No room at the inn

TRACEY SHELTON The lobby of The Quay hotel on the Phnom Penh riverside, one of the capital city’s new small boutique hotels catering to a more upscale clientele.

LOW-RENT LODGING
Cambodia has about 350 hotels with roughly 20,000 rooms, including 140 in Phnom Penh, 100 in Siem Reap and about 50 in Sihanoukville, with the rest in other provinces. Most of Cambodia’s accomodation is targeted at the low-end segment.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Nguon Sovan
Monday, 18 August 2008

The number of high-end hotel rooms serving luxury and business travellers is failing to keep up with strong annual tourism growth, officials say

CAMBODIA is facing a shortfall of 3,000 hotel rooms in the face of tourist arrivals growing at an annual rate of up to 20 percent, said a tourism official in Phnom Penh.

"There is a shortage of about 1,500 hotel rooms in Phnom Penh and of about 1,500 rooms in Sihanoukville due to tourist growth and the business boom," said Kousoum Saroeuth, director general for the Ministry of Tourism.

"But the shortage is mainly for high-end hotels.

" He added, "We have enough hotels and guesthouses for common tourists, but we need more high-end hotels for luxury tourists and business people."

He said that Cambodia had about 350 hotels with roughly 20,000 rooms, including 140 in Phnom Penh, 100 in Siem Reap, about 50 in Sihanoukville, with the rest in other provinces.

The hotel industry was a major revenue-earner but no figures were available on how much hotels earn every year, Kousoum Saroeuth said.

He noted that two million tourists were visiting Cambodia every year, generating revenues of about US$1.4 billion last year. He added that tourism was responsible for generating about 300,000 jobs.

So Mara, undersecretary of state at the Tourism Ministry, said that even with the shortfall, the industry had grown quickly to meet demand.

"The good side is that this industry is mostly owned by local investors, so revenues are not flowing out of the country," he said. "Tourism has grown about 19 percent year-on-year, so demand for accommodation will grow, too."

But Cambodian Hotel Association President Luu Meng said there was still too little investment in top-end accommodation.

"In this industry, what we need is high-class hotels for high-class guests. Currently, we have a lot of hotels, but only a few are top class," Luu Meng said.

He noted that the hotel industry was responsible for creating about 22,000 jobs in the Kingdom but that the industry carried risks for investors as it was vulnerable to economic downturns and political instability.

Regional hotels have also been affected by high fuel prices and increased airfares, as well as a slowing global economy, he added.

"Security and safety are the major priority for this sector, and road infrastructure comes next," Luu Meng said.

Kousoum Saroeuth said that, in a bid to strengthen the hotel industry, the Tourism Ministry would require hotels to obtain proper classifications or risk having their licences pulled.

The classification ranges from one to five stars, he said.

"Since the subdecree on hotel classification took effect in 2003 ... only 15 out of 350 hotels in Cambodia have been classified: 12 in Siem Reap, two in Phnom Penh and one in Sihanoukville.

"He said that, since 2003, the Ministry of Tourism has warned hotel owners to apply with the ministry for classifications, but most had ignored the notice."As soon as the new government is formed, if hotel owners still ignore having their hotels classified, they will be denied extensions to their operating licences, which they need to apply for every year," he said.

The hotel standards conformed with ASEAN rules, he said, and "will build credibility among foreigners as well as trust that the hotels they are staying in are as good as others in ASEAN. It will also allow hotels to promote themselves and strengthen their service.

" He said that the classification procedures were not complicated and would take only three days to complete.

Past Post: Big bribes key to US baby-buying

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY; Vol. 9, No. 17August 18 - 31, 2000

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Post Staff
Monday, 18 August 2008

AMERICAN agencies facilitating adoptions from Cambodia must pay thousands of dollars to Government officials to expedite the approval of their clients' paperwork.

A source with intimate knowledge of the foreign adoption business told the Post money is passed to Government officials by employees of the American agencies responsible for moving the paperwork through the system.

The source said the amounts of money paid depends on whether the Government perceives a problem with the adoptive parents' application. On average a minimum of US$3,000 is pocketed by officials who must sign approval documents, but several thousand dollars more might be demanded if officials are concerned about the applicants' suitability to adopt.

He said American facilitators in Cambodia are fully aware of the need to pay bribes. When clients of the American agencies agree to accept a child available for adoption they must immediately wire $5,500 to Cambodia.

The source said adoption centers, including the Woman and Orphan Vocational Association (WOVA) used as a source of babies by American agencies, have a network of village, commune and district chiefs across Cambodia who encourage poor mothers to hand their babies to the centers. These chiefs are paid between $10 to $15 each to sign papers stating the babies were abandoned.

According to the US Embassy, 240 visas were issued for adopted Cambodian babies to go to the United States in 1999.

He said brokers buying babies for the adoption centers are also active throughout Cambodia, but they are not the major source of children.

Chhim Naly, director of WOVA denied allegations that WOVA was involved in any baby buying.

Nim Thoth, secretary of state, refused requests to comment on adoption bribery, but said in a written statement that the Ministry of Social Affairs could not say when the suspension of adoptions imposed earlier in the year would be lifted.

While Nim Thoth did not comment about the nature of the reforms to be included in the subdecree on foreign adoptions, a source at MoSA told the Post he expects only minor changes to the adoption law. One of the most significant changes under consideration being the elimination of foreign adoption agency involvement in the paperwork process.

The source said there are officially no adoption fees charged by the Government and he did not know why American agencies charged their clients - though he did acknowledge it could go towards bribes to expedite approval.

Clandestine sexual encounters drive up HIV infections: UN

The Bangkok Post

Written by Mom Kunthear and Lyria Eastley
Monday, 18 August 2008

Social stigma is keeping same-sex relations among men in the dark, discouraging STD testing and leading to their spiraling HIV rate

NEW HIV infections among men having often secret sexual relations with other men is five times higher than the national prevalence rate, according to United Nations figures.

The Country Progress Report by the United Nations' General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS), conducted from 2006 to the end of 2007, found 8.7 percent of Phnom Penh's MSM, or "men who have sex with men", are infected with HIV, compared with the national prevalence rate of 1.6 percent amongst adults age 15-49.

Denial and ignorance of same-gender sex have kept many MSM from seeking testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases for fear that their friends and relatives would find out about their sexual activities.

The UN's report said that around 42 percent of MSM have not tested for HIV.

MSM make up about four percent of Cambodian men, according to Tony Lisle, the country coordinator for the Joint United Nations Program in HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Cambodia.

The problem is particularly strong amongst "short-haired" MSM - those who identify themselves as heterosexual and often have wives and families but secretly pursue sex with often multiple male partners each month.

Public health challenge

Cambodia has been able to tackle its HIV/Aids crisis through aggressive public service campaigns targeting mostly sex workers and their male customers.

But so far little has been done to address the risk of infection among MSM, and the UN report cites concerns that these men are spreading HIV to their spouses, threatening the Kingdom's otherwise downward trend in the rate of new infections.

Even MSM who are open about their sexual preferences face sharp discrimination that often discourages them from seeking proper healthcare.

Pech Sokchea, 42, who has been in a relationship with his 25-year-old partner Nay Heng for four years, said that while he has learned to endure insults, the harsh words have taken a toll.

"I think I am just as much a member of society as other people are, and I have the right to love who I want, but I've come to hate myself sometimes," he said.

HIV/Aids infection rates down

AFP; An HIV-positive former sex worker in her house in a Tonle Bassac slum.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda
Monday, 18 August 2008

But virtually no data exists on the number of people dying each year from Aids, raising questions about Cambodia’s success in dealing with one of its worst health epidemics

THE percentage of Cambodia's adult population infected with HIV fell again this year and is expected to half by 2012, according to research conducted by the National Center for HIV/Aids Dermatology and STDs (NCHADS). But less than half of those currently infected have access to anti-retroviral drugs and no figures have been released this year for AIDS deaths, which increased sharply at the last count.

According to NCHADS statistics, just 1,330 people contracted HIV in 2006, a figure officials expect to drop to 900 in 2008 and 460 in 2012. Aids prevalence among high-risk groups such as sex workers is down.

"The HIV prevalence among female sex workers declined from 23.4 percent in 2003 to 14.7 percent in 2006," said NCHADS Director Mean Chhi Vun, at a conference Friday.

