Cup quarterfinals set to begin

Wat Phnom’s Khieu Vibol charges during their match against Mekong Kampuchea University.Photos by Nick Sells (www.nicksellsphotography.com)

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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 15:00 Ung Chamroeun

The weekend will see teams face off at Olympic Stadium for the chance to play in the Samdech Hun Sen Cup semifinals, with intriguing matchups on offer

TWO of the eight teams that have qualified for the quarterfinals of the 2010 Samdech Hun Sen Cup are in uncharted territory, with the remaining six sides – unsurprisingly, all Cambodian Premier League clubs – having previously made the grade.

Wat Phnom, who last year plied their trade as Spark FC and successfully avoided relegation from the top tier, made the quarterfinals for the first time in their history, and Kampong Chhnang outfit Rithi Sen also broke new ground and surprised everyone by beating the favoured Kirivong Sok Sen Chey 4-2 in the last-16 knockout stage.

Spectators at Olympic Stadium over the past two weeks have also been treated to fine displays by provincial sides Chhma Khmao (Svay Rieng), Koh Kong and Oddar Meanchey, who couldn’t quite handle the quality of their experienced opponents. Here is a breakdown of quarterfinal matches to be played this Saturday.

Phnom Penh Crown’s Srey Veasna hits a half volley during their match against Phouchung Neak.

Phnom Penh Crown v Wat Phnom

A late solitary strike from substitute Heng Sok Ly against his former team Phouchung Neak on January 30 helped the two-time winners Phnom Penh Crown advance to the last eight of the tournament. They now face Wat Phnom, who the same day destroyed Mekong Kampuchea University 10-1. Though both teams have met in the CPL, this will be their first Cup tie against each other.

Last year, Wat Phnom were knocked out in the preliminary round, but this year’s tournament saw them finish second after Koh Kong in group F, played in Kep. Fortune was clearly on their side, as they were drawn against a shell-shocked college team who were easily dispatched to make the next round.

Vann Dara, Wat Phnom’s manager, knows his team has their work cut out in the quarterfinals. “Phnom Penh Crown will be our big challenge,” he said. “We need to strengthen our squad. However, I’m so happy with the results from the previous matches. My players did their job well; they had good communication between each other to manage the ball.”

In last year’s CPL season, Phnom Penh Crown took all six points from Wat Phnom, winning 2-1 and 6-3.

“On the basis of history, we have better results than Wat Phnom,” stated Crown manager Be Makara. “But what they did against Mekong Kampuchea University in the knockout stage impressed me too much. Their players gave a great performance with a good one-to-one passing network. So we need to be careful for the upcoming match.”

However, the Crown boss was not satisfied with their game against Phouchung Neak. “We might have scored more than one goal if my players had shown good cooperation,” he opined. “Some of them liked keeping the ball without passing to other teammates. I want them to avoid this attitude.”

Build Bright United’s Hy Sok Veng plays during their match against Prey Veng January 31.Photos by Pha Lina

Naga Corp v Build Bright Utd

Current CPL champions Naga Corp have failed at the final hurdle in two previous Cup campaigns. In the inaugural cup in 2007, they lost to Khemara 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation time. In 2008, they were knocked out by Phnom Penh Crown in the last-16 stage, but reached the final once more last year, where Crown again beat them 1-0.

Build Bright United (BBU) also boast a promising Cup record, having qualified from the preliminary rounds of all three previous tournaments and making the semifinal stage twice. In 2007, they won the fair play award after losing 4-1 to Phnom Penh Crown in the third-place playoff. They went one better in 2008 to claim third after beating Khemara Keila. However, in 2009 they came up against Crown in the last-16 round, losing 1-0.

In five CPL meetings between the sides, the tally stands at 3-2 in favour of Naga. Last year, Naga thrashed BBU 5-2, but the university-backed side took revenge in the reverse fixture, winning 3-2.

In the knockout stage, BBU trounced provincial side Prey Veng 7-0, while Naga ploughed in four in the last 14 minutes to win 6-2 over Chhma Khmao.

“I respect the opponents who reached this step,” expressed BBU coach Meas Sam Oeurn. “The only thing that we must do is train up our squad. I believe in my young boys, they will try their best for victory.”

However, the coach revealed some injury troubles. “Now we have problems with two midfielders, Oum Chandara and Chhun Sothearath. I hope Chandara will recover quickly because he has only a small ankle injury, but Sothearath, who is also a midfielder for the national team, may be absent because he has a severe problem with his ankle and knee. Doctors have recommended he stay home for a few months. Maybe I’ll use striker Prum Puthsethy to play in the central position, but it’ll be a big problem for us in attack.”

Nov Vuthy, newly-appointed coach of Naga Corp, said he hoped his team could go all the way this year, but showed respect for his opponents. “We have many experienced players. I think that everything will be okay for us. However, we must learn our weakness, and we will reinforce ahead of the upcoming match. BBU is not an easy team – we were beaten by them in the past.”

DAP News ; Breaking News by Soy Sopheap

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Cambodia Ready to Bring Border Dispute to international Level: Hun Sen

Wednesday, 10 February 2010 02:52 DAP-NEWS

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday reaffirmed the Cambodian government’s willingness to resolve the ongoing border dispute with Thailand at the international level, using such arbiters as the International Court of Justice or the UN Security Council.

Tuesday was the fourth day of the premier’s historical visit to border areas, including Preah Vihear Temple. The PM again blasted Thai Prime Minister Abhisit over his claims that 4.6 squares kilometers of territory around the temple belong to Thailand. Hun Sen strongly stated that Cambodia will never accept this territory is a ‘disputed area’, saying it belongs to Cambodia.

“At the moment, Cambodia will solve this matter by international justice and courts, and if it is necessary, Cambodia will bring this matter to solve at the UN Security Council,” the premier said during the inauguration of a new building for soldiers in Oddor Meanchey province.

“This (disputed) area (claim) was made by Thailand itself to invade Cam-bodian territory, and Kesekha Kirisvarak pagoda absolutely belongs to Cambodia, inside in Cambodian land,” the premier said.

Concerning the 10 Thai soldiers stationed at Kesakha Kirisvarak pagoda, the PM said that the soldiers will not be authorized to sleep at Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak at night. In the daytime, they are allowed to enter, but are not allowed to carry weapons.

The premier urged all soldiers stationed at the border to defend their territory, stressing Cambodia’s readiness to repel any enemy.

