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Cambodia Tries to Eliminate Dengue Fever
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 08:59 DAP-NEWS / Vibol
CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, AUGUST 10, 2010-Cambodia’s health ministry on Tuesday organized a seminar for health sector in combating dengue fever a move to help local people to eliminate the diseases in the country.
Health ministry said that for seven months for this year, dengue fever killed 10 children among 3771 infected people in the country.
Dr.Duong Socheat, head of national center for combating dengue fever for health ministry said that ministry has tried to help local people and educated about the danger for illness. “We have provided health sector to help people in treatment, he added
Mostly, cases happened in Cambodia found on children and now the raining season started. That is a concern for health officials for infecting dengue fever; a virus is mosquito that was offspring in pond and water jar. “Local people need to clean their water jars and tanks to eliminate dengue fever and mosquito around their households,” Duong said, adding that ministry also has given medicine and albeit drug to put in their water jar to eliminate virus.
Most dengue fever found in Bantey Mean Chey, Kompot, Kep, Kompong Chhang, Phnom Penh, Kandal provinces.
OPINION: PRIME MINISTER HUN SEN CALLS THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 08:42 administrator
CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, AUGUST 10, 2010- Saturday, 7 August , 2010 during a public meeting with the “People’s Alliance of Democracy”, the so-called “yellow shirts”, Mr. Abhisit, Prime Minister of Thailand, declared openly : “About the land encroachment, we will cancel the MOU if the problem can’t be settled. We will use both diplomatic and military means”.
On 14 June 2000, Cambodia and Thailand signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the survey and demarcation of the border line between the two countries. Article 1 of this MOU stipulates that the survey and demarcation of land boundary between the two countries shall be jointly conducted in accordance with the 1904 Convention, the 1907 Treaty and its annexed Protocol and the “Maps which are the results of demarcation works of the Commissions of Delimitation of the Boundary between Indo-China and Siam set up under the Convention of 1904 and the Treaty of 1907 between France and Siam, and other documents relating to the application of the Convention of'1904 and the Treaty of 1907 between France and Siam.”
The Prime Minister of Thailand is using threats. The first one is about the unilateral cancellation of a legal document that has the value of an international treaty. This MOU is nothing less than the implementation of the judgment by the International Court of Justice that said, in 1962, that it considers that “Thailand in 1908-1909 did accept the map as representing the outcome of the work of delimitation and hence recognized the line on that map as being the frontier line, the effect of which is to situate Preah Vihear in Cambodian territory.” The Court “ feels bound, as a matter of treaty interpretation, to pronounce in favor of the line as mapped in the disputed area.” The Court stipulated that “Thailand is under the obligation to withdraw any military or police forces, or other guards or keepers, stationed by her at the Temple, or in its vicinity in Cambodian territory.”
In a letter sent today to both the Chairman of the UN General Assembly and the Chairman of the UN Security Council, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen wrote that Thailand violates the Court judgment with troops stationing in the Keo Sikkhakiri Svarak pagoda of Cambodia.
The second threat expressed by the Thai Prime Minister is to use military force against Cambodia. Prime Minister Hun Sen underlined in his letters that Thailand, by doing so, violates two key provisions of the UN Charter that say : art 2.3 : “All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered” and art 2.4 : “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”
Prime Minister Hun Sen requests that all the State Members of the UN and, in particular, of the UN Security Council shall be informed about the Thai threats violating both the UN Charter and the 1962 ICJ judgment.
It’s not the first time that Thailand disowns its signature. In 1952, it violated all the treaties and conventions signed during the French protectorate by sending military forces occupying the Temple and its vicinity. A military occupation that led to the ICJ decision and the evacuation of Thai troops from Cambodian territory. In 1992-1993, by cooperating with the Khmer rouge troops that were fighting UNTAC personnel and by pushing back border stones inside Cambodian territory, both activities witnessed by UNTAC observers, it violated the Paris Peace Agreement of which Thailand is signatory State, and in particular the “Agreement concerning the sovereignty, the independence, the territorial integrity and inviolability the neutrality and national unity of Cambodia.” In 2008, it violated once again all the international legal instruments on the common border.