NCHADS estimates that HIV/Aids prevalence among the general population aged 15-49 has dropped to 0.9 percent - a total of less than one person per 100. They say that between 67,000 and 100,000 people in the country live with HIV, of which some 30,000 receive the proper medicine.

NCHADS officials said that no data was available on the number of Aids deaths in the Kingdom in 2006, but 2002 NCHADS figures indicated that Aids deaths were soaring: from 2000 to 2002 they increased by 18,000 to 78,600.

Moreover, despite the declining prevalence rate, HIV/Aids infection rates are still high in regional terms. According to a 2008 UNAIDS report, Cambodia has the second highest prevalence rate among South Asian countries and ASEAN countries.

War not yet won

Mam Bun Heng, secretary of state in the Ministry of Health, told the conference that despite the drop in infection rates, the war against HIV/Aids was not yet won. "We have to go on fighting HIV/Aids," Mam Bun Heng said.

Keo Tha, executive director of the Women's Network for Unity, which has worked with over 5,000 sex workers across eight provinces, applauded the decline in infection rates, saying that sex workers were the group most likely to become HIV-positive.

She said that sex workers are now becoming aware that using condoms with their clients is a dependable way of preventing the spread of the virus.

But she said some sex workers still did not care about using condoms and had many sex partners per day so they could earn more money.

Monks walk for the environment

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Camilla Bjerrekear AND Thomas Gam Nielsen
Monday, 18 August 2008

MORE than 40 monks from Kampong Chhnang province who are members of the Association of Buddhists for the Environment (ABE), recently took to the streets in a Peace Walk to increase local villagers' awareness of environmental issues.

As the megaphone bellowed out its message asking villagers to protect the environment by planting trees, the locals who joined the procession received blessings, saplings and ‘good deeds' from the Kampong Leang district monks.

"In the Buddhist religion, anyone who plants a tree will receive a good deed. So we give saplings to the villagers and use Buddhism to educate people about the importance of planting trees," said Sun Sokhen, chief monk at Saray Rotanaram pagoda and member of ABE.

As the procession moved slowly through two villages at the foot of Krengley Mountain, whole families of villagers gathered at the side of the road to receive the monks' blessings along with saplings to plant in their gardens.

"We use the Peace Walk to bring attention to the environment. People are Buddhist here and trust our message," said Hiek Sopheap, executive director of ABE.

Before the monks started "action against the exploitation of the forest", some villagers made charcoal of the trees, and several times a year would start forest fires to trap animals. The trees were also cut down to make space for fields, said Sim Soklim, project officer of ABE.

"Three years ago you could see 10 to 20 oxcarts a day driving trees away, but now we only see a couple oxcarts per week," Sim Soklim added.

At first, the villagers questioned how they could earn money if they were not allowed to exploit the surrounding nature. "We had to make the villagers understand that they could survive without damaging the land," said Sim Soklim.

ABE, in collaboration with the UN Development Program and the Small Grants Program under the Global Environment Fund, has helped villagers to start sustainable fishing and mushroom-farming operations. Some of the poorest families in the area were given seeds to grow vegetables.

Sun Sokhen is happy with the result of the project, and has vowed to continue working for the environment. "We want to protect natural resources for the next generation."

Monument bombers to appeal convictions

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cheang Sokha
Monday, 18 August 2008

FIVE Kampuchea Krom activists sentenced to lengthy prison terms for plotting to bomb the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument in July 2007 will launch appeals this week, their lawyers said Sunday.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Suon Samnang sentenced the men to between 15 and 17 years and fined them 500,000 riels (US$125) Thursday after convicting them of terrorism and the use of illegal explosives.

Kin Toeurn, 53; Soeng Khang, 42; Sok Kim Sovat, 51; Lim Phen, 32; and Soeng Vy, 31, were found guilty of taking part in a conspiracy to blow up the monument using three homemade fertiliser bombs, allegedly in protest against the treatment of ethnic minority Khmers by the Vietnamese government.

Lawyer Khun Sovanrithy of the Cambodian Defender's Project, who is defending Kin Toeurn and Soeng Khang, said he was not satisfied with the court's decision, labeling it "unacceptable".

"It was unfair and the sentences from the court are serious," Khun Sovanrithy told the Post Sunday. "I will talk to my clients on Tuesday and then we will file our appeal on Thursday.

"Moeun Sovann, another lawyer defending the group, said that when the explosion occurred his clients were not in town, but were in Kampong Speu province with their families. "My clients were tortured and forced to confess while they were in police custody," Moeun Sovann said, adding that "the court decision was based on the police report.

"Judge Suon Samnang declined comment about his decision on Sunday.

Minority girl kidnapped in elaborate ruse

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chrann Chamroeun
Monday, 18 August 2008

Teen held hostage 2 months on farm, rights group says

Rights workers said Sunday they are investigating allegations that a Ratanakkiri farmer snatched an ethnic minority girl and held her captive on his farm for two months until she escaped with the help of her kidnapper's wife and called her parents from hospital last Thursday.

Pen Bonna, Adhoc's provincial coordinator for Ratanakkiri, told the Post Sunday that he will file a complaint on behalf of the parents of the girl, 17-year-old Klan Chheou, against the farm's manager, accusing him of illegal confinement and attempted rape.

"The girl was confined on this farmland [some 60km from her family home] because [the man], who manages the land for a local policeman, pretended to be a moto taxi driver," Pen Bonna said.

"When the girl asked him to take her to her uncle's farm, he took her to his farm instead. He wanted her to pay him 50,000 riels for the ride but she didn't have that much money and was forced to work on his land for two months."

Klan Chheou said that the farmer took her to his farmland against her will and then promised to pay her 150,000 riels per month to work for him.

He "threatened to tell the neighbors that I was his second wife and so I did what he told me and didn't try to call my parents," Klan Chheou said.

"Luckily, I wasn't hurt or damaged. I protected myself from rape or him touching me," she added.

Missing personPen Bonna said that the girl's parents came to ask him for help after their daughter went missing on June 9 . He said he filed a complaint with the authorities requesting help.

" I WASN’T HURT OR DAMAGED. I PROTECTED MYSELF FROM RAPE OR HIM TOUCHING ME. "

"I learned on Thursday that the girl's parents found her at [the man's] farmland and now I will be filing another complaint against him on their behalf directly to the prosecutor on Monday," Pen Bonna said.

The girl was found after the farmer's wife took her to a local hospital and advised her to call her parents last week.

The wife "brought me to the hospital because I was feeling very unwell and she told me to call my parents", Klan Chheou said.

Sol Njong, Chheou's father, told the Post that he was very worried when his daughter went missing and that her captor has contacted him. "He wanted to give us 320,000 riels for the two months that my daughter worked on his land and asked me not to file a complaint against him but I rejected the money and I will file a complaint to seek justice for my daughter."

Dam Sith quietly leaves for America

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Vong Sokheng
Monday, 18 August 2008

AFTER enduring a weeklong incarceration and the assassination of his colleague, Dam Sith, editor in chief of a pro-opposition newspaper and a parliamentary candidate for the Sam Rainsy Party, has left the country, a colleague said Sunday.

"Since Dam Sith was released from prison and particularly since his colleague [Khim Sambo] was assassinated, he has been hiding in his house and afraid to go outside," said a journalist associated with Dam Sith, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Sith left for the United States on August 5, he asked people not to talk about his trip.

"Chan Soveth, a monitoring officer with the Cambodian human rights group Adhoc, said Dam Sith had been living quietly in the country since his release from Prey Sar prison on June 15 and that his family was not releasing any information about his current whereabouts.

Defamation charges

Dam Sith was arrested on charges of defamation and spreading disinformation over an April 18 article in the Moneaksekar Khmer linking Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong to the Khmer Rouge. Prime Minister Hun Sen requested Dam Sith's release from prison in a letter dated June 14 and addressed to Chev Keng at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

Eng Chhay Ieng, secretary general of SRP, denied that Dam Sith had fled the country and said he had merely taken a holiday.

"Sith left the country last week ... not out of fear or intimidation. He plans to return within a month and has no personal security concerns since the court decided to release him on bail," he said.

Risk of flash floods drops

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cheang Sokha
Monday, 18 August 2008

RECENT flash floods in Laos appear to be subsiding and do not pose an imminent threat to Cambodian provinces downstream, officials said Sunday.