He also praised the ancient Cambo-dian kings who build the temples that are now at the centre of the territorial dispute. “They never stole anybody’s land, but it was the others who came to rob from Khmer kings,” he said. “The Khmers never demand (the return) of Khmer lands which were lost in the past.”

Opposition back international border solution.

As the government stated its readiness to take an ongoing border dispute with Thailand to the international community, Cambodian opposition party members backed the suggestion.

“This stance is very good as we do not waste time and avoid a war,” Yem Ponhrith, Human Rights Party secretary-general, told DAP News Cambodia on Tuesday.

“We want to do like this with border areas,” said Ho Vann, Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker.

Rumored Thai plans to invade 4.6 sq km ‘disputed area’.

As the PM Hun Sen blasted the Thai government, Thai soldiers in Zone 2 and Zone 4 near Preah Vihear temple have allegedly declared their desire to invade the 4.6 square kilometers they say is disputed territory.

The Thai troops made a declaration boasting that they want to fight to take the area, zoned as Thai territory only on the Thai’s own unilateral map. The information was reported by a Cambodian troop source stationed in the Veal Entry area on February 9. The sourced claimed that the Thai troops made their declaration after Hun Sen’s 3-day visit to the border zone.

Nevertheless, the Cambodian source indicated that, currently, the Cambodian army is prepared to face any invaders. Cambodian troops will wait to see what action the Thai troops dare to take today or tomorrow, the source said. However, right now the situation in this zone still remains normal.

Thai yellow shirts destroy border markers

The People’s Alliance of Democracy (PAD) or ‘yellow shirts’ destroyed Cambodia-Thailand border markers at Ta Moan Toich temple located in Cambodia’s Banteay Ompel district, Oddor Meanchey province.

The yellow shirt protesters confirmed that they damaged one border marker they insisted is in Thai territory.

The protest and criminal damage comes during Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s historical visit to the border area.

Nak Vong, Ta Moan Toich sub-commander, told DAP News Cambodia he demanded Thai soldiers station nearby re-post the border markers after they were removed.

Var Kimhong, Cambodian Border Joint Committee president, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Germany Gives Another US$1.37 Million for Cambodia's Mine Clearance

Wednesday, 10 February 2010 08:33 DAP-NEWS/ Ek Madra

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 10 - German announced $1.37 million on Wednesday for the Cambodia's demining project in two provinces for this year, the release said of the signing note.

It was singed by Cambodia's deputy minister for foreign affairs Ouch Borith and German ambassador Frank M. Mann.

The money will be managed by Cambodia Mine Action Group (CMAG), which has been financed by Germany since 1999, to demine the explosive materials in Siem Reap and Oddar Meanchey, said the release.

The German commitment to humanitarian demining has been demonstrated by approximately US$214 million which the Federal Government has granted to 42 mine affected countries so far, said the release by the German embassy.

In total German tax payers have supported demining worldwide by granting more than US$ 300 million since 1992 which brings Germany on the top of the list of donors for mine action, it said.

In view of the magnitude of the problem of mines and unexploded ordnances left over from decades of civil war and armed conflicts Cambodia has always been of high priority for Germany.

Since 1994 some US$17.5 million have been granted thus far, exclusively for the support of local demining activities.

Germany will continue to support the demining platoons through this year to support the Cambodian mobile teams to respond to emergency requests and three Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams.

Last December, Belgium gave 550,360 euros for Cambodia's landmine clearance.

A UK-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG) announced late Friday to provide 550,360 euros for Cambodia to clear mines in two provinces for period of two years.

MAG, which has been helped Cambodia to clear the explosive devices since 1992, said the money will be spent for the clearing mines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) in northwestern provinces of Battambang and Pailin where reporting the highest numbers of mine/UXO casualties in this former war-torn nation.

Cambodia is one of the world's most heavily landmines and unexploded ordnance buried of between 4-6 million, which remained from its 30 years of civil war and killed an estimated 60,000 people since 1992 many of them are children.

Cambodia continues to have one of the highest landmine casualty rates in the world, as a result of heavy mine laid over almost three decades of conflict.

Belgium has long taken an interest in dealing with landmines and other ordnance, becoming the first country to ban anti-personnel landmines in 1995 and also the first country to ban cluster munitions in 2006.

Belgium started supporting landmine clearance in the 1990's and is now also funding physical rehabilitation centers and prevention activities in Cambodia.

This financial support and previous development activities supported by Belgium in the sectors of health and education, showed the commitment of the Belgian government towards development in Cambodia.

The Belgian government also supports MAG's work in Iraq, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Cambodians Winning More Foreign Scholarships

Wednesday, 10 February 2010 02:52 DAP-NEWS

The Education Ministry said on Tuesday that Cambodian students now can compete with foreign students to win scholarships to foreign countries.

Students have upped their ability and improved their knowledge, especially in foreign languages like English, said Yong Yano, director of the Education Ministry’s Scholarship Department.

He said that in 2009, nearly 500 Cambodian students got scholarships to study abroad and with support from development partners and host countries. This represents an increase of about 50 students over last year.

“It is good that our students have more ability to go to foreign countries, and they catch up in foreign languages like English,” he said, adding the ministry is seeking more scholarships.

“We have always encouraged them to apply for the scholarship because they can share view and ideas and learn new things … to help construct the country,” he added.

Uch Mey, another Education Ministry official, said that most students who graduate abroad command higher salaries than local graduates.

Cambodia sends most students to Thailand, France, Vietnam, Australia, the US and Arabic countries.

Seang Soleak, a former Fulbright scholarship students in the US, said that study in developed countries helps increase knowledge.

Hun Sen's rant is 'proof that ties will remain shaky'

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Published: 10/02/2010

Newspaper section: News

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says the personal attacks on him by his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen are proof of why the shaky ties between the two countries cannot return to normal.

But Mr Abhisit said yesterday he would not react to the abuse from the Cambodian leader.

Matters involving Thailand's sovereignty would be handled by the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

''We will not let any country violate our territory and sovereignty,'' he said.

Hun Sen wrapped up his three-day visit to the Thai-Cambodia border on Monday by launching a blistering attack on Mr Abhisit on a website.

He accused Mr Abhisit of coming to power undemocratically and of causing trouble with neighbouring countries.

He also said, among other things, that Thai soldiers had entered Cambodian territory.

Hun Sen launched the attack after visiting a military office about six kilometres inside Cambodian territory across from Ta Muan Thom temple in Surin's Phanom Dong Rak.

