the country's poor, who spend approximately 70 percent of their total household consumption on food, according to the World Bank in its latest East Asian economic outlook update, issued Tuesday.

Rocketing inflation hurting Cambodia's poor, World Bank says

The Earth times
Tue, 01 Apr 2008
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - Double-digit inflation would not hurt the Cambodian economy overall but could have a dire affect on the country's millions of poor, a World Bank economist said Tuesday. Like most of East Asia and the Pacific, Cambodia had been badly hit by inflation with the year-on-year rate at the end of 2007 reaching a nine-year high of 10.8 per cent, Huot Chea said.

However, the bank said Cambodia's economy continued to grow rapidly with gross domestic product (GDP) up an estimated 9.6 per cent last year.

"High inflation rates will not pose a serious threat to the Cambodian economy but will impact on the poor," Chea told journalists.

"About 25 per cent of poor people spend 70 per cent of their income on food," the economist said. "As long as food prices keep rising, this will automatically impact on the poor."

He said inflation had pushed the price of the national staple, rice, up so far that what would have once bought 3 kilograms in some cases now just bought 1 kilo.

Hikes in international oil prices, which have put the cost of petrol up to 1.25 dollars a litre in a country where millions earn less than a dollar a day had also contributed, he said.

The bank also expressed concern about Cambodia's growing trade deficit, which it estimated would grow from 6.8 per cent to 7.3 per cent of GDP this year.

However, overall, it said Cambodia's economy was in good shape and was mainly being impacted by outside factors, including the rising world price of oil and the crisis in the US economy.

"Although risks have increased, economic prospects for 2008 remain strong," the bank said in a press release.

Oil high on Qatar prime minister's Cambodian agenda

The Earth Times
Tue, 01 Apr 2008
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - Oil and gas issues were high on Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani's agenda on day one of his two-day official visit to Cambodia, a government spokesman told a press conference Tuesday. The sheikh, who is also Qatar's foreign minister, met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and almost immediately inked deals ranging from oil and gas exploration cooperation to direct airline flights, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told journalists.

After being presented with a gift of Cambodian sandalwood by Hun Sen, the Qatar politician signed an expected deal on direct flights between the Qatari capital of Doha and the Cambodian capital, as well as the northern tourist town of Siem Reap.

The sheikh also answered a call by Cambodia for foreign donors to assist it to prepare for an expected influx of oil and gas revenue from offshore oil reserves predicted to be tapped within three years.

He agreed to assist with training of Cambodians in oil and gas exploration, as well as teaming up with the Cambodian government in the future to increase exploration for oil, gas and minerals.

Cambodia has been described as Asia's new mining frontier and the government is hopeful additional petroleum deposits lie under its massive inland Tonle Sap lake.

"He also negotiated for Qatar to begin farming cotton in Cambodia and agreed to loans for roads and irrigation," Kanharith said.

The leaders also discussed investment protection legislation and a multi-million-dollar donation for a new school just outside of the capital.

The sheikh is scheduled to fly to Siem Reap Wednesday to visit the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex before flying out the same day.

Vietnam appreciates GMS cooperation

chinaview.cn
2008-04-01

HANOI, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) economic cooperation program has become an effective cooperation module, and a forum of friendship and cooperation, benefiting all related parties, Vietnamese newspaper People said in an article on Tuesday.

GMS, comprising of China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, is expected to have a bright future of prosperous development, peace and stability, it said.

GMS has been a bridge linking two emerging economies in Asia, namely China and India to the rest of the world, it noted.

The 3rd GMS Summit concluding on Monday was successful with the endorsement of the Vientiane Plan of Action for GMS Development for 2008-2012, and approval of a joint summit declaration, it said.

The GMS was established in 1992 to promote economic and social development, irrigation and cooperation within the six Mekong countries.

Editor: An Lu