Hatda An, operations manager at the Mekong River Commission's Regional Flood Management and Mitigation Centre, said that the floods in Laos' capital Vientiane have ceased to be a major cause for concern as the water level, which was at a critical point from August 8 to 10, has dropped in recent days.

"If there is no more rain it will not affect Cambodia badly," said Hatda An, who visited the flooded areas in Vientiane last week. "The water will subside."

Mao Hak, director of the Hydrology and River Works Department at the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, said the water levels for upstream provinces such as Stung Treng, Kratie and Kampong Cham had declined, but the department was still monitoring them closely.

Officials last week expressed alarm at rising river levels.

Pao Samy, secretary general of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said that authorities at all levels are preparing for the worst and are ready to intervene if a natural disaster should strike.

Uy Sam Ath, director of disaster management at the Cambodian Red Cross, said his department had set aside some 100 tonnes of rice to distribute to flood victims this year.

KRT opens anti-graft drive

AFP; A tourist looks at photographs in Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh. Former prison leader Duch is set to go on trial in September.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by GEorgia wilkins
Monday, 18 August 2008

Cambodian court officials vow to stamp out corruption, but new 'ethics monitors' will not address graft allegations under review by the UN

OFFICIALS at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal maintain that newly implemented oversight rules would curb corruption at the UN-backed court, but acknowledged that the regulations were vague and would not address the serious graft allegations currently under review by a UN body in New York.

"We are talking about the future," tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said on Saturday, when asked if the new measures would address pre-existing allegations.

He was speaking a day after the court named Chief Cambodian Judge Kong Srim and tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis as "ethics monitors".

He said the new positions were proof of the court's willingness to deal with any new graft head-on amid reports of donor uneasiness over the allegations of financial mismanagement.

"[Top Cambodian court official Sean Visoth] has put his career at stake to show that Cambodia is willing to put in place anti-corruption measures," he said.

"We don't have to disturb the donors any more," he added. "Cambodia can work by itself to fight corruption."

The appointments were made as the beleaguered tribunal faces another round of scrutiny over allegations that some Cambodian staff had to kick back a percentage of their salaries to their bosses.

The UN Office of Internal Oversight is reviewing the allegations, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds have been frozen by the UN Development Program.

" Cambodia can work by itself to fight corruption. "

Neither Jarvis, who was not at Friday's meeting, nor Kong Srim, who began work at the court last month, said they knew exactly what the monitoring position would involve.

Jarvis also said that she knew nothing of the kickback allegations, saying that she had "never seen them", but added that the UN had no legal jurisdiction over graft charges on the Cambodian side of the joint tribunal.

"It is lawful that any reports of wrongdoing by national staff are handled initially by the national side of the court," Jarvis said in an email on Sunday.

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An has also written a formal complaint to the UN over the review, disputing the world body's jurisdiction over Cambodian operations at the court, but tribunal staff have declined to give details of the correspondence.

The latest upheavals come as the court prepares to try its first defendant, former Khmer Rouge S-21 prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, who is more commonly known by his revolutionary name Duch.

Duch was indicted last Tuesday on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, becoming the first of five former regime leaders currently detained by the tribunal to have his case go the trial chambers.

Court officials said last week that potential funding shortfalls at the court would not jeopardise Duch's trial as an emergency infusion of US$2.9 million, pledged to the Cambodian side of the court by Japan before the UNDP froze funds, will be used for Cambodian staff salaries, which went unpaid in July.

Troops leave temple as top diplomats to meet

HENG CHIVOAN Union leader Rong Chhun leads a protest in Phnom Penh on Sunday against the Thai presence at Preah Vihear.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Thet Sambath and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
Monday, 18 August 2008

Military commanders say redeployment of Cambodian and Thai soldiers is a good omen for today’s border talks between foreign ministers

ALMOST all Cambodian and Thai troops have left their positions at Preah Vihear ahead of talks later today aimed at resolving the military standoff over disputed land around the 11th-century World Heritage Site, commanders said over the weekend.

The redeployment of hundreds of soldiers has raised hopes that Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and his Thai counterpart, Tej Bunnag, will reach a solution to the crisis when they meet in Thailand for a second round of negotiations over the issue.

"Both sides have withdrawn most of their armed forces," Long Sovann, deputy governor of Preah Vihear province, said on Sunday. "The [tensions] have mostly eased ... I believe the negotiations will solve the situation."

The talks come a day after police broke up a gathering by about 100 factory workers and teachers protesting the Thai presence at Preah Vihear, led by Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association.

"Why do the Cambodian police ... fight with the Cambodian people but against foreign aggressors they become cowards," Rong Chhun said after riot police halted the protest.

Rights groups Licadho and Adhoc condemned the authorities' handling of the demonstration, saying that several people were pushed around by the police while dozens of factory workers were illegally detained on the outskirts of Phnom Penh as they tried to enter the city. "The government should solve the Preah Vihear border issue as soon as possible," said Adhoc investigator Chan Soveth.

Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers from both sides dug in at Preah Vihear following the July 15 border incursion by Thai troops in the latest flare-up over 4.8 square kilometres of disputed land around the temple complex.

A first round of talks last month ended with an agreement that both sides would recommend troops be redeployed but little progress was made on the ground. Troops began to withdraw last week as Cambodia and Thailand prepared for Monday's meeting, leaving only a handful at a pagoda on the temple grounds and on the road leading to Preah Vihear.

"We hope we will get some successes from this meeting - we will try our best to get a fruitful result," Sin Bunthoeun, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, told the Post on Sunday.

CAMBODIA: Questions over legality of evictions in name of development

Yim Sokhorn gazes at his backyard, Boeng Kak lake, which is slated to become a construction site sometime soon. Under Cambodia's development plan, lakes are quickly being filled in and residents forced out

PHNOM PENH, 18 August 2008 (IRIN) - Vanndy Sambath had lived next to Phnom Penh's lush Boeng Kak lake for years, peacefully growing vegetables and accommodating tourists to support his family.

That all changed in 2006, when a contractor arrived and announced government-sponsored plans to fill in the lake, forcing his neighbourhood to relocate in the future.

Two years on, he worries for his family's future. Finding a new job will be difficult, he told IRIN.

“They came here and didn't give us a choice,”Vanndy said. “We haven't moved yet, but we're all scared when they come and clear us out. We don't know what they will do.”

Since 2006, Cambodian construction firm Shukaku Inc. has been filling in one of the city's only remaining lakes - where Sambath lives - to make way for guesthouses, shopping centres, and an array of high priced apartments.

According to a 2007 report issued by the Cambodia Office of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 4,225 families will be forcibly evicted from Boeng Kak.

Nothing new

vast slums for urban development is far from new.

A joint South Korean and Cambodian firm has similarly filled in most of Phnom Penh's Pong Peay lake since 2006 to build a US$2 billion satellite city called Camko, which will showcase boutique shops and skyscrapers.

Pong Peay had previously been home to numerous shanty towns.South Korean construction tycoons building the massive International Finance Centre - heralding Phnom Penh into a new age of skyscrapers - have also forced slum dwellers to the city's outskirts.

Yet many of the planned spaces remained unsold, with questions raised about whether there are enough rich people in the country to sustain such a project.

“The problem is that this caters to a tiny powerful group,” Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, told IRIN. “The government is attempting to develop and modernise Cambodia quickly, but they've lost sight of the people they're trying to help.”

Mass evictions

When the genocidal Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, they immediately ordered an evacuation of the capital to transform Cambodia into an agrarian society. In a matter of hours, the communist victors displaced millions, turning a bustling metropolis into a mere ghost town.

According to activists, recent forced evictions in Cambodia are the largest since those in the 1970s.

“This is close to the largest forced displacement of people if you count all the elections and years that it has been happening,” Virak said.

Adhoc, a Cambodian rights watchdog, says about 50,000 people throughout the country were evicted for development projects in 2006 and 2007.

In contravention of the law?

But Cambodia's 2001 land law clearly states that lakes are public property and cannot be sold.

Another 1996 law states that the natural resources of Cambodia should be “conserved, developed, managed, and used in a rational and sustainable manner,” said land activist Chak Sopheap.

To get around this, instead of directly selling the lake to developers, the Phnom Penh Municipality has leased it for 99 years to Shukaku Inc., said David Pred, co-founder of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Bridges Across Borders.

“The lease is illegal because the lake is state public property and cannot be leased for more than 15 years or damaged or destroyed,” he told IRIN. “By filling in the lake, it will be destroyed.”