The Cambodian premier had planned to visit the temple ruins but he was advised by Bangkok to abandon the trip for fear the People's Alliance for Democracy would stage a protest against the visit.

Mr Abhisit said Hun Sen's attack had showed how sour the relations between the two countries had become.

The outburst demonstrated that Thailand had not initiated the decline in diplomatic relations, he said.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the government would not react harshly to Hun Sen's words. Bangkok could opt for a softer approach by having the Foreign Ministry send a letter to Phnom Penh refuting Hun Sen's allegations. The international community would take a dim view of Hun Sen's remarks, Mr Panitan said.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said it was unnecessary for the government to react to the outburst.

Mr Suthep, who oversees national security, said he believed Hun Sen made his remarks in a fit of anger after he was unable to visit Ta Muan Thom temple.

Relations with Cambodia soured after Bangkok reversed its position to support Cambodia's application to unilaterally list the ancient Preah Vihear temple as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Ownership of the land around the temple is disputed by the two countries.

Ties plunged to a new low when Hun Sen appointed fugitive prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his personal adviser and as an economic adviser to his government.

Thailand asked Cambodia to extradite Thaksin when he visited Phnom Penh last November, but the request was denied.

US Voices Concern Over Border Dispute

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

09 February 2010

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The US is concerned about an ongoing border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and is seeking a quick, peaceful solution to tensions between the two countries, a US State Department official said Tuesday.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel, who is the US ambassador to Asean, told reporters he planned next to stop in Thailand to encourage resolution to a 19-month military standoff that has left at least eight soldiers dead and dampened tourism and trade between both countries.

“We are good friends with both Cambodian and Thailand, and like most countries we’re concerned about the tension between the two countries,” Marciel told reporters in Phnom Penh, following three days of talks with leaders. “What we have said is that we hope that both governments, both leaders, will do what they can to try to reduce tensions to begin with and then to work to try to find a peaceful and rapid solution to this problem.”

Marciel’s visit coincided with a four-day trip by Prime Minister Hun Sen to the northern border region, where he encouraged soldiers to continue vigilance against a Thai “invasion.”

In the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng Tuesday, Hun Sen told soldiers he was considering filing an official complaint to the International Court of Justice at the Hague against Thai encroachment in Cambodia.

Cambodia and Thailand have failed on multiple occasions to bilaterally diffuse the border standoff, which began in July 2008 after Preah Vihear temple was given Unesco World Heritage status under Cambodian ownership.

Bangkok officially disputes a small strip of land near the border temple, while protesters have called for the 11th-Century temple to be handed over to Thailand. The temple has meanwhile become a source of national pride for Cambodians.

The dispute has added to Thailand’s political instability, which saw massive protests in 2008 and the ouster of a democratically elected regime.

Compounding the problem is an ongoing diplomatic row between the two neighbors over the appointment of ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as economic adviser to Hun Sen.

Thaksin, ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006, is wanted on corruption charges in Thailand, and his appointment and subsequent appearances in Phnom Penh have rankled Bangkok.

Radio Journalist Faces Defamation Charges

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

09 February 2010

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One journalist and three of his sources went on trial for defamation in Takeo province on Tuesday, with the court scheduling a verdict for Feb. 19.

To Serey, a radio journalist for Radio Free Asia, is accused of broadcasting a report alleging corruption by a local official in the province.

Two human rights workers and a villager who were interviewed by the reporter are also accused of defamation.

All four appeared in court Tuesday, where a five-hour hearing ensued. Evidence against the accused was based on testimony of 12 witnesses, who denied the broadcast report, which said members of the Muslim community had demonstrated against corruption.

Cambodia’s courts have come under increasing criticism for criminal trials of defamation and disinformation, allowed under a recently passed media law.

Critics say the law promotes retributive suits against government dissenters, the opposition and the media.

Tribunal Limits Civil Party Participation

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

09 February 2010

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The Khmer Rouge tribunal will officially limit the participation of civil parties in upcoming trials, in an effort to streamline court procedures.

"In future trials, civil parties will form a consolidated group and pursue a single claim for reparations," the UN-backed court said in a statement Tuesday, at the end of a plenary session for court judges, prosecutors and other officials.

The decision was made to address "shortcomings" of the court's first trial, of prison chief Kaing Kek Iev, where the participation of multiple civil parties made procedures unwieldy.

The tribunal was designed to add victim participation in the form of civil parties, which participate alongside the defense and prosecution.

The new rules create two lead lawyers to coordinate with all civil party lawyers and victims themselves ahead of trials.

"Civil Party Lawyers may agree to support the Lead Co-Lawyers in the representation of the interests of the consolidated group," the tribunal statement said. "Such support, which will be coordinated by the Lead Co-Lawyers, may include oral and written submissions by Civil Party Lawyers, as well as examination in court of witnesses and their clients."

Hun Sen to Abhisit, the Valentine's version

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By Tulsathit Taptim

The Nation

Published on February 10, 2010

NOW, this is what happens when you come from an environment where even lame critics are sent into oblivion. Cambodian leader Hun Sen obviously has nobody in Phnom Penh to remind him that he can express his fetish fantasy involving his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva in nicer ways. That task, I suppose, has to fall on me.

The devil is in the details, remember. Hun Sen can use love language and at the same time keep his key messages - that he wants Abhisit to be shot, electrocuted, run over by a truck, and have his neck broken by spirits - intact. Here's how it can be done:

My dearest Abhisit,

You hurt me. That we are drifting further and further apart doesn't mean that you have to lie about us. I have been truthful about the Preah Vihear Temple, about my feelings toward poor Thaksin Shinawatra, but all you have done is try to destroy me with your lies.

I may not be a great speaker like you, but I've been sincere, you know. I always speak from my heart, but you always use your Oxford tongue to cleverly discredit Cambodia. You know that if you push me smartly enough, I will break down and you will score political points. You know that if you pretend to act passively, people will buy it and the joke will be on me.

Shame on you, Mr Manipulator. You steer people away from the truth and let them focus on me crying over my wounds. With a deadpan face, you lied that Thai troops never encroached into Cambodia on July 15. You know whose side the public will take - a cute, young leader talking "principles", or an over-the-hill veteran whose credit you have undermined.

Since I have no other way to expose your lies, I'm praying to all sacred things in the world to help me, to be on my side. May the liar be in a plane that crashes. May he be electrocuted. May he be run over by a car. May he be shot. How does that sound, Mr Handsome?

Before I sign off, let me just say how you totally deserve the Valentine's Day gift thrown into your house the other day.

