Japan-supported Cambodian villagers give back with disaster aid donation

April 19, 2011
Mainichi Japan

Cotton threads produced by Cambodian villagers supported by Japanese NPO Nature Saves Cambodia are seen in this recent photo. (Mainichi)

Large amounts of financial and material aid have poured into Japan since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami ripped into the country’s northeast, and while amidst such a huge volume a mere 80,000 yen may tend to go unnoticed, the donation from poor villagers in Cambodia, who have been helped by Japanese aid in the past, is worthy of special mention.

Merger of Opposition Remains at Impasse

Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

Photo: by Im Sothearith Kem Sokha, president of Human Right Party, called the merger the “final chance” for the parties to organize for democratic change

The leader of the minority Human Rights Party has written exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy to propose both parties merge ahead of elections next year, but the two sides remain unable to find common ground.

In an official letter, HRP President Kem Sokha proposes a new party be formed under a new banner, rather than have his party merge under the Sam Rainsy Party banner. He called the merger the “final chance” for the parties to organize for democratic change.

Ban Will Remain on US Adoptions: Ambassador

Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

Photo: AP Cambodian officials say they expect to begin initiating a 2009 law in April this year to bring the country in line with international standards

The US put a ban on Cambodian adoptions in December 2001. Since 2009, Cambodia has been trying to meet international standards for adoption. However, US officials and child protection groups say the country’s policies are not ready.

The US special ambassador for children’s protection, Susan Jacobs, recently toured Cambodia to learn whether its policies protect children well enough to lift an adoption ban.

Study Finds Persistent Concerns in Judiciary

Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

In February, government spokesman Phay Siphan told VOA that Phnom Penh acknowledged the judiciary was inadequate, but said improvements take time

High levels of pre-trial detention and little legal representation for suspects remain chief concerns in the judiciary, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights said Tuesday.

Mang Monika, who led a monitoring project for the organization between July and December last year, told VOA Khmer that police continue misconduct, “including threats and the use of violence or torture, continued to affect a small number of trials.”

“Judges continue to use mobile phones in court,” she added.

A Look at the Day the Khmer Rouge Took Power

 Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

Photo: AP A Khmer Rouge rebel frisks a civilian in downtown Phnom Penh hours after the rebel forces led by Pol Pot took control of the Cambodian capital April 17, 1975

photographs marking the day the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh and began their devastating four-year rule 36 years ago.

Chhang Youk, director of the center, said the exhibition, which opens next Monday, is to remind people of the beginning of the Khmer Rouge atrocities.

The exhibition showcases 17 rare photographs taken by American photographer Al Rockoff and French photographer Roland Neveu.

The center receives between 600 and 800 visitors each month, Chhang Youk said, and the exhibit is meant to be a discussion point that provides a look back at Phnom Penh.

In the exhibition, one can see victorious Khmer Rouge soldiers, Lon Nol troops protecting the evacuation of the US Embassy, Phnom Penh residents leaving the city, and a woman who weeps near her dead husband on the side of the road, among other images of the day.

April 17, 1975, is annually marked as the day the Khmer Rouge took over, instituting ultra-communist policies that lead to the deaths of up to 2.2 million people.

This year, a survivor of the Tuol Sleng prison commemorated the day with a ceremony there, while members of the opposition visited the mass graves of the Choeung Ek execution site outside the city.

“Any activity to remember this day is necessary,” said Dim Sovannarom, a spokesman for the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal. “And that’s why the [tribunal] is operational under its mission here to bring those responsible to trial.”

Reporters With Thought Borders [in Cambodia and Burma]

Monday, April 18, 2011
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN
The Irrawaddy news

Ross Dunkley reads The Myanmar Times newspaper that he works for, before a hearing in his trial at Kamaryut township court in Yangon April 4, 2011. (Photo: Reuters)

PHNOM PENH—Ross Dunkley, the sole foreign owner invested in Burma’s state-controlled media,faces charges of assaulting a woman and breaches of the country’s immigration laws, in what many observers, including some of Dunkley’s own business partners, view as a power play aimed at ousting the Australian from his stake in the Myanmar Times.