Added to that is the fact that most Boeng Kak residents are unaware of Cambodian land laws, he said.

Despite this, developing the capital remains a priority for the Phnom Penh municipal government, which has stated in official releases that evictions were necessary for progress. When the Boeng Kak lake project first got under way, Environment Minister Mok Mareth cited concerns that filling in the lake would seriously affect Phnom Penh's drainage system.

He called the project 'illegal' after HSC Company, a contractor for Shukaku, began constructing a pipe without a license to fill the lake with sand.

HSC Company responded that it had the permission of the city authorities, not the Ministry of Environment, to begin construction. Neither Minister Mareth or Shukaku could be reached for comment.

Mareth now supports private development at the lake. Others, however, remain steadfastly opposed.

“Filling Boeng Kake lake will have untold environmental consequences, as it is the primary natural reservoir where rainwater is collected during the monsoon season,” NGO leader Pred warned. “It is hard to believe city hall officials that the lake filling will not lead to flooding and other negative environmental consequences.”

Compensation woes

Meanwhile, residents of the proposed project await news of their fate.

“I don't protest against the government's development plan,” Yim Sokhom, an army commander and Boeng Kak resident, told IRIN. “But I don't agree with private developers using the government's name to get their way.”

Sokhom added that Shukaku Inc. representatives offered to reimburse him to the tune of US$4,000 for his property, while similar properties around Phnom Penh sell for over $40,000.

“What am I supposed to do with $4,000? I can't buy a new house in Cambodia with that money,” he said. “If they're willing to reimburse me fairly, I'll gladly move.”

Human rights activist Virak also cited concerns over reimbursement. “As with any policy, if you cannot fairly compensate those negatively impacted,” he said, “then it goes to show that the policy is not an effective one.”

Opposition lawmakers from the country's Sam Rainsy Party in January tried to halt the lake plan until the government had fully considered the project's environmental impacts. They did not receive much support from the National Assembly, according to the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

In a similar development scheme around a lake in Kandal Province, which turned out to be illegal, the Cambodian government removed a governor and his two deputies on corruption charges, then demolished the construction projects.

Family connections, corruption

Forestry watchdog Global Witness released a report in 2007 detailing Prime Minister Hun Sen's family connections with illegal logging and land grabbing in various provinces. The government had previously banned the organisation in 2005 from operating in Cambodia.

Ty Sokun, director of the Forestry Administration, responded to the report by calling Global Witness a group of “insane, unprofessional people”, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Both Human Rights Watch and Freedom House noted in 2008 that Cambodia had not made sufficient progress in its good governance. Freedom House's 2008 index criticised government officials for engaging in land grabbing without regard for a majority of the population.

Senator Lau Meng Khin, owner of the land companies Pheapimex Co. Ltd. and Shukaku Inc., is also chairman of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce and is close to Hun Sen's family, according to the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

In addition to the land around Boeng Kak, Senator Lau was also granted 315,025 hectares in Kompong Chhnan and Pursat provinces, according to the UNHCR report.

King could delay swearing in of National Assembly: SRP

HENG CHIVOAN; King Sihamoni arrived back Friday after a week in Beijing at the Olympics.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Meas Sokchea
Monday, 18 August 2008

Sihamoni’s return raises opposition hopes that new govt will not be formed until electoral complaints are resolved by NEC

Opposition politicians have said they will ask King Norodom Sihamoni to postpone opening the National Assembly until a myriad of election complaints filed by their parties are addressed, as the ruling Cambodian People's Party threatens to seize the parliamentary posts of lawmakers who refuse to be sworn in.

"The SRP has not given up the seats it won," said Kong Korm, deputy president of the Sam Rainsy Party, which along with Kem Sokha's Human Rights Party (HRP) has rejected the results of the July 27 election, alleging widespread voter fraud. The parties claim they will not join the National Assembly until their complaints have been dealt with.

The constitution holds that newly elected representatives can be sworn in only once the King calls the first meeting of the National Assembly, said Kong Korm, adding that the SRP will ask the King to wait until its grievances have been addressed before convening the body.

Nguon Nhel, CPP lawmaker and first vice chairman of the National Assembly, said the law required the National Assembly to meet within 60 days of the election. "They can join the meeting or not. If they do not join the meeting, they choose to kill themselves," he said Sunday, adding that the King would preside over the swearing in at the National Assembly regardless of whether the opposition was present. "Their request to postpone will not be met," he said.

Koul Panha, executive director of the election monitor Comfrel, said opposition parties ran the risk of forfeiting their seats, saying that the only criteria for the Assembly to convene was that 120 seats were occupied.

"If ... a new government is established without opposition parties, it would reflect badly on Cambodian politics," he told the Post.

Lightning Kills High Number This Season

At least two people were killed by lightning strikes in Phnom Penh last week, police said.

By Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 August 2008

Weather experts are warning citizens to take extra precautions during this rainy season, with a high number of deaths reported from lightning strikes in the city and the countryside.

Long Saravuth, director of the department of meteorology of the Ministry of Water Resources, said Monday the ministry has distributed an information booklet to help people in rural areas protect themselves from lightning.

At least two people died in Phnom Penh this week when they were hit by lightning, police said.
"We cannot prevent lightning strikes, but we can protect ourselves from them," Long Saravuth said.

By June, 35 people were killed by lightning, according to Disaster Management Committee figures, with much of the rainy season remaining. Last year, a total of 40 people died from lightning for the whole year.

In Cambodia, lightning strikes happen most in the provinces around the Tonle Sap lake, where conditions create turbulent cumulonimbus clouds, making lightning more common, Long Saravuth said.

In the city, lightning rods are used to protect people, he said, but these are not installed in the countryside.

In rural areas, when people walk in the open, they are the highest point around them and attract to lightning.

In the city, residents should ensure they have their houses properly wired and lightning rods installed. In the countryside, people should avoid working in fields during lightning storms. They should also avoid taking shelter directly under tall trees.

During a storm, people should remain at least 4 meters from tall trees, and they should avoid holding metal instruments, such as shovels or sickles.

The ministry plans to install lightning absorbing equipment around the Tonle Sap lake, which can help alleviate lightning and protect people in a 40-kilometer perimeter, but funds are not available to do so.

Nhim Vanda, vice president of the Disaster Management Committee, said it was difficult to prevent lightning in rural areas, because it can happen anywhere with no advance warning.

For Bor Savy, official warnings come too late. Her brother, Bor Thum, died this year in Kampong Cham province when he was hit by lightning as he dug in a canal during a storm.

Now, her family takes precautions by turning off the television and telephones during a storm.

Foreign Minister Departs for Temple Talks

By Reporters, VOA Khmer
Original reports from Phnom Penh
18 August 2008

Cambodian Foreign Minsiter Hor Namhong said Monday he was "optimistic" the conflict over Preah Vihear temple would be solved in his talks with his Thai counterpart, Tej Bunnag, this week.

"My goal is to do whatever we can to withdraw all the troops from the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda," he told reporters before departing for Thailand Monday. He would also seek further meetings on border demarcation, he said.

Thai and Cambodian troops executed a partial withdrawal from the pagoda over the weekend, following a steady build-up since July 15. Police on Sunday prevented a demonstration over the crisis by the Cambodian Confederation of Unions.

After the meeting Monday, Hor Namhong plans to visit Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, to brief him on developments along the Thai-Cambodian border, he said.

"This is a simple problem, about border territory, around the world, so Cambodia and Thailand are committed to a peaceful solution by law," he said.

Lake Residents Request Money for Move

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 August 2008

Hundreds of residents of the Boeung Kak lake area met with Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema in a conference room at City Hall Monday to request compensation for moving to make way for a massive development project.

About 450 residents asked the city for $13,000 each in order to move from the area, which is slated for the development of commercial, residential and entertainment property.

City officials and developers have made plans for commercial buildings, supermarkets, a meeting hall, an entertainment center, night clubs, hotels, a university, a hospital and residences on the site where now sits a wide pond full of water lilies encircled by makeshift homes of the poor.

Residents have complained in the past they were not being given enough money to move away from the development site, but the city maintains most people living along the lakeside, in makeshift wooden homes, are there illegally.

Some residents have requested new housing on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, in Dangkao district, while others are seeking payment.