I will haunt you forever,

Hun Sen.

There. It fits the festival of love nicely, doesn't it? At least it won't make the Cambodian leader sound like a sadistic maniac hurling abuse and curses at somone he doesn't even know personally.

Anyway, how should Abhisit reply to this kind of message? I'm not his adviser, but why not shock everyone with some un-Abhisit-like jibe like this?:

Hi, Whiner,

Instead of resorting to superstitution, why don't you just run to your mommy and cry your heart out? After all, your behaviour indicates you have regressed to a time when "You swear? On your mother's name?" was the only way to catch a liar. And talking about liars, yeah, let them all burn in hell and be reborn as total losers who are never taken seriously.

That should be it. What? Why don't I say anything more? Well, this is a big waste of time already.

Abhisit Vejjajiva

P.S. This is odd, but I feel compelled to thank you for, well, being you. Every time you open your mouth, my domestic rating jumps.

Writer's note: To keep with the Valentine's Day spirit, I'd like to convey my love and sympathy to the staff at the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok, who always send protest letters to the newspapers at the slightest criticism of Hun Sen and his government. Their job is a bit more complicated now for obvious reasons.

The big boss has turned diplomacy upside down, which means the embassy's "polite" approach may need to be reviewed. For example, it used to be easy to invoke diplomatically acceptable words like "imbecile", "absurd" and "vulgar" to criticize newspapers; the embassy may have to find something harsher so as to not to lose touch with Hun Sen.

So, deploring Thai newspapers for "a complete lack of decent politeness, professional journalism, and truth" is surely too courteous. This is a new ball game and new tactics are required. It's no longer about Preah Vihear Temple exclusively. The row has gone from a "Khmer" temple that Thailand "claims" to a Thai fugitive that the Cambodians want to adopt, to one side challenging the other to an old-fashioned spitting contest.

How far will this go? I can only hope this is diplomacy's version of American wrestling. You know, some real blood but a big charade. But that's optimistically talking, by the way.

Cambodia wants World Court to rule on Thai border

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Cambodian leader Hun Sen wants World Court to settle border dispute with Thailand

On Tuesday February 9, 2010

O SVAY, Cambodia (AP) -- Cambodia will complain to the World Court that Thailand is occupying its land, the prime minister said Tuesday while visiting the territory at the heart of a bitter border dispute.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said Thailand has encroached on land around the landmark Preah Vihear temple, in northern Cambodia, which the court awarded Phnom Penh in 1962.

Thailand acknowledges Cambodian sovereignty over the temple, but both claim 1.8 square miles (4.6 square kilometers) of nearby land. The countries' troops have clashed there several times.

"Cambodia has reached the limits of its patience," Hun Sen said in a speech Tuesday. He said he also would ask the United Nations to help solve the border issue.

Nationalist passions have run high at the border since 2008, after Thailand first backed, then opposed Cambodia's bid to name the 11th-century temple a U.N. World Heritage site.

Cambodia and Thailand share a 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border, part of which has never been clearly demarcated because each country relies on different maps.

Cambodian-Thai relations worsened late last year when Cambodia named former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra an adviser on economic affairs.

A Thai court in 2008 sentenced Thaksin in absentia to two years imprisonment for corruption, but Cambodia rejected a formal request for his extradition.

Cambodia, Thailand to Peaceful Solve Border Issue: U.S. Official

http://english.cri.cn/

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2010-02-10

Xinhua

Web Editor: Cao

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of States Scot Marciel said on Tuesday that Washington wanted to see Phnom Penh and Bangkok to solve their border disputes through peaceful talks for the benefits of the two nations.

Speaking to reporters at a press briefing, Scot Marciel said " we are good friends with Cambodia and Thailand. And likes most other countries are concerned the tension between the two countries, we have said and hoped that both governments and leaders will do what they can to try to reduce tension and then to work trying to find a peaceful and rapid solution to these problems."

War of words between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Thai' s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has escalated since last week over Hun Sen's first tour of the Khmer 11th built Temple of Preah Vihear and Cambodian military forces who beefed up security near the Thai's border.

Relations between the two countries turned rocky in November after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives abroad to escape a jail term for corruption, as economic advisor of him and his government. Both nations have recalled their ambassadors since.

Cambodia said that the Thais claimed the land of 4.6 square km near the Temple is baseless given the U.N. court of International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962 ruled out that the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia.

Scot Marciel arrived in the Kingdom on Feb. 8. He held talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

The visit is aimed at strengthening the relationship between Washington and Phnom Penh, said an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Hun Sen strews political banana skins before him

via CAAI News Media

By The Nation

Published on February 10, 2010

Bizarre actions of the Cambodian leader must be designed to distract his public from other issues

One does not need to consult Wikipedia to understand Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's ulterior motive in his latest foray to the Thai-Cambodian border. It was a trip full of symbolism and can-do spirit. Clad in military fatigues, along with his wife, Hun Sen wanted to portray himself as his country's commander-in-chief, or, to be more specific, the guardian of Cambodia's territorial integrity on its western border, like the Cambodian kings before him.

But once he arrived back in Phnom Penh, he suddenly changed back into a fouled-mouth rabble-rouser. He was very rude in his broadside routine, this time using curses - unprecedented in the annals of Asean history - against Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was not at all perturbed.

Hun Sen's diatribes are getting meaner and weirder by the day. It is possible that if Abhisit remains as the Thai leader in the foreseeable future - which is very likely - Hun Sen could suffer from a haemorrhage, because his vitriol reveals an extreme dislike for the Thai leader. Indeed, the Cambodian prime minister may have to be accountable for his "hate" speeches if they lead to violence. There are such precedents in Burundi and Sierra Leone.

Hun Sen must be happy with his latest political manipulation because he continues to score high points on the domestic front. Never mind Cambodia's ongoing border problem with Vietnam, it is the Thais that Hun Sen has tried to portray as invaders, and his own countrymen as "victims."

Without such convenient nationalistic side-issues, the Cambodian public's attention might instead focus on his performance and governance. After three decades in politics, he has total control of Cambodia, and there is no real opposition. Literally everybody, including the opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, has been silenced. The feisty Cambodian press behaves differently when it comes to issues related to Hun Sen and his coterie of supporters.