Dunkley has since been released on bail, part of which was paid by his Burmese business partner, Tin Tun Oo, who was named CEO of the Myanmar Times in the days after Dunkley’s initial arrest. Dunkley has subsequently downplayed the conspiracy angle, and hopes to be acquitted soon.

He is well known in media circles in Cambodia after buying into the Phnom Penh Post, one of the country’s two English language dailies, back in 2007.

Laos Defers Decision on Dam Project

A Cambodian fisherman cast his net in the Mekong River on Tuesday outside Phnom Penh.

The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press

BANGKOK—Laos has deferred a decision on erecting in the first dam on the lower Mekong River in the face of strong opposition from neighboring countries including its closest ally, Vietnam.

Southeast Asian Nations to Discuss Dam

The decision came at a meeting of four Southeast Asian countries in the Lao capital of Vientiane on Tuesday.

Opponents had feared the Xayaburi dam would open the way for as many as 10 others on the Mekong’s lower mainstream, degrading the river’s fragile ecology and the lives of millions who depend on it for their livelihoods.

Laos argues that revenue from the 1260-megawatt dam will spur economic and social development in one of the world’s poorest countries.

Lower Mekong countries fail to reach decision on $3.5 bln dam

BANGKOK | Tue Apr 19, 2011

(Reuters) -Thailand, Laos,Cambodia and Vietnam failed on Tuesday to agree on whether Laosshould proceed with a controversial $3.5 billion Mekong River dam project, a decision they said should be handled at ministerial level.

The four lower Mekong countries were unable to find a common conclusion a meeting in the Lao capital Vientiane. There was “still a difference in views” between them over the project, the Mekong River Commission, of which the four countries are members, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Jason Szep)
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Mekong Xayaburi dam decision due
By Guy Delauney/BBC

The four member countries of the Mekong River Commission are meeting to make a final decision on whether to allow the construction of a controversial dam.

Suwit quits as head of Preah Vihear talks, but FM Kasit said Suwit still main negotiator

By The Nation
Published on April 19, 2011

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti (pictured) has quit his position as head of the Thai delegation to the bilateral and international negotiations over the Preah Vihear Temple as a World Heritage Site, an informed source disclosed yesterday.

“He has withdrawn from the delegation for the bilateral talks with Cambodia and also from the delegation for the World Heritage Committee meeting,” the source said.

The bilateral talks are scheduled to take place in France on May 25. The WHC meeting will take place on June 19 and 20, also in France.

Last year, Suwit led the delegation to the WHC meeting in Brazil and successfully had the Unesco committee delay any decision onCambodia’s management plan for the Preah Vihear Temple complex.

Thai Parliament withdraws JBC meeting minutes

BANGKOK, April 19 (MCOT)-Thailand’s joint sitting of Parliament on Tuesday approved by majority vote to withdraw three minutes of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) meetings as proposed by the government, saying the border talks between the two neighbours have yet to conclude.

The joint sitting of the House of Representatives and the Senate voted 240:12, with 86 abstentions and nine absent, agreeing to withdraw the notes of the special panel to study the controversial issue.

There are currently 622 members of parliament — 473 MPs and 149 senators. At least 312 members are required for a quorum.

Cluster Bombs Cloud Prospects for Peace [between Cambodia and Thailand]

A de-miner holds fragments from an exploded cluster submunition. / Credit:Irwin Loy/IPS

By Irwin Loy

PHNOM PENH, Apr 19, 2011 (IPS) – Allegations that Thailand used controversial cluster munitions during recent border clashes with Cambodiahave become the latest wedge driving tensions between the two neighbours.

The disarmament advocacy group Cluster Munition Coalition earlier this month announced that it had confirmed the Thais used the weapons as part of February skirmishes between Thai and Cambodian troops around a disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple.

The group said this marked the first time such weapons have been deployed since a landmark treaty banning their use came into effect last year – though Thailand continues to dispute whether or not the weapons should be classified as cluster bombs.