What is the value of a Thai signature? How Thai officials do care about the legal documents they used to sign? Are these, as it was said, “only pieces of paper without biding obligations”? Who will remind the Thai Prime Minister that this is the classical language used in the 20th century by dictators, a language that led to wars and devastations?
Mr. Abhisit seems to ignore that our world is not more the world of nationalist claims. It’s not the world of the past century. It’s a globalized world where, based on legal provisions, one prefers open frontiers, free trade zones, regional stability and cooperation. Does Mr. Abhisit want to return to the past world of nationalism and conflicts full of violations of legal agreements and international law?
Svay Sitha
Secretary of State
Chairman of Press and Quick reaction Unit of the Office of the Council of Ministers
Opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect those of the Royal Government of Cambodia
ANALYSIS: ABHISIT VEJJAJIVA’S THREAT TO USE FORCES IS REAL
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 08:35 administrator
CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, August 10, 2010-Samdech Akka Moha Sena Pedei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia has repeated several times that he, personally, and the entire nation of Cambodia knew the horrors of war and he has been doing his best to maintain peace, security and harmony for the Cambodian people. Not even fifteen years, since 1998, when Cambodia has achieved great unity for the first time under the win-win policy of the Royal Government of Cambodia, in which the Cambodian People Party (CPP) played a major role of leadership, the kingdom has embarked tirelessly in upholding the dignity of the Cambodian people, developing the country socially and economically, reducing poverty wisely and steadily, thus moving this poor nation from complete devastation caused by the war between “Khmer brothers” to a happy nation with rule of law and social justice. It is to the amazement of fair-minded prominent and ordinary foreign visitors that Cambodia has become a modern nation in Southeast Asia and an “island of peace,” a land of wonders with its rich and unique national cultural heritages in Asia and the world, a land of smile with sincerity and kindness of heart. Though it is saddening to recall this fact about the war between “Khmer brothers,” the reality and history must be kept as a lesson and a reminder that some “Khmer brothers” gave away so very much to Thailand until the latter has become much more than confident of itself, but cocky, arrogant and condescending that Cambodia must remain inferior to Thailand, and Thailand can and must take land from Cambodia whenever, whatever, and where ever as it pleases. For Thailand, it is a big mistake and it has been a big failure up until now.
The falsification of international document by Thailand
When the outcome of the war between the “Khmer brothers” seemed to be tilting against Thailand’s interests and the Thai’s easy dream to get Cambodian land, Thailand behaved as an outlaw, a criminal, and a thief by falsifying the international border line and drawing a unilateral line carving an area of “4.6 sq km” inside Cambodian territory, somewhere between 1975 and 1979, that is during the rule of the genocidal regime of Democratic Kampuchea or Khmer Rouge.
The “supposed to be secret map” produced by the Royal Thai Survey Department, an arm of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand is marked “Democratic Kampuchea” on the Cambodian side of the border. In fact, between Cambodia and Thailand, there is an international border line on the Map with the title “DANGREK,” recognized and accepted in 1908-1909 by Thailand, and known as the “ANNEX I MAP” under the ICJ proceedings in 1962.
There were a total of eleven maps, which is the result of the delineation and demarcation works of the Franco-Siamese Mixed Commissions set up in conformity with the 1904 Convention and the 1907 Treaty between France and Siam that provided the finality and stability of an international border line between French Indochina and Siam. Certainly, DANGREK MAP is one among the eleven maps. Recently, Thailand has begun to intensify its campaign to mislead the international opinion by calling the DANGREK MAP, the Cambodian map. Thailand plays with words to shift the meaning of things. Thailand thinks that it is smarter than everybody in the world to the point to say with arrogance that what Thailand said is what it is, and the whole world must accept it. Thailand has failed many times about playing with words to mislead the international opinion. This time it will fail again, and badly. Suppose one day, Abhisit Vijjajeva, the “Thai Patriots” network, and the PAD (or the yellow shirts) got a common dream and question the international border line on the other ten maps beside the DANGREK MAP, then what would be the response of the international community, including the United Nations? It would not have been outside of the mark to speculate reasonably that the international community would have told Thailand to “go fishing,” or to “get lost”. With this in mind, here is the next point of this analysis.