Kep Chuktema told the crowd of residents he would take their monetary request under consideration, requesting cooperation from the developer, Shukaku, Inc.

A Shukaku representative was present at the meeting, but declined to speak to the crowd.

Shukaku has a 99-year lease with the government, for an estimated $79 million project.

One plan for the development would require filling in the lake.

Options, as Election Boycott Remains

By Pin Sisovann, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 August 2008

Lawmakers and politicians say there are at least two paths available for the formation of a new government, despite the boycott of an upcoming swearing-in ceremony by two parties.

The Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties have vowed to boycott the ceremony, which is central to the formation of the National Assembly, but officials said options remain for the formation of the government that would force both parties to participate or risk losing seats they won in July's election.

The first option for the formation of the government would be an interpretation by the Constitutional Council on whether the election law requires parties to give up their seats if they continue to boycott the results. The second is an amendment of the same election law by the current National Assembly by the majority Cambodian People's Party ensuring that a boycott would end in the loss of seats.

Officials said last week the first option would be preferable to maintain plurality of government, as the second option would entail the elimination of a minority party's voice by the majority party. But opposition leaders said the current National Assembly has no role to play, as its session was closed earlier this year.

Nguon Nhil, first vice president of the present National Assembly, said on Thursday that the plenary meeting of the National Assembly, in which new members are set to be sworn in following the official announcement of election results in September, won’t be halted by the intended boycott of the two opposition parties.

With the CPP's apparent win of 90 National Assembly seats in July's election, the party can easily turn out a two-thirds majority of the 123 total seats, he said. That would allow the party to amend the constitution, or to quorum for a vote of confidence in the creation of the new National Assembly and the appointment of the prime minister and the cabinet.

Although the election has passed, the present National Assembly continues its duties until 60 days after the formal announcement of results by the National Election Committee and until the Constitutional Council has competed reviewing all appeals of election complaints, he said.

However, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said recently the third mandate of the National Assembly already has been closed, following the official pronouncement by National Assembly President Heng Samrin in April. With the session closed, the National Assembly has no legal basis to reopen and amend laws, he said.

Furthermore, if a new National Assembly were to form without the participation of the Sam Rainsy Party, which won 26 seats in the election, and Human Rights Party, which won three, the parliament would be illegitimate, he said.

The formation of the government without the elected parties would not represent the will of the people in the election, Sam Rainsy said.

"If the Assembly wants to hold a meeting, it can, but a big part of it would not represent eligible voters," he said.

He declined to comment on whether the opposition would continue its boycott, pending results of a Constitutional Council review of its election complaints, including widespread vote fraud.

A continued boycott or further delays in the formation of the government will "depend on the result of the complaints," he said.

The Constitutional Council is set to consider the Sam Rainsy Party's appeals Tuesday.

Son Soubert, a member of the Constitutional Council who is in the Human Rights Party, said recently the new National Assembly can form as soon as the Council determines the election was rightful.

But, he said, the National Assembly must have the participation of all 123 elected representatives, meaning a boycott by the opposition could halt the process.

With 90 seats in the new National Assembly, the CPP will have more than the two-thirds necessary to quorum and pass legislation, he said, but the National Assembly will not be legitimate.

"Now we don't have a law that states, 'an illegitimate Assembly cannot operate in case some political parties boycott,'" he said. "This is the loophole."

The loophole will be interpreted by the Constitutional Council, he said, adding that the CPP also had a majority of members in the Council.

"Now they control all," he said. "So when it goes to the Constitutional Council, they have a two-third [majority] there. I say this as a citizen, not a Constitutional Council member."

Meanwhile, the boycott of results and subsequent swearing-in ceremony reflects the responsibility of lawmakers to their voters, if they have clear, reasonable arguments, said Chhim Phalvorun, director of the Civic Population Institute and an expert on constitutional law.

Such a boycott with clear arguments should not require relinquishing seats, which would lead to the feeling that voters were looked down upon, he said.

The election law, however, cannot be amended if the country is in a state of emergency, he said, nor if it meant impacting the a multi-party system or constitutional monarchy, which are outlined in the constitution.

"It means the majority in a democratic Assembly can amend the constitution," he said, "but they cannot conspire to do so when the country is in a state of emergency, or conspire to eliminate Article 51, which defends a democratic, multi-party [system]."

Any interpretation, though, on whether an amendment is constitutional, or whether it would adversely affect a mulit-party system, would be up to the interpretation of the Constitutional Council, which remains CPP dominated.

One last consideration: were the boycotting parties forced to give up their seats to the other competing parties, the next National Assembly would actually contain more parties than any session in the past.

Sacravatoons : " The Emperor,the King and the Monarchists "

Courtesy Sacravatoon at http://sacrava.blogspot.com/

Thailand to host discussions on disputed border area with Cambodia

Chuna Post

By SOPHENG CHEANG, AP
Monday, August 18, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Border talks topped the agenda Monday for Thai and Cambodian foreign ministers heading into a meeting to find a lasting solution to a lingering territorial dispute that brought the two neighbors close to an armed clash.

The meeting was to begin Monday evening with informal talks at dinner in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin. A more formal session is to be held Tuesday. It follows two earlier inconclusive rounds of talks.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej paid a visit to Thai soldiers in the area ahead of the meeting, declaring the need to resolve the dispute peacefully.

On July 28, the foreign ministers of both countries agreed to withdraw their troops from the disputed area near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

Both sides pulled out most of their troops from the disputed territory on Saturday, leaving only 10 soldiers from each side at the compound of a pagoda near the temple, according to Hang Soth, director-general of the Preah Vihear National Authority, a Cambodian government agency managing the historic site.

Before departing for Thailand, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said he was "optimistic the meeting will achieve a good success" and lead to "a lasting solution to border problems between Cambodia and Thailand."

He reiterated his government's previous stance to solve the problems with Thailand peacefully and amicably, because "our two countries share a lot of economic and trade interests."

He said he will also pay a visit to Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Tuesday.

Hor Namhong said the two countries will work toward pulling out all the remaining troops from the area to allow for mine clearance operations and border demarcation.

About 800 troops from Cambodia and 400 from Thailand had been deployed to Preah Vihear and the surrounding area in a monthlong standoff in which weapons were drawn once but no shots were fired.

The armed standoff began on July 15 after UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural agency, approved Cambodia's application to have the Preah Vihear temple named a World Heritage Site. Thailand and Cambodia have both long claimed the temple, which the World Court awarded to Cambodia in 1962.

Thailand's Samak, in his capacity as defense minister, told his country's troops based near the temple Monday that they should live in peaceful co-existence with Cambodia's soldiers.

"I want the soldiers who are based here to show restraint because the policy of my government is not to go to war with neighboring countries," he said. "It is the responsibility of the government to talk with Cambodia for a peaceful solution, not war."

Samak, a talented amateur chef, helped cook a meal for some of the Thai troops.

Thai PM, army general inspect border area near Preah Vihear Temple

www.chinaview.cn

2008-08-18

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Miniser Samak Sudaravej and Gen. Anupong Paojinda, commander in chief of the Royal Thai Army, Monday morning inspected the Thai-Cambodian border area near the Preah Vihear Temple in the eponymous Cambodian province, said a Cambodian official.

"They came to see their troops and the situation there. I expect their presence to help facilitate the second round of talks between the two countries' foreign ministers, which started today in Hua Hin province of Thailand to realize total troop withdrawal at the border area," Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Cambodian Council of Ministers, told Xinhua.

"Up to now, we didn't get information that the Thai premier and the commander in chief would visit the Preah Vihear Temple," he said.

Meanwhile, Hang Soth, secretary general of the Cambodian National Authority of the Preah Vihear Temple, told Xinhua that the Thai pair arrived about 10:30 a.m. local time at the border area.

The two also had a meeting with Thai troops on their land, he said.

Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong left here for Thailand Monday morning, optimistic about his bilateral talk with the Thai side to seek peaceful resolution to withdraw the troops totally from the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda and the surrounding area of the Preah Vihear Temple.

On July 15, Thai troops went into the border area to fetch three trespassers who had intended to claim Thai sovereignty over the Preah Vihear Temple. The troops stationed there ever since, thus triggering the military stalemate.

The same day, Thai troops occupied the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda, which is situated on the only way leading to the Preah Vihear Temple.

In the following days, both sides gradually increased their military personnel to a thousand strong at the border area to show their determination for territorial sovereignty.

