Cambodia Report
News and Views on Cambodia
Compiled by Farib Sos
Vol
4, No 1 June 2002
In this issue:-
3
Cambodia's friends should get tough
6
Shortcomings in Cambodia's legal system dooms prospects for U.N.-backed
trial
of Khmer Rouge: Amnesty
7
38 year old man gets prison term for buying sex abroad
17
Thanks To Donors For Their Commitment To Push For Good Governance And Promote
Democracy In Cambodia
____________________________________________________________
Far
Eastern Economic Review
June 13,
2002
Vol: 165
No: 23
Page 58
by BARRY
WAIN
Through
much of Cambodia, the most potent reminders of the Khmer Rouge are
the
scattered, dry bones of the roughly 2 million people who died in the
killing
fields. But in the northern district of Anlong Veng, where the
Maoist
revolutionary movement made its last stand, the most visible legacy
of the
Khmer Rouge is water.
Even in
the dry season, when clouds of choking dust envelop the landscape,
the lake
on the edge of Anlong Veng town stretches almost to the horizon,
blue, cool
and serene. It is a product not of nature but of the strange
minds of
Khmer Rouge leaders, who imagined they were engineers equal to the
god-kings
who centuries earlier created the splendours of Angkor Wat.
The lake
was created on the orders of the notorious Ta Mok, who in 1989
ordered
his guerrilla troops to dam a small watercourse. Blocked, it
permanently
flooded a forest and killed the trees. Today, their twisted
skeletons
still jut from the lake's shallow waters. Although Ta Mok thought
the lake
could be a source of irrigation, its only use now is as a breeding
ground for
metre-long fish.
The lake
is not the only souvenir of the Khmer Rouge in Anlong Veng, which
remained
under the influence of the movement for far longer than any other
part of
the country. Long after the regime fell in 1979, some of its
leading
members held on in this northern outpost. Recently, Prime Minister
Hun Sen
proposed transforming Anlong Veng into a "national region of
historical
tourism," to attract both Cambodian and overseas visitors.
High on
the visitors' itinerary, no doubt, will be the spot where the Khmer
Rouge's leader,
Pol Pot, was cremated on a hastily built pyre of timber and
old car
tyres in 1998. It can be reached only by motorbike over a rough and
winding
track. There isn't much to see at the end of trail: just a pathetic
pile of
cinders and ash. Nearby, Pol Pot's former house is just as
sad-fragments
of brick walls standing above an empty bunker.
Far more
impressive, and in better shape, is the home of the man who once
led Pol
Pot's army, Ta Mok. Built on the shores of his artificial lake, the
two-storey
house features floor-to- ceiling wall paintings of Angkor Wat
and other
famous temples.
While the
house alone might not be enough to draw curious visitors in
droves, it
seems appropriate that Ta Mok can offer more than his former
commander-in-chief.
Unlike the secretive Pol Pot, the one-legged Ta Mok was
a regular
in town when it was a Khmer Rouge stronghold. Despite his
reputation
he was popular with many: "Ta Mok took care of me," says
48-year-old
San Reong, who lost his left leg fighting for the Khmer Rouge
against
government forces.
Considering
the state of their homes, it's fitting that Ta Mok had the
final say
over Pol Pot. In 1997 he put his former leader on trial for
supposedly
betraying the communist cause. The site of that show trial, in
which a
peasant "jury" judged Pol Pot guilty, is another potential tourist
beacon.
Ta Mok was
finally captured, still fighting, in 1999. Although he is often
referred
to in the Western media as "the butcher," in Anlong Veng Ta Mok is
seen as
something of a scapegoat. He is the only member of Pol Pot's inner
circle
being detained, pending the establishment of a tribunal to hold the
Khmer
Rouge accountable for its inexplicable cruelty.
That
proposed tribunal is a symbol of how Cambodia is still struggling to
come to terms
with the Khmer Rouge era. So can it be right for the
government
to use memories of ~at era as a lure for tourists? Tourism
Minister
Veng Sereyvuth believes it is. And, mindful perhaps of the Khmer
Rouge's
own attempts to restart Cambodian history from Year Zero, he
declares: "We aren't trying to turn history upside down."
Xinhua,
Thursday, June 13, 2002
PHNOM
PENH, June 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The Cambodian government has made
great
efforts to create conditions to attract more foreign investments
since
foreign investors reduced money in the country in 1997.
Cambodia
saw a steep reduction in foreign investments which dropped from
2.5
billion U.S. dollars in 1995 to 214 million dollars in 2001 after
the
country was afflicted by the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
To solve
the problem, the Royal government has created a political and
social
environment of peace, tranquility and stability and amended the
Law on
Investment by intensive consultations with the private sector and
the donor
community.
The
amended law has given attention to additional measures to facilitate
investors
by streamlining procedures and paperwork in applying for
investment
approval, imports and exports of goods and equipment within
the
framework of the investment project.
Under the
amendment, the government has given priorities to the
development
of advanced science and technology, agriculture, electricity
generation,
processing industry, telecommunication, education, tourism,
infrastructure
and environment protections to encourage investors to
enlarge
their investments in these sectors.
Some
investment projects can also enjoy preferential treatments,
including
fully or partly exemption from taxation, and exempting from
investors'
profits for the first eight years of investment.
Furthermore,
Cambodia can provide land to investors who invest in
agriculture
and industry and they can rent land for up to 90 years.