Thailand’s threat to use military forces to occupy the “4.6 sq km” is real
The Cambodian people trust the wisdom and the farsightedness of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia who is a peace-maker and a peace-keeper, a nation-builder and a patriot who will lead the nation in the defense of the national sovereignty and the territorial integrity. He has solemnly sworn to the Cambodian people that under his watch, not even an inch of the Cambodian territory will be lost. Weary of the horrors of almost a half century of war that ravaged Cambodia and Cambodian lives, he wants to build a border of peace and development both economic and social that benefit Cambodians and Thais. Will Abhisit Vejjajiva, the “Thai Patriots” network, the PAD (or the yellow shirts) keep their hands off Cambodia? They beat the war drums. The sound is getting louder each day. Similar to the question of the DANGREK MAP, Thailand has begun here, as well, to intensify its campaign to mislead the international opinion by playing with words from “an overlapping area of 4.6 sq km” to “the 4.6 sq km is Thai territory,” and as reported by the Bangkok Post Online on 9 August “Mr Abhisit agreed with the group (The Thai Patriots and the PAD) that the disputed zone belonged to Thailand and Cambodia had encroached upon Thai soil despite the temple itself being on Cambodian land.” In fact the territory is Cambodian and Cambodians have always live there. The truth is that there has been a Cambodian pagoda, a Cambodian village market, a Cambodian administrative post long before the MOU 2000, as remarked one governor of Sisaket province and reported by a Thai newspaper.
In the long history of Thailand, this country never allowed any other country to encroach its territory for a single hour, or a single day. What is wrong with Abhisit Vejjajiva, the “Thai Patriots” network, the PAD and other Thai leaders before Abhisit Vejjajiva, all of them under the same Majesty the King of Thailand to show this impossible and unthinkable stupidity to ignore the presence of the Cambodians inside the “4.6 sq km” over decades, until now? This campaign of misinformation will not stand a chance, especially at the international gatherings like ASEAN and the United Nations.
Here is a typical Thailand’s behavior with regard to the territory of its neighbor, Burma, as reported by the Nation on 8 August: “Burmese ruling junta last month shut down the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border crossing after accusing Thailand of building an embankment on the Moei River to alter the common border line.”
This confirms beyond further explanations that Thailand never allow any encroachment of its territory. In the absence of any rejection of the “Burmese accusation” by Thailand’s official and as it was reported by Thai News media, Thailand’s “building an embankment on the Moei River to alter the common border line,” must be a fact.
In light of the above, it is absolutely impossible for Thailand to fool the International community despite its ability to utilize innuendo, wild suggestion and off-basis accusations, and it is also really tough for Thailand to find listeners and backers to support its claim of Cambodia’s encroachment.
This leads, therefore, to a very well founded cognition that Thailand military threat is real. As reported by Thai media, Abhisit Vejjajiva “had instructed Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya to hold talks with Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon and the military to seek diplomatic means to deal with the situation.” He has not ruled out the use of force, by saying: "Resorting to force would be the last option…” He also said that “the government would use both diplomatic and military measures” to take back the “4.6 sq km”.
Pack of lies
It was just about ten days ago that Natural Resources and Environment Ministers Suwit Khunkitti has lied to the Thai people and the World by saying that“Cambodia should have handed in its management proposal six months ahead of the meeting, but it made its submission less than 24 hours before the meeting began,” as reported by the Bangkok Post On Line News on 30 July 2010, and he had also said:“the committee instead dropped the topic, saying Cambodia had not followed proper procedure in submitting the plan.”
In fact Cambodia's Management Plan of the Temple of Preah Vihear had been submitted to the World Heritage Centre before 01 February 2010, as required. Minister Suwit Khunkitti had acknowledged that “the World Heritage Centre has the document submitted by the State Party”.
As reported by the Bangkok Post Online on 8 August, 2010 Abhisit Vijjajeva intensified the campaign of misinformation with the intention to fool the international opinion by projecting a false and misleading picture of Thai actual authority on the “4.6 sq km” area, by claiming that “arrests were made when people encroached into the area in 2008 and there were clashes in April last year because of the same reason.” Actually, this is even a bigger lie than the one told by Minister Suwit Khunkitti.