During his visit to the border, he wanted to gauge Thai sentiments toward Cambodia. Absent this time were the usual protests by various Thai civil society groups. Provocative reaction from the Thai side would only help Hun Sen's position. Somehow, the Thai side managed the controversial visit very well. The Foreign Ministry and the Second Army did an excellent job in handling the situation by following strict protocol. The Cambodian representatives wanted to visit the disputed areas, and they were welcome to do so if they asked permission from the Thai side. In the end, they did not, and returned to Phnom Penh.

Cambodia is a country that enjoys playing global politics, something that Thailand is not so adept at. Hun Sen's trip was also aimed at an international audience, especially those who are following the ongoing dispute over the disputed Preah Vihear Temple complex.

During the reign of King Sihanouk, the former monarch won international prominence for his country. And he did it with style. His talents and versatility are well known, including music, film-making and writing. Under Hun Sen, Cambodia has retained its prominence, but as a fragile democracy within Asean. In the past few months, the Cambodian premier has acted ever more irrationally, collaborating with the fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra in an effort to topple the Abhisit government. Certainly, it will take a long time before normalcy is restored in Thai-Cambodian relations.

But when the dust settles, the region and the world will know full well who were the good guys, the bad guys, and the stooges in between.

We cannot eat electricity’

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The adverse impacts of climate change on the Mekong Delta in Vietnam will be amplified several times if hydropower dams planned upstream by other countries are built, experts say.

Land erosion on the Mekong River in Dong Thap Province

Both local and international experts said at a forum on the Mekong River environment organized by the Can Tho University on Wednesday that the dams will seriously threaten food security in riparian countries.

Dao Trong Tu, former Vietnam country coordinator for the Mekong River Commission, said three hydropower dams are already under construction in China, and another 11 were planned in Laos and Cambodia.

La Chhuon, an expert of Oxfam Australia in Cambodia, said fishermen in the country had told him they wanted to eat fish and would not be able to eat electricity generated by hydropower dams.

Without exception, every resident was unhappy with the building of dams and did not care for the compensation they would get when they are displaced by such projects, he added.

Carl Middleton, Mekong Program Coordinator of International Rivers, an INGO, that seeks to protect rivers and defend the rights of communities that depend on them, stressed that the projects threatened food security in the region.

He estimated that Mekong riparian countries would lose 700,000 to 1.6 million tons of fish a year to the dams, while this has been the main food for millions people there.

Who benefits?

Chuenchom Sangarasri Greacen of Palang Thai, a Thailand-based non-profit organization, said the predicted electricity consumption in Thailand was always higher than actual demand.

According to the Palang Thai website, it “works to ensure that the transformations that occur in the region's energy sector are economically rational, and that they augment, rather than undermine, social and environmental justice and sustainability.”

Sangarasri accused companies investing in hydropower projects of being motivated solely by economic benefit rather than helping fight power shortages. She said such motivations should be eliminated and more accurate assessments made of power needs.

Natural resources can meet genuine demand but cannot satisfy human greed for profit, she said.

Nguyen Huu Thien, a Vietnamese wetlands expert, said the river flows would be controlled by the managers of hydropower dams to the detriment of other people’s interests.

He said there would be less silt supplied by the river and farmers would have to spend more on fertilizers. The losses caused to farmers and other residents would outweigh by far the total benefits generated by dams, he added.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff

Man goes undercover to combat child sex slavery

via CAAI News Media

By Leif Coorlim, CNN Producer

February 9, 2010

Phnom Penh, Cambodia (CNN) -- Aaron Cohen first met Jonty Thern and her older sister, Channy, in 2005 while singing in a karaoke bar in Battambang, Cambodia. He has come back to see them every year since.

The California native often schedules his trips for November, the month when Cambodians celebrate the Bonn Om Teuk water festival, marking the end of the rainy season.

"The whole country comes together for boat races. Hundreds of thousands of people descend on the waterfront and it's filled with colors and flags," said Cohen. "You know my thoughts about the water festival always include Jonty, because she and her sister would get a day pass during the festival."

There was a smile on his face when he started the sentence, but by the time he had finished, it was gone.

Abolishing slavery

Cohen is a human rights advocate. He founded a charity called AbolishSlavery.org last year, but his work freeing victims of human trafficking began more than a decade ago.

At 6 feet, 5 inches (195 centimeters) with long, black hair, he stands out in almost every crowd. But Cohen often goes undercover to obtain the information needed for law enforcement officials to conduct raids and make arrests.

His trips have taken him around the world, from Sudan to Nicaragua to Israel. But, he says, in Southeast Asia the problem is especially bad.

"I would rank Cambodia right up there with India as one of the worst places in the world for sex-trafficking."

A bad problem getting worse

According to the NGO, End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking (ECPAT), as many as one-third of all sex workers in Cambodia are children. Government entities, including the U.S. State Department, are pressuring countries like Cambodia to do more to stop the modern-day slavery epidemic.

"We are making major strides in the fight against human trafficking. But it is a major problem, we know that," said Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca, who leads the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. "You have estimates as to the number of people in servitude worldwide and it's anywhere from 12.3 million on the low end as cited by UN's International Labor Organization -- to as many as 27 million people on the high end. That's a number coming from the research done by (the aid organization) Free the Slaves. But 12.3 million is a baseline number that everybody agrees that there are at least that many people in forced labor, and that's far too many."

In its comprehensive 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, the State Department put Cambodia on its Tier 2 Watch List. The ranking means the Cambodian government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making an effort to do so.

"[In Cambodia] the number of victims is increasing and the number of prosecutions has gone down from the previous year," says CdeBaca. "The report shows that despite the overall effort, the government has not shown enough progress in convicting and punishing human trafficking offenders or protecting trafficking victims."

Cambodia is categorized as a destination country for foreign child sex tourists, with increasing reports of Asian men traveling to Cambodia to have sex with underage virgin girls. The State Department report states a significant proportion of trafficking victims in Cambodia are ethnic Vietnamese women and girls who are forced into prostitution in brothels and karaoke bars.

A chance encounter

Jonty Thern's short life could be a case study for that assessment. Jonty's family immigrated to Cambodia from Vietnam shortly after the Vietnam War.

Faced with gripping poverty and a debt, Jonty's mother sold her daughter, who was 10 years old at the time, to a person on Cambodia's border with Thailand.

That person told her mother Jonty would be selling flowers and candy to customers in bars and nightclubs. It was only later, the mother says, that she learned while there, Jonty would be repeatedly raped and beaten.

After three years of physical and sexual abuse, Jonty was released by her captors and allowed to return home to Battambang. Soon after, she and her sister willingly went to work at a karaoke bar to help the family pay off their debt, according to her parents.