On July 28, foreign ministers from Cambodia and Thailand held a meeting in Siem Reap province and agreed to mull the possibility of evacuating troops from the border.

On Aug. 3, Thai troops entered the Tamone Toch and Tamone Thom temples in neighboring Otdar Meanchey province of Cambodia, thus aggravating the standoff.

On Aug. 16, most of the troops at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda and within the surrounding area of the Preah Vihear Temple were evacuated according to both sides' agreement.

The Preah Vihear Temple straddles the Cambodian-Thai border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice decided that the 11-century temple and the land around belongs to Cambodia, which rankled the Thais and has led to continuous disputes.

Editor: Bi Mingxin

Cambodian foreign minister eyes end to Thai border problems

Cambodian Army General Srey Dek, right, and Thai Army General Kanop Netrak Thavesanak, left, walk together at Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, some 543 kilometres north of Phnom Penh. (AFP)

By AFP
Monday, August 18, 2008

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said he was optimistic that a new round of talks with Thailand on Monday would result in a lasting solution to a long-running border dispute.

At the weekend, up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops pulled back from a small patch of disputed land near Cambodia's 11th century Preah Vihear temple, suggesting that an end to the month-long military stand-off could be near.

Only 20 troops from both sides remain stationed at a small pagoda in the contentious border area, while 40 Cambodian and Thai solders remain nearby.

Hor Namhong and his Thai counterpart Tej Bunnag were due to meet for dinner later Monday near the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin to launch another round of talks aimed at finding a long-term solution to the dispute.

"The meeting will achieve good success in resolving the problem step by step," Hor Namhong told reporters before departing for Thailand.

"I think that at the meeting today (Monday) and tomorrow, we will achieve the total withdrawal of the troops at the pagoda and around the pagoda. So the problem will be settled."

Hor Namhong insisted his government wished to resolve the problem with Thailand peacefully, amicably and by legal means as the two countries share "a lot of economic and trade interests."

Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej flew to the border early Monday ahead of the talks to meet with soldiers still stationed there.

Relations between the neighbours flared up last month after Preah Vihear was awarded world heritage status by the UN cultural body UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the ancient Khmer temple.

On July 15, Cambodia arrested three Thai protesters for illegally crossing the border to try to reach the temple, sparking the deployment of troops from both sides on the tiny patch of disputed land near Preah Vihear.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, but surrounding land remains in dispute.

The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because the border is littered with landmines left from decades of war in Cambodia.

Cigarette smuggling burns up Mekong Delta province

Officials were pleased when tobacco smuggling was hampered by the rainy season – until industrious smugglers turned to using boats on the canals in the Cambodia-bordering province of Long An.

Thanhnien News.com
Monday, August 18, 2008

Vo Van Cuong, deputy police chief of Long An’s My Quy Dong Commune, Duc Hue District, said traffickers transported the contraband by boats at speeds of 50 kilometers per hour, which is too quick for the underequipped local constabulary.

Though My Quy Dong is a “hot spot” for cigarette smuggling in the Mekong Delta province, commune police have seized only 2,000 packs of cigarettes so far this year.

Most of the packs were collected after smugglers made hasty retreats from the police, Cuong said.

The policeman said traffickers used runners to walk the Vietnam– Cambodia border and into Cambodia’s Svayrieng Province, before returning by boat to regroup at An Ninh Tay Commune’s Cay Xoai Wharf.

In the span of 20 minutes, a Thanh Nien reporter witnessed 10 boats carrying illicit tobacco through My Binh Canal.

Later that afternoon, three other boats full of contraband docked at Giong Noi Wharf.

A resident said Giong Noi Wharf was a place where illegal tobacco was gathered and then distributed to motorcycles from boats.

He said smugglers then transported tobacco to Ho Chi Minh City through Roads 8, 9, and 10.

The central steering committee responsible for combating contraband, fake goods, and trade fraud have recently launched a new tobacco smuggling telephone hotline at 1800-58-58-55 to mobilize the public to report the crime.

Reported by Hoang Phuong

Quick end for the anti-Thai demonstration

Rong Chhun denounces the lack of freedom of expression. . @P. S.

Cambodge Soir
18-08-2008

Only two people showed up at the demonstration on Sunday 17th of August, in front of the former National Assembly. Chea Mony, representative of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) and Rong Chhun, president of the Independent Teacher’s Association (ITA) arrived around 6.30am, preceded by a high number of police forces.

Both representatives denounced the blockade on the road of Phnom Penh “of about one hundred workers who came to demonstrate”, called for by the Cambodian Union Confederation. The CUF, composed of the ITA and the FTUWKC, had the intention to protest against the intrusion of Thai soldiers in Cambodia, who, until the day before, were still stationed on the site of the Preah Vihear temple.

Forbidden by Phnom Penh on Friday, the demonstration was finally upheld.

“We ask the Thais to respect the conventions [which designate the borders of the country]”, explained Chea Mony and Rong Chhun amongst about thirty journalists.

If, according to them, their demonstration is “non-violent and not directed against the government”, they nevertheless didn’t hesitate to criticise the position of Cambodia. “I don’t think that the discussions [held between both countries, scheduled for Monday 18th of August] will have any results, said Chea Mony. Why should we have to negotiate with the Thais while they’re the ones who invaded our territory? We should have filed a direct complaint with Unesco.” Moreover, he added, the withdrawal of troops last Saturday should have only been done by Thailand. “Why should Cambodians have to pull out?”

For what concerns Touch Naroth, Phnom Penh Police Chief, the demonstration had been forbidden in order to avoid events like the ones in 2003, when the Thai embassy had been destroyed. “The compensations were heavy for our government”, he declared.

“It’s unfair. We are Khmer and we only want to show our love for the country, answered Rong Chhun. Instead of forbidding us to demonstrate, the authorities should have joined us.” And threatening: “The protecting spirit of Preah Vihear will condemn them.”

The CUF wished to start from the former National Assembly and reach the Thai embassy in order to bring a petition signed by its members. Its two representatives renounced their actions because of the deployment of police forces and went back to the FTUWKC headquarters.

There, police forces were waiting for them as well. The police, armed with batons and shields, were stationed in front of the building. Facing them, the militants were gathered in the courtyard and on the sidewalk. Above them, a signboard said: “The Cambodian Government has to ask for UN intervention”

The police forces didn’t prevent Rong Chhun, who was holding a Cambodian flag, to pronounce his speech. He denounced the confiscation of posters in particular. “The freedom of expression went back to zero. This shows a very bad start of the new government. It represses its compatriots, but not “the Siam thieves”, did he declare over the microphone before the group scattered around 8.45am.

Preah Vihear, the Thais are withdrawing

The soldiers of both countries are withdrawing from the disputed site. Archive Picture

Cambodge Soir
18-08-2008

The Cambodian and Thai troops started pulling out from Preah Vihear on Saturday 16th of August. Hang Soth, director of the authority managing the site has confirmed their withdrawal, during a phone call with Cambodge Soir Hebdo.

Initiated on Friday, this withdrawal should continue until Saturday evening, explained Lieutenant-Colonel Sar Thavy to the Reuters Press Agency. “Everybody seems happy to see the Thai troops pulling out, said Sar Thavy. The villagers are coming back to set up their businesses close to the temple of Preah Vihear.”

The withdrawal of the soldiers had been negotiated by the military authorities of both countries and was announced on Thursday 14th of August by General Neang Phat, State Secretary of Defence and Director of the Preah Vihear Conflict Resolution Committee. Heavy weaponry should also be pullet out.

“The exact number of soldiers who left the country remains confidential”, said Hang Soth on Saturday afternoon. In total, one thousand military troops were deployed in the area. A few dozens should remain on their positions at the border, according to an announcement from Neang Phat on the 14th of August. The State Secretary of Defence didn’t reveal more details at the time.

The withdrawal of troops takes place while the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries are planning to meet for new negotiations on Monday 18th of August.

Hun Sen doesn’t expect a reshuffle of Governors

Cambodge Soir
18-08-2008

Hun Sen declared in a press release from Saturday 16th of August that the reshuffle of governors, deputy governors, police chiefs and deputy police chiefs isn’t on the agenda.


He also denies the rumours which were circulating since the end of the 27th of July elections concerning possible transfers of these officials. Their nomination is one of the prerogatives of the Government Leader.