The truth is that on 15 October 2008 at 14:15 Thai troops started attacking the Cambodian troops at three different places deep inside the Cambodian territory, (1) at Prolean Intry, approximately 1,120 meters South of the international boundary line, (2) at the area of Phnom Troap, 1,600 meters South of the international boundary line, (3) in the vicinity of the Keo Sikkha Kiri Svara pagoda, approximately 300 meters West of the Temple of Preah Vihear and approximately 700 meters from the international boundary line. Thai troops suffered heavy losses and were forced to withdraw from the Cambodian territory. There were no “arrests” as Abhisit Vijjajeva had lied to the Thai people and the World. On 3 April 2009 Thai troops fired rockets and heavy weapons burning to the ground the Cambodian village market near the Temple of Preah Vihear. Abhisit has played with the word “arrests” to change the picture of the truth and the fact. He will get burnt when his campaign of intoxication is exposed. This analysis leads to the conclusion that Thailand is preparing the ground for the use of forces.
What’s next?
The Cambodian nation believes in the wisdom of Samdech Techo Hun Sen to seek peace with Thailand, but she also believes in his unmatched understanding of the state of war from A to Z, and his quality of a supreme commander of the armed forces. Thailand’s threat creates an urgency and a necessity for Samdech Techo Hun Sen to send letters to H.E. Vitaly Churkin, President of the United Nations Security Council, and H.E. Ali Abdussalam Treki, President of the United Nations General Assembly, on Sunday 08 August, 2010 to inform both of them about the belligerent statement of the Prime Minister of Thailand who advocates “the military means” to settle the border demarcation.
On the other hand, against Thailand’s campaign of intoxication, misinformation and the distortion of the facts, a successful media war could have the effects of discouraging Thailand from being a fool and a bully-boy.
Pen Ngoeun
Advisor to the Office of the Council of Ministers (OCM),
Member of the Advisory Council of the Press and Quick Reaction Unit (PRU) of OCM;
This analysis is strictly personal and does not reflect under any shape or form the idea or opinion of OCM and PRU.
ASEAN, UN and USAID Conduct Major International Exercise to Prepare for Severe Pandemic
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 04:36 DAP-NEWS / Soy Sophea .CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, AUGUST 10, 2010-International group here on Tuesday announced that they would host a pandemic preparedness and response exercise focusing on managing the impacts of severe pandemics on societies, governments and organisations in the Southeast Asian region.
The exercise, which is a first of its kind anywhere in the world, will take place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 16-20 August 2010, according to a joint press statement of ASEAN, UN and USAID, adding that It is expected to attract over 170 high-level participants from governments, UN agencies, international bodies and non-governmental organisations.
“The unprecedented event aims to improve the capabilities of ASEAN Member States, both individually and collectively, to prepare for and respond to a severe pandemic with potentially devastating effects on the region,” said the release. “The exercise also sets out to improve multisectoral preparedness and response at the country, regional and global level among the Member States and other international actors.”
A severe pandemic could have hugely damaging effects on the Southeast Asia region. While many countries are engaged in meeting such a threat, much of the focus in the past has been on health area preparedness.
ASEAN Members States increasingly recognize that non-health sectors can also be gravely affected, impeding a government’s capacity to respond to a pandemic. This thinking has led to the need to come together to identify the gaps in pandemic preparedness, and to strengthen collaboration and coordination among Member States.
In expressing his appreciation for the event and emphasizing its importance, the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, said that ‘the table-top exercise will help us fulfill the wishes of our ASEAN leaders for our region to be ready in times of pandemics. We will use the exercise to identify our gaps in pandemic preparedness and prepare for a regional pandemic preparedness plan as called for in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint. Lessons learnt from this exercise can be used not only for cases of pandemics but also for other severe events affecting our region, such as natural disasters.’
Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management Vice President Dr. Nhim Vanda emphasized the value of the event to the region; ‘Cambodia was one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to focus its preparedness efforts on non-health sectors. This event provides the opportunity to bring the multisector preparedness focus to a regional level and set an example that can be followed on a global front.’
The transboundary nature of pandemics means that they seldom remain isolated within a single country. Effective regional arrangements are imperative to ensure the continuity of operations and subsequent security of a country during a pandemic. The pandemic preparedness and response exercise aims to strengthen these arrangements.