The scenario in which Cohen describes meeting Jonty Thern, then 13-years-old, is as appalling as it is prevalent.

"I was working as an undercover sex vice," Cohen said. "I was posing as a sex tourist, going from karaoke bar to karaoke bar, massage parlor to massage parlor, looking for underage workers, to see if I could get them on camera soliciting me for sex."

As evidenced in the State Department report, it is a poorly-kept secret in Cambodia that many of these establishments are also operating brothels.

"I went to a number of karaokes and about my second or third karaoke of the night and I immediately notice this one really young looking girl. I requested Jonty and her sister and a group of other girls," Cohen said.

"In these bars, the girls are told to drink as much as they can, because they'll charge you for the beers. So this girl comes in and I noticed, man, she downed that beer in like two seconds. She seemed to be having a good time, she didn't seem unhappy or anything. But here she is nonetheless, a 13-year-old girl in a brothel drinking 10 beers in the time that I drank two," he added.

He said he invited several friends who work at a nearby victims' shelter to come join him. They posed as partiers as well, until Cohen felt comfortable to ask the manager an important question.

"After the girls began to dance and sing, I asked the mamasan what more can I get besides karaoke and so then she says 'well, for sex it's $50.'"

Cohen used the solicitation video from that night, recorded on a cell phone camera, to provide police with the information they needed to raid the karaoke brothel.

More than a dozen girls, including Jonty and her sister, Channy, were freed that night and sent to live in a victim's shelter, where they received counseling, care and an education.

Final Respects

Cohen's most recent trip to see Jonty and Channy in Cambodia was not a happy reunion. It was a trip planned so that he could say goodbye to one of them.

Three days before arriving in Phnom Penh for the water festival, Cohen and Channy, along with Channy's mother, spent the morning in an 8th century pagoda in Siem Reap, watching as monks conducted an ancient funeral ceremony. They were transferring Jonty Thern's ashes into a marble urn.

Jonty died of liver failure at age 17. Her family claims it was the result of years of alcohol and drug abuse she was subjected to while working first in the nightclubs as a 10-year-old, and then later in the karaoke bars.

"The ashes of my goddaughter are the symbol of why we have to do this. This doesn't have to happen. These girls do not have to be enslaved," Cohen said.

"We tried our best with Jonty and we failed because we lost her. But if there's meaning in her death, the meaning is that there is more work to be done. When I'm in that karaoke now, or when I'm in that massage parlor, she's my little angel. She's watching over me and she's protecting me," he added.

That evening, after watching the festival's fireworks display and saying goodnight to Channy, Cohen strapped an undercover watch camera to his wrist, and went to a karaoke bar.

Tim Etchells on performance: Cambodia's beat goes on

Can Cambodia begin to rebuild its shattered cultural heritage? Tim Etchells wonders if the answer lies with a team of Khmer dancers ... and a specially modified laptop

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Tim Etchells guardian.co.uk

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Dancing to a new tune ... Tarek Atouil plays a series of sounds collected by Khmer dancers from his laptop. Photograph: Tim Etchells

I've recently returned from two weeks in Cambodia, travelling with 18 other artists, dancers, choreographers and performance-makers at the invitation of Ong Keng Sen's Flying Circus Project. Based in Singapore, Keng Sen's Theatre Works outfit has been running these exchanges – predominantly Asian in focus, but with routes out in all directions – for something like 10 years. The intention varies with each incarnation, but the broad hope is for a two-way artistic exchange between invited and local artists, and between the invited artists themselves. To call this latter group diverse would be an understatement: our trip saw passports from Indonesia, Slovenia, Turkey, South Africa, India, UK, Lebanon, Singapore, USA and Austria, among others, landing on the immigration desk in Phnom Penh.

Highly organised and efficient on one hand, Flying Circus also courts a creative openness that at times borders on chaos. The logic for Keng Sen is that the encounter must have its own energy, that the group itself must conjure something new from the situation. An approach like this takes time and nerve, but it undoubtedly pays off.

Looking back, it's hard to say what made the biggest impression on me. The country itself remains blighted by poverty, and still in recovery from the devastation of the Pol Pot era and subsequent years of civil war and instability. Culturally, there's a determined attempt to recover what the Khmer Rouge tried to wipe out in its brutal five-year drive to Year Zero, which involved – alongside much else – killing intellectuals, artists, teachers and anyone who spoke French. For this reason, there's much talk of archives, of remembering and preserving. Around 300 feature films were made in Cambodia before 1975, of which as few as 30 now survive. They have been gathered in the last five years and preserved along with other film, sound and photographic materials at the Bophana archive in Phnom Penh, our base for half of the workshops.

The situation is equally dire in the performing arts, since only a handful of classical Khmer dancers survived the killing fields. These old masters are now a precious resource, teaching new generations techniques that otherwise would have slipped away for good. Back home in England, I generally run a mile from people attempting to rescue traditional forms; but in Cambodia, the initiative made more sense – the difference, perhaps, between a past that is dying from irrelevance or lack of interest, and one that has only recently survived assassination.

What I sensed in the younger artists and dancers we worked with, though, was a desire to move forwards with the past, and not to retreat into it. These Cambodian twentysomethings are savvy and hungry, and well aware that their country is opening up, and that internationally financed redevelopment and tourism have been following the inflow of NGOs. They know that they'll need new approaches in the arts, and new political voices to meet the challenges ahead.

I asked Keng Sen what he feared the most from his project. We talked about economic and political dangers (artists as the vanguard for property developers) and about the cultural dangers (Cambodians caught in retreading western postmodern art practice). Then we talked about the positives: the meetings, the collisions, the insistence on and the articulation of differences. There was one moment in the workshops that crystallised these possibilities for me. Tarek Atoui, Lebanese sound artist, ran a session with the Khmer participants that involved sounds collected by the dancers played out from a laptop and a complex array of homemade sensors, motion triggers and pressure pads. It was late in the afternoon when the dancers from Amrita Performing Arts, our hosts for half of the project, took to their feet and began to move in and around Atoui's machinery.

What happened was tentative at first, then suddenly too much. It was as if the dancers wanted to play the system, or make music with it, rather than dance with it. My heart sank. Then all at once they turned a corner and were dancing again – the turning wrists and fingers, lowered centres of gravity, eye contact, pantomime pauses and forward rolls all instantly recognisable from Khmer classical forms. They weren't dancing for the electronics, nor were they dancing with them exactly; they were dancing with and against them, entering and refusing, insisting on and moving through. There was tension in the dancing and music that afternoon, just as there should be on occasions of meeting. It was a privilege and an inspiration to be there.