“These rumours, said the Prime Minister, have created problems and frightened our officials and our army personnel”. He also called upon “all high officials to continue to work as usual”.

For what concerns the “troublemakers” at the source of these rumours, the Prime Minister hopes to bring them before justice as soon as possible.

Olympic Games: no miracles for the Cambodian swimmers

Cambodge Soir
18-08-2008

Despite their decent performances, the two Khmer representatives didn’t go beyond the 50 metres freestyle swimming qualification series.

It makes no doubt that Hemthon Vitiny’s heart must have beaten very fast on Thursday 15th of August at precisely 6.38pm, at the start of the 50 metres women’s freestyle swimming competition. On the day she turned 16 - she was born on the 15th of August 1992 - Vitiny took part in her first Olympic Games. She competed in lane 1. The swimmer has ended seventh on eight participants, 1.99 seconds from the Ugandan, Aya Nakitang who won the series.

Even thought this performance doesn’t qualify her for the semi-finals, the Khmer swimmer has covered the distance in 31.48 seconds. She broke her qualification time of 32’14’’. The world record is held by the Australian, Lisbeth Trickett with 23.97 seconds.

The day before, her uncle, Hemthon Ponloeu, who is two years older than her, reached a satisfying 5th place with 27’39’’. This wasn’t enough to qualify either. The Australian, Eamon Sullivan, silver medal in the 100 metres freestyle swimming behind the Frenchman, Alain Bernard, holds the world record with 21’28’’.

Thai premier visits controversial border temple on eve of talks

M&C Asia-Pacific News
Aug 18, 2008

Bangkok - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Monday visited the Phreah Vihear complex on the eve of bilateral talks with Cambodia over the disputed border temple that sparked a military standoff between the two neighbouring countries last month.

'Cambodia is our ASEAN neighbour that we must live together with, not be enemies with,' Samak said while visiting the temple about 400 kilometres north-east of Bangkok.

Both Thailand and Cambodia are members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which also includes Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Over the weekend, both Thailand and Cambodia withdrew hundreds of troops from around Phreah Vihear, leaving 10 soldiers posted in the contested zone each.

Samak's visit and the troop withdrawal came on the eve of talks on the disputed 11th-century temple site between Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag and his Cambodian counterpart, Hor Nam Hong, at the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin, 150 kilometres south-east of Bangkok.

The two foreign ministers last met July 28 to try to defuse the temple spat, which was then in danger of turning into a military conflict.

Separate claims on the area surrounding Preah Vihear turned into a military standoff between Thailand and Cambodia last month after UNESCO agreed to name the Hindu sanctuary a World Heritage Site.

Although Thailand has long accepted a 1962 ruling of the International Court of Justice that granted Cambodia sovereignty over the temple, which sits on a 525-metre cliff that defines the two countries' common border, it has disputed Cambodia's claim to the area surrounding the temple complex.

Many Thai historians and academics refute The Hague court's ruling, claiming it was based on a faulty 1907 border map drawn up by the French, who were the colonial masters of Cambodia at the time.

The court ruled that since Thailand had not officially objected to the border demarcation placing the temple in Cambodia, it had forfeited the temple, but the court stopped short of ruling on the legitimacy of the French-drawn map's borderline in Preah Vihear's vicinity.

Thailand claims a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjoining the temple is still disputed.

In fact, the 798-kilometre-long Thai-Cambodia border still has many disputed areas, with Preah Vihear being just the most controversial to date.

'We think this issue is complex, and it will take a long time to solve,' Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said.

The Preah Vihear dispute has stoked nationalistic sentiments on both sides on the border.

About 200 police were deployed in Hua Hin to assure the safety of Hor Nam Hong, media reports said.

Cambodian FM optimistic about border talk with Thailand

www.chinaview.cn

2008-08-18

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Monday expressed optimism about the two-day talk with his Thai counterpart to ensure total military withdrawal from the border area to end the two countries' month-long standoff there.

"I am optimistic about the bilateral talk with the Thai side to seek peaceful resolution to withdraw the troops totally from the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda and the surrounding areas of the Preah Vihear Temple (in the eponymous Cambodian province)," he told reporters at the airport before leaving for the meeting set in HuaHin province in Thailand.

Currently, each sides only deployed 10 military people at the pagoda and 20 within the surrounding areas of the Preah Vihear Temple, said Hor Namhong, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, adding that this was the result from the previous foreign ministers' meeting in Siem Reap province, Cambodia, on July 28.

"We want to withdraw all the troops from the areas near the Preah Vihear Temple, clear the mines there and finally plant border demarcation posts between the two countries," he said.

In addition, for the Tamone Toch and Tamone Thom temples in neighboring Otdar Meanchey province of Cambodia, "we will discuss step by step to withdraw the troops there and end the problem in the near future," he added.

During the trip, the foreign minister is also expected to visit Thai King to brief him on the current situation.

On July 15, Thai troops went into the border area to fetch three trespassers who had intended to claim Thai sovereignty over the Preah Vihear Temple. The troops stationed there ever since, thus triggering the military stalemate.

The same day, Thai troops occupied the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda, which is situated on the only way leading to the Preah Vihear Temple.

In the following days, both sides gradually increased their military personnel to a thousand strong at the border area to show their determination for territorial sovereignty.

On July 28, foreign ministers from Cambodia and Thailand held a meeting in Siem Reap province and agreed to mull the possibility of evacuating troops from the border.

On Aug. 3, Thai troops entered the Tamone Toch and Tamone Thom temples, thus aggravating the standoff.

On Aug. 16, most of the troops at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda and within the surrounding areas of the Preah Vihear Templewere evacuated according to both sides' agreement.

The Preah Vihear Temple straddles the Cambodian-Thai border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice decided that the 11-century temple and the land around belongs to Cambodia, which rankled the Thais and has led to continuous disputes.

Editor: An

Cambodia, Thailand to hold new border talks

BANGKOK, Aug 18 (TNA, Agencies) -- Only a few Thai and Cambodian troops remain near the disputed temple of Preah Vihear ahead of a meeting Tuesday of the two countries foreign ministers in Thailand's Phetchburi province southwest of Bangkok to seek a solution to a lingering border dispute over the ancient temple.

Thai Army chief General Anupong Paochinda is scheduled to inspect a Thai troop pullout from border points near the Preah Vihear temple in Thailand's northeastern province of Si Sa Ket Monday morning.

Prior to departing for Si Sa Ket, Gen. Anupong reaffirmed the troop pullout which both countries have carried out since Saturday was the result of cooperation and understanding between Thailand and Cambodia to avoid confrontation and tension.

Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith confirmed Sunday that there were only 20 soldiers --10 Cambodian and 10 Thai -- in the compound of a pagoda located in a border area claimed by both countries, according to the Associated Press.

In Phnom Penh, at least three people were slightly injured on Sunday when Cambodian anti-riot police cracked down on about 50 anti-Thai protesters, mainly teachers and garment workers during a demonstration over the disputedPreah Vihear temple.

The demonstrators urged Thai troops to complete their withdrawal from the disputed temple.

Phnom Penh's police chief G. Touch Naruth said such a protest would never help reduce the tension between the two countries, according to a report by Reuters.

Tensions at the ancient temple escalated after the United Nations for Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) early last month named the temple as World Heritage site to Cambodia. The International Court of Justice in 1962 ruled that the temple belongs to Cambodia, but that the surrounding area remains in dispute between the two countries.

The troop withdrawal followed the first meeting of Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong held in the Cambodian province of Siem Reap on July 28. (TNA)

Thailand and Cambodia to resume border talks

International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Published: August 18, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Border talks topped the agenda Monday for Thai and Cambodian foreign ministers heading into a meeting to find a lasting solution to a lingering territorial dispute that brought the two neighbors close to an armed clash.

The meeting was scheduled for later Monday in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin, following two inconclusive rounds of talks.

On July 28, the foreign ministers agreed to withdraw their troops from the disputed area near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

Before departing for Thailand, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said he was "optimistic the meeting will achieve a good success" and lead to "a lasting solution to border problems between Cambodia and Thailand."

He reiterated his government's previous stance to solve the problems with Thailand peacefully and amicably, because "our two countries share a lot of economic and trade interests."

He said he will also pay a visit to Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Tuesday.

