Cambodia supports WTO director general for new term
PHNOM PENH, Nov 19, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — SLDDF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating — Cambodia supports World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Pascale Lamy to work at his current position for a new term, said Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday.
“Thus he can continue to join the efforts of solving the problems that the least developed countries (LDC) are facing,” he told the opening ceremony of the two-day LDC Ministerial Conference, which is organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and WTO in Siem Reap province.
“We vote to support him to continue his work as director general of WTO. We requests him to serve our benefits,” he told the delegates who came from a total of 49 counties to discuss issues related to international trade.
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Cambodia stresses security, education in 2009 budget
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) — A draft of the 2009 national budget indicates that the Cambodian government intends to increase funding for the country’s defense and education sectors, English-language newspaper the Cambodia Daily said on Wednesday.
The 2009 national budget totals 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, 19 percent of which, or 223 million dollars, will be reserved for national defense and internal security, the paper quoted official source as saying.
Most of the money will go toward salary increase for military and police officers and marks a 64 percent increase on such spending compared to the 2008 budget law, it said.
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Cambodia not to boycott ASEAN Summit in Thailand
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) — The bilateral armed clash at the border area in October will not stop Cambodia from attending the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Thailand, Chinese-language newspaper the Jian Hua Daily on Wednesday quoted an official as saying.
“We will not boycott the summit in December, even as we have border dispute,” Phay Siphan, secretary of state of the Cambodian Council of Ministers told a seminar here on Tuesday.
The clash in October killed two Cambodian soldiers and wounded two others, after Thai troops entered the disputed area over sovereignty claim.
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A Rejection of Photos, Not the Photographer
Photographer Gunnar Bergstrom, who toured the country under the Khmer Rouge in 1978 as part of a group of Swedish sympathizers, began a series of seminars and photo exhibitions Tuesday in an effort to come to grips with the past and explain to Cambodians how he was denied the truth.
The 93-photograph exhibit, “Gunnar in the Living Hell,” features never-seen photographs from Bergstrom’s personal archive. Cambodians in Phnom Penh, where the exhibit opened Tuesday, expressed discontent with the photographs, but not with the man who took them.
Photos that show people carrying earth in shoulder-pole baskets, smiling and eating together, do not reflect the reality of the regime, said Prum Net, a 66-year-old farmer from Takeo province, who was invited to the exhibition by the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
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Three Hospitalized in Kampot Crackdown
Security forces, including police and military, continued forced evictions in Kampot province for a second day Tuesday, following the injuries of at least three villagers Monday.
The authorities destroyed an estimated 230 small homes in Ta Ken commune, Chhouk district, in two days of operations to oust residents from a national park, officials said.
Soldiers and police on Monday beat seven people, striking them with rifle butts and sending three to the Kampong Speu provincial hospital, villagers said.
Touch Sambath, a doctor at the hospital, confirmed the arrival of three patients Monday night, one of them seriously hurt with strikes to his eyebrow and head. All three patients remained in the hospital Tuesday, he said.
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Khmer Rouge Reenactment Filming Begins
A film crew of eight Cambodians and two Germans left Tuesday for Kirivong district, Takeo province, to spend 10 days filming a documentary near the Khmer Rouge stronghold of Phnom Vor.
The crew will film former victims of the Khmer Rouge reenacting, through improvisation, their own memories of experiences under the regime.
The film will allow former victims to express their experiences under the Khmer Rouge and will be related to the upcoming trials for jailed leaders under the Khmer Rouge tribunal, said Chhaya Hong, executive director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy.
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Former Rebels Could Confront Each Other
Investigating judges of the Khmer Rouge tribunal hope to hold a nonpublic hearing wherein two former regime leaders will confront each other, a judge said.
Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Kek Iev will confront the senior-most surviving leader, Nuon Chea, investigating judge You Bunleng said.
The two will need to give concurrent testimony over accusations made by Kaing Kek Iev, better known as Duch, that Nuon Chea masterminded the killings of Tuol Sleng, where at least 12,000 people were interned before being executed, sources said.
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Three former Khmer Rouge leaders to remain in custody: court
PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Former Khmer Rouge head of state and two other regime ministers will remain in custody of Cambodia’s UN-backed genocide court for at least another year, a court official said Tuesday.
Investigating judge You Bunleng said they had on Tuesday decided to renew former head of state Khieu Samphan’s detention — due to expire Wednesday — as they feared he may flee or that the 77-year-old’s safety may be in jeopardy.
Khieu Samphan’s lawyer Sa Sovan said he would appeal the decision against his client, who is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role during the regime’s brutal 1975-1979 rule.
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Fake drugs worth 6.6 million dlrs seized in Asia: Interpol
PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Police across Southeast Asia have arrested 27 people and seized 6.6 million dollars worth of counterfeit anti-HIV drugs, antibiotics, and other medicines, Interpol said Tuesday.
The global police organisation said 16 million fake pills, also including anti-malaria and anti-tuberculosis drugs, were netted in Operation Storm, a five-month sting that ended in September.
Nearly 200 raids were carried out in Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam with the support of Interpol and the World Health Organisation, it said in a statement.
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UN legal chief to travel to Cambodia for talks
Phnom Penh - UN Assistant Secretary-General Peter Taksoe-Jensen will travel to Cambodia this week to discuss the country’s troubled Khmer Rogue tribunal with Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, national media reported on Tuesday.
Taksoe-Jensen requested the meeting amid ongoing allegations of corruption on the Cambodian side of the UN-backed court, the Phnom Penh Post reported.
The tribunal was established in 2006 after a decade of negotiations between the UN and the Cambodian government and will put on trial five former leaders of the genocidal Khmer Rogue regime.
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