HUN SEN'S CURSES : I'm not afraid of curses : Thai PM

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Tue, February 9, 2010

By The Nation

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he did not pay any attention on Khmer PM Hun Sen's curses, saying everyone now knows who was the cause of the ongoing bilateral problems.

Hun Sen's criticism and curses on him clearly showed why the shaky Thai-Cambodia ties could not be restored, the Thai premier said.

Hun Sen made the curses on Abhisit during his visit near Preah Vihear temple on Monday.

"If you don't tell the truth about Thai troops invading Cambodia, let magic objects break your neck, may you be shot, be hit by a car, may you be shocked by electricity or [may you be shot] by misfired guns."

"Will Abhisit swear on having all his family members killed and having them [perish] in a plane crash, if [he still claims] that Thai troops did not invade Cambodia?" Hun Sen was quoted as saying by Cambodian website Deum Ampil News.

Abhisit told reporters on Tuesday that he was not afraid of Hun Sen's curses.

"I will let go and will not react to what Hun Sen said. What I concerned most was that no country violates our territory and sovereignty. In addition we don't want the any problems for both peoples," Abhisit said.

Meanwhile Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said Hun Sen may be angry that he could not visit Ta Moen Thom temple ruins on Monday.

Hun Sen planned to visit the ruins on Monday as part of his trip to the Thai-Cambodian border site. His visit had put high alert on the Thai side as he reportedly would visit disputed sites, including a site near Preah Vihear Temple and Ta Moen Thom temple.

The Thai government insisted that the visit could be happened at the permission of the Thai side and the Khmer soldiers have to be disarmed when entering the sites.

Hun Sen finally cancelled his visit to both sides.

"Hun Sen may be angry because he was disappointed that he could not visit Ta Moen Thom temple as planned. One could lost control if he is angry," Suthep said.

US ASEAN ambassador ends Cambodia trip, slams Uighur expulsions

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/

via CAAI News Media

Feb 9, 2010

Phnom Penh - A senior US envoy to South-East Asia wrapped up a brief visit to Cambodia Tuesday saying he had reiterated to Phnom Penh that Washington remained 'very disappointed' with its December expulsion of 20 Uighur asylum-seekers to China.

The US still had no news on the fate of the Uighurs, said Scot Marciel, the US ambassador for ASEAN Affairs, in charge of relations with the 10 members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

'We've made it clear a number of times both publicly and privately how concerned and disappointed we were by Cambodia's decision,' he said.

'We had urged the Cambodian government before they deported the people not to go that route because they had not gone through the [UN refugee agency] process to determine whether they had a legitimate claim to asylum.'

Marciel, who is on a five-nation visit as part of US President Barack Obama's strategy of greater engagement with the region, said he hoped the Cambodian government would resume its previously held 'more positive' approach to refugee issues.

Referring to China's involvement in Cambodia - it is the country's largest investor and had demanded the return of the Uighur refugees - Marciel said the US did not see the process of increasing Chinese influence in the region as 'a zero-sum game.'

'We would like to see South-East Asia achieve the goals that it has set for itself and the ASEAN movement, which is more integration, political stability, progress towards increased democracy and human rights, and certainly economic prosperity,' Marciel said. 'So we'll continue to support those.'

Referring to the ongoing tensions between Cambodia and Thailand, Marciel said the US - which he described as 'good friends' with both nations - remained concerned and hoped both countries' leaders would work to reduce tensions and find a solution.

During his visit Marciel also met with representatives from Cambodia's political opposition and with members of civil society.

His Cambodia trip follows a visit to Vietnam and Laos. He is scheduled to head to Thailand later Tuesday before flying to Indonesia to work on President Obama's visit to that country in March.

US allows Cambodia to reschedule $317 mln debt

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Tue Feb 9, 2010

PHNOM PENH, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The United States has refused a request by Cambodia to write off $317 million in debt, but has instead agreed to reschedule the impoverished country's loan repayments, a top U.S. official said on Tuesday.

The United States also declined to convert the debt into development aid but would work out a plan for Cambodia to pay back the loans, which date back to the 1970s, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel said.

"The U.S. position is that Cambodia has recognised its debt," Marciel told reporters during a visit to Phnom Penh. "We think Cambodia should begin the payment, which the Cambodian government has not been willing to do."

The loans were given to the government of Lon Nol after it came to power in a 1970 coup backed by the United States. The loans were intended to develop the country's agriculture sector and boost commodities exports.

Lon Nol was toppled five years later when the ultra Maoist Khmer Rouge staged its "killing fields" 1975-1979 revolution, which left an estimated 1.7 million people dead and plunged Cambodia into decades of dire poverty and political instability.

The two countries have long disagreed about repayment of the debt and Cambodia has argued the money was spent on arms which were ultimately used on its own people.

China in 2002 cancelled Cambodia's debt from the 1970s, which was estimated by embassy officials to be worth between $60 million and $1 billion.

Marciel, Washington's top official in charge of Southeast Asian affairs, plans to plans to visit Laos and Thailand in the next week.

(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

Cambodia asks US to cancel $339 million in debt from 1970s, or turn it into aid

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From The Associated Press, February 9, 2010

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodia asked the United States on Tuesday to cancel $339 million in debt that dates to loans from the 1970s — or consider converting most of it into development aid for the impoverished country.

The proposal, which came during a visit by U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel, was the latest in a long-running exchange about how to handle the debt and how the money was used 40 years ago.

"Cambodia has asked the United States government to cancel the debt but if it cannot do that, at least turn 70 percent of the debt into aid for the social development of the country," Deputy Foreign Minister Ouch Borith said after the meeting. He said if the latter option were accepted, Cambodia would discuss repayment plans for the remaining 30 percent.

Marciel, who is Washington's ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, later explained to reporters that the debt could only be waived if Congress passed a law authorizing it.

The low-interest loans financed rice, cotton and other agricultural commodities during the regime of Gen. Lon Nol, who came to power in a 1970 coup that ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk. The United States was the main financial and military supporter of Lon Nol's regime until it was toppled by the genocidal Khmer Rouge movement in April 1975.

Cambodia's government says the money was also used to "buy weapons and support the war, which caused great suffering to the Cambodian people," Ouch Borith said.

The countries have not set a repayment plan in part because the Cambodian government refuses to accept responsibility for debts incurred by the Lon Nol regime and because they disagree over the amount owed.