Both countries' militaries pulled out most of their troops from the disputed territory on Saturday, leaving only 10 soldiers from each side at the compound of a pagoda near the temple, according to Hang Soth, director-general of the Preah Vihear National Authority, a Cambodian government agency managing the historic site.

Hor Namhong said the two countries will work toward pulling out all the remaining troops from the area to allow for mine clearance operations and border demarcation.

About 800 troops from Cambodia and 400 from Thailand had been deployed to Preah Vihear and the surrounding area in a monthlong standoff in which weapons were drawn once but no shots were fired.

The standoff began on July 15 after UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural agency, approved Cambodia's application to have the Preah Vihear temple named a World Heritage Site. Thailand and Cambodia have both long claimed the temple, which the World Court awarded to Cambodia in 1962.

Hun Sen enters 34th year in power in Cambodia

Sunday 17th August, 2008
((Op-ed) Tom Fawthrop - The Guardian)

With yet another election victory in the bag, Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Sen, is now entering his thirty-fourth year in power.

Hun Sen draws his inspiration not from south-east Asia's more democratic leaders, but from Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, who used dictatorial methods to build a modern, prosperous but tightly-controlled island city-state. Still only 57, Hun Sen has now served two years longer than Lee Kuan Yew – and even muses that he could still be premier at 90 if the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) keeps winning elections. It is this prospect, however fanciful, that alarms many educated Cambodians.

Trade unionists, opposition parties, and human rights workers have well-founded fears that this landslide election victory could lead to a clampdown on the right to protest and strike in Cambodia - human rights that were crushed long ago in Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew's notorious Internal Security Act.

Hun Sen is the son of a poor farming family in Kompong Cham province, and a former Khmer Rouge officer who rebelled against Pol Pot, fled to Vietnam in 1977 and returned two years later as foreign minister, backed by the Vietnamese army. Still younger than any of his Asean counterparts, he now ranks as their most experienced prime minister. And he achieved all this despite losing an eye in the final battle to defeat the US-backed military regime of General Lon Nol back in 1975.

Only Prince Norodom Sihanouk's rule in the 1960s can be compared with Hun Sen's in terms of its strong leadership and its success in defining the politics and development of the country. Between these two eras, the nation was brought to the brink of extinction by the secret US bombing of Cambodia authored by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, which ultimately helped Pol Pot's forces to seize power.

Now, after a period of survival in the 1980s – moulded in part by Vietnamese communism mixed with a revival of Cambodian culture – everything is changing. The free market reigns supreme. Land and property speculation is everything, heritage is for sale, and the US dollar is king. Land that was owned by poor farmers in the 1980s is now up for grabs – and indeed frequently is grabbed by a few tycoons linked to Hun Sen. The PM is generally regarded as part of a nouveau riche kleptocracy that siphons off foreign aid and ignores protests about human rights. But defenders of the CPP, and many of the people who have just voted for it, would point out that under his leadership the country is now at peace. Schools, roads and bridges have been built. The economy is booming, and the CPP has been justly rewarded. Few international observers seriously doubt that the democratic will swung behind the CPP, even allowing for unbalanced TV media coverage. (Unlike neighbouring countries, all Cambodia elections since 1993 have been monitored by international observers.)

In the 1980s Hun Sen – who was widely derided as a Vietnamese puppet at the time - had two priorities. The first was to stop the Khmer Rouge from returning to power (they were backed militarily by China and diplomatically by the west). The second was to rebuild a shattered nation.

The fragile government in Phnom Penh not only kept Pot's forces at bay, but their Vietnamese backers speedily restored some basic services. After 1979 hospitals, schools, markets, Buddhist temples and cinemas - closed by the Khmer Rouge - were rapidly reopened by Hun Sen's government. Hun Sen initiated peace talks with Cambodia's exiled Prince Sihanouk, which eventually led to his return. He proved to be an inspirational leader, but much western reporting during the Cold War focused on the partisan belief that Cambodia was under foreign occupation. There was an abysmal failure to report the real story of a nation's dramatic recovery, despite the UN's cynical denial of aid to a desperately poor country.

I first met Hun Sen in 1981, and respect his achievements in helping to bring about the rebirth of his nation and ending the Khmer Rouge terror in the countryside. But from the point of view of public services and the treatment of the poor, his record since the 1993 elections leaves a great deal to be desired. His failure to build an equitable Cambodian society that all can share in, based on social and economic justice – not just a real estate boom – is lamentable.

It is strange that Hun Sen, who shares his humble beginnings with Brazil's Lula and Bolivia's Evo Morales, has no agenda for the poor, no instinct to curb the grotesque excesses of the ruling elite, and has made no attempt to protect the small farmers that he is descended from. For all his intelligence and political skills, Hun Sen's success was based on survival, not a vision of the future. Bolstered by the recent discovery of offshore oil, the CPP has no development model other than the prescriptions of the IMF and World Bank, which are easily grafted onto the corruption and get rich-quick mentality of his business cronies, military generals and his police chiefs.

If he had gracefully stepped down from power in 1998, after the final surrender of the Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen's place in history would surely have been assured. Unless he changes tack, the dispossessed may have to resort to other means to achieve justice.

Cambodian King to preside over inauguration of National Assembly

www.chinaview.cn

2008-08-18

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni is scheduled to preside over the inauguration ceremony of the National Assembly on Sept. 24, local newspaper the Mekong Times reported Monday.

Senior Cambodian People's Party (CPP) official Nguon Nhil said that the King's chairmanship of the first session of the fourth National Assembly would "greatly honor" the legislative body.

Opposition officials agreed the King's presence is imperative, particularly as the nation's opposition has warned it may boycott the inauguration.

"The King's presence always stabilizes (problematic) national situations, and citizens and political parties always respect and want the King to be here. The King's presence is definitely important because he is a symbol of national peace and stability," Kong Kom, Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) Deputy President, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

According to still preliminary results from the National Election Committee, the SRP won 26 of the 123 parliamentarian seats in the July 27 national election while the CPP gained 90 seats.

Editor: An

Royal to raise $2bn to develop island

FT.com
By Raphael Minder in Hong Kong
August 17 2008

Royal Group, a Cambodian conglomerate whose interests range from banking to mobile telephony, is raising $2bn from private investors, together with Hong Kong-based Millennium Group, to develop Koh Rong, an island off Sihanoukville, Cambodia’s only deep-water port.

The move comes as property developers are planning billion-dollar investments to transform Cambodia’s coastline into one of Asia’s leading holiday destinations.

Such investments are designed to help diversify a Cambodian tourism industry that is heavily reliant on Angkor Wat and the country’s other inland historic treasures.

The amount planned by Royal will only cover the initial stages of the development, according to Mark Hanna, chief financial officer of Royal Group.

“We are talking about an island that is the same size as Hong Kong island, where we want to add things such as an airport, so ultimately we are certainly looking at several billions,” he told the Financial Times.

Meanwhile, MPDI, a subsidiary of Seng Enterprise, a family-owned group that is one of Cambodia’s leading construction companies, is working on another $2bn project, with unnamed US, Japanese and Middle Eastern investors. The project will triple the size of Kep, a neglected former French colonial resort

Seng’s plan involves reclaiming land along a 6km stretch of coastline and building luxury towers and bungalows. that will be able to house about 10,000 families.

They also include Preah Vihear, another temple that straddles the border with Thailand and whose disputed ownership has threatened to spark a military conflict between the two countries.
After decades of war and genocide overseen by the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia is playing catch-up to other south-east Asian tourism hotspots in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.

In the 15 years since Cambodia’s return to multiparty democracy, the country has made an impressive economic recovery and tourism has grown almost tenfold to become the second most important sector after textiles. The number of visitors to Cambodia breached 2m for the first time last year, but of those only 122,000 visited the country’s beaches.

Vantha Seng, chief financial officer of Seng Enterprise, said construction in Kep was likely to start next year, thanks to a first round of financing of about $250m, with contributions from “well-known” Japanese, American and Middle Eastern funds and private equity firms.

She said the project could become Cambodia’s first offshore listing, either on the Hong Kong or Korean stock exchange. As to the targeted clientele, the developers are betting particularly on wealthy Asian pensioners from Singapore, South Korea and Japan. Some of the housing will also be reserved for Cambodians.

“We already have some bookings and it’s mainly from people under 50 who are preparing their retirement plans,” she said. “Thailand has shown how you can develop beautiful beaches but we also want to avoid some of the mistakes there and certainly want to remain upmarket.”