Dolphins, honey and climate change: visiting a Cambodian village

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/

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Lucy Aitken-Read

February 9th, 2010

A fat mango dropped out of the tree, centimeters away from my colleague’s head. We were about to commence a meeting with the eighth village here on our tour of Cambodia. As people began arriving my mind skipped back over the experience so far; we had only been here ten days but it easily felt like a month. In every village we had been greeted with huge genorosity, a fresh coconut to drink from and crowds of broad smiling faces. We had heard about honey, bamboo and resin processing businesses that were providing a diverse and sustainable form of employment for villagers. We had stayed over night on an eco tourism island that Oxfam supports- delicious food, a refreshing swim and a viewing of the rare Irrawaddy river dolphins had convinced us that this was a worthwhile initiative! We were intrigued by how this village had made conservation and environmental education were key components of this island life.

We had watched villagers gracefully slide up and down palms trees at one village, harvesting palm syrup. This village had had its main source of income, rice farming, swept away (along with everything else) in last season’s monsoon, Ketsana. Oxfam was helping them double the income from their secondary source, palm sugar, by providing grants and training to turn it from soft form to granules. The vice -president of this sugar group described how the annual flooding often caused stress for those in the village but the last flood was the worst they have seen. It took everything away with it and they worry this will become the norm. On one hand villagers who rely on palms rather than rice farming are better off as the palms will never be carried away in the current. On the other hand , she explained, they have no doubt that each year it is getting hotter and hotter, making it increasingly hard to harvest the syrup from the palms.

We had heard from a women -only fishing collective who, with money from an Oxfam grant, managed to purchase a store to sell their fish products. These women were feisty and full of passion as they told us about their meetings with the local authority, how they outline their needs and feel confident they are listened, and responded, to.

The last few villages were those which have been perhaps most impacted by the Ketsana disaster last year. Villagers here were tangibly more poor but determined to make the most of the support of Oxfam and the local partner organization. Villagers spoke animatedly about how cash grants had helped them meet their basic needs in the aftermath, as well as with more long term things. One man held up the fishing net he had purchased and described how he had managed to break out of the debt cycle that many villagers are locked into by borrowing from Oxfam rather than from private lenders who charge a high interest.

Something that has surfaced in each village is the weather and the changing climate. It seems to be coming at them from all sides. Just this afternoon one woman told us of how unpredictable weather is getting; there is rain in the dry season, it is hot in the cool season and it also gets cold in a way they have never known it. The extreme heat causes diarrhea and vomiting in their children, and makes growing crops and vegetables to eat much more laborious as they try to keep up with the extra watering they need.

When I asked an Oxfam employee at the head office last week what the lack of a global climate deal from Copenhagen meant for the people of Cambodia he replied, “It means that the people who are least responsible for this disaster of climate change will continue to suffer, with increasing consequence. It also means that those who are most responsible can carry on with impunity. Failure at Copenhagen is bad news for a small nation like Cambodia.”

Meeting the villagers and hearing how the climate is impacting on their livelihoods and their children this week has made this statement so much more real, so much more meaningful for me. Going home to campaign on climate change in an environment where people are still questioning and doubting the reality of it will be increasingly hard with the memory of these warm and welcoming villagers so imprinted in my mind.

Vietnam and Cambodia border provinces boost cooperation

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02/09/2010

The Tay Ninh provincial People’s Committee on February 9 held an exchange meeting with Cambodia’s border provinces of Kongpong Cham, Prayveng and Svayrieng.

During the meeting, representatives from both sides discussed cooperation activities to help each other strengthen economic development, defence and social security and combatting social vices.

** The same day, a ceremony was held in Binh Phuoc province to rebury the remains of 60 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who died in Cambodia.

The remains were found in the provinces of Karatie and Kompongthom during the dry season of 2009-2010 by soldiers of the Binh Phuoc Army Headquarters and Military Zone VII. Three individuals have been identified and two of them have been handed over to their families.

The Reds cant build up the momentum

http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/

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Posted by Thanong

February 8, 2010

Going into the final battle, the Red Shirts appears to be losing their momentum. Things do not go their way. A lot of confusion is going on inside the camp.

First, Gen Pallop Pinmanee has signalled that he would not want to have anything to do with the Red Shirts any more. Shortly earlier, he was the one who suggested to Thaksin Shinawatra that Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh be appointed as head of the People's Army. Why does the general jump ship while the battle is about to begin?

Second, Chaturon Chaisaeng is not happy with this move, which can bring down the rating of Pheu Thai further. The People's Army sounds like an overlapping army with the Royal Thai Army. Setting up the People's Army amounts to treason.

Third, then Gen Chavalit denies that he would like this job as head of the People's Army. But he would not completely distance himself from the Reds. Chavalit has already helped Thaksin to become economic advisor to Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister.

Fourth, Maj Gen Khattiya Sawasdiphol, alias Sae Daeng, is not at odds against Chatuporn Phromphand, one of the core leaders of the Red Shirts. They have been trading foul words. Throwing a bomb here and there would not make a big difference.

Fifth, through their community radio networks, the Reds have threatened stage a people's war -- a one-litre bottle of gasline for each fighter -- ahead the Supreme Court's verdict on the Bt76 billion asset seizure case.

Sixth, Hun Sen had made a surprising visit to the border. He is trying to take advantage of Thailand's internal division for his political gain. At this point, Cambodia is not afraid to go to war with its neighbour. Probably he would like to be the first modern Cambodian leader to stand up against Siam.

Who is backing Hun Sen then?

Seventh, Thaksin is spending most of his time in Cambodia -- not Dubai as he would like most of us to believe. As the final battle draws near, he needs to stay close to the battlefield to issue his command.

#############################################

What is Thaksin's strategy? Or what options do he have now?

First, he has almost completely lost support from the military establishment. His allies within the army might not be strong enough to assist his comeback through a military intervention.

Second, he might resort to employing a redshirt uprising to create social upheavals.

Third, lobbying the Supreme Court on the assetseizure case is impossible now.

Fourth, Thaksin has threatened to take the assetseizure case to the World Court.

Fifth, Thaksin would fight to his last breath to defend his Bt76 billion assets.

My good guess is that Thaksin's only last option left is number two. He can only prevail or make a comeback through the Red Shirts Revolution.

If he does not resort to the Red Shirts Revolution, he almost certainly stands to lose his Bt76 billion.

If the Red Shirts come out in big number, we'll see power play.