Cambodia
also welcomes investment in export-oriented industries and
producing
goods that can be used as substitutes for imported goods.
Those of
whose products 80 percent are for export can be rendered 100
percent
exemption from taxation and cheap electricity power supply.
In the
meantime, the government established an institution, which is
composed
of national armed forces, military police, the police and local
authorities,
to investigate, prohibit and crack down on smuggling and
evading
taxes in order to ensure fair price competitiveness between
domestic
products and imported goods.
Apart from
these measures, Cambodia has increased its budget and
mobilized
external assistance to rehabilitate or reconstruct
infrastructure,
especially roads and bridges, ports and quays, airports
and
electricity power stations so as to facilitate investments and
reduce
costs of investment projects.
To create
better investment conditions and business opportunities for
foreign
investors, the government has formulated a long-term plan to set
up
economic development and industry development zones, industry gardens
and
"industry corridor."
Since June
2001, economic development zones have been set up on the
borders of
Cambodia-Thailand, Cambodia-Vietnam and Cambodia-Laos, which
occupy an
area equal to a third of the total Cambodian area.
In
accordance with initiatives of investors and the government, seven
sectoral
working groups under the leadership of the government have been
set up to
help resolve contradictions and policy debates between the
government
and investors.
The Cambodian
government is now working hard in improvement of
investment
environment to draw more investments in national economic
construction
and realization of its strategy of poverty alleviation.
International
Herald Tribune
Wednesday,
June 19, 2002
Cambodia's
friends should get tough
Jump-start
stalled reforms
By Mike
Jendrzejczyk (IHT)
(The
writer, Washington director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division,
contributed
this comment to the International Herald Tribune.)
PHNOM
PENH: Cambodia is struggling to lift itself out of poverty. Its
economy is
being drained by a bloated military. Investment is deterred by a
weak legal
system and a corrupt judiciary. The World Bank, in a carefully
understated
analysis, says the country and its population of 12 million
face a
"formidable array of development challenges."
When
Cambodia's foreign aid donors meet in Phnom Penh from this Wednesday
to Friday,
they should find a way to jump-start the reforms that are
urgently
needed.
Poverty
reduction and good governance will be the theme of the meeting of
what is
known officially as the Cambodia Consultative Group. If it is
anything
like past meetings, little will result but vague promises from the
Cambodian
government in response to weak demands by the donors for reform.
On Feb. 3,
Cambodia held its first local, commune-level elections in more
than 30
years. The pre-election period was marked by hundreds of complaints
of
intimidation, harassment and death threats. From January 2001 to polling
day, 15
members of political parties running against the governing
Cambodian
People's Party were murdered. There was widespread coercion of
voters,
primarily through confiscation of voter registration cards and
pressure
to take oaths of loyalty to the ruling party. It won control of
most
commune councils.
Yet the
donors and many Cambodians recognized this
experiment
with grassroots democracy as an improvement over national
elections
in 1993 and 1998 plagued by rampant political violence, in part a
legacy of
years of civil war, Vietnamese occupation and fighting against
remnants
of the Khmer Rouge regime.
The more
important test will be the National Assembly elections scheduled
for July
next year. The donors should develop a set of minimal benchmarks
for
electoral reform, and condition any aid or tech-nical assistance for
the polls
on the government's strict adherence.
There must
be a comprehensive reorganization of the National Election
Committee,
the body charged with supervising the election process, to make
it truly
impartial. A good first step was the public hearing held recently
by the
National Assembly on amendments to the electoral law. The election
committee
is due to start work in September.
The
security of all candidates and their supporters must be guaranteed, and
all
parties should be given full and equal access to the broadcast media.
Procedures
for the committee to investigate and penalize electoral abuses
should be
strengthened. Violations committed in campaigning for the
February
elections should be prosecuted and punished.
Donors
should also take steps to put teeth into well-intentioned but
largely
ineffectual efforts to promote good governance. As the World Bank
has
pointed out, sustainable development cannot take place without a
credible
legal and judicial system, an end to corruption and civil service
reform.
The
Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, a coalition of 18 Cambodian
nongovernment
organizations, is calling on the donors to take much more
stringent
action to monitor the government's commitments to strengthen the
rule of
law.
Promises
by Prime Minister Hun Sen and his cabinet have yet to bring about
improvements
needed in the criminal procedure code and the penal code.
Nongovernmental
organizations are urging the donors to press for a
comprehensive
judicial reform plan and greater transparency in the
operation
of the legal system. Also on the agenda for the donors' meeting
is
Cambodia's $42 million Demobilization and Reintegration Project,' a plan
aimed at
downsizing the military, disarming soldiers (who are notorious for
abusing
civilians with impunity) and cutting the defense budget. But the
project,
funded partly by the World Bank and Japan, is based on wildly
divergent
estimates of the size of the armed forces, allegations that
thousands
of "ghost soldiers" who don't exist are collecting compensation
packages,
and other charges of corruption and incompetence. The World Bank
and the
donors should cancel the project, or revamp it from top to bottom,
with
assistance from nongovernmental organizations and scrutiny from
outside
auditors.
The
Cambodian government has signed and ratified international human rights
treaties.
It should be praised for being the first Southeast Asian country
to ratify
the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court. But donors
should not
remain silent about Cambodia's recent decision to close its
borders
and deport hundreds of asylum seekers from Vietnam, contrary to its
obligations
under international refugee law.
Cambodia
is facing donor fatigue amid competing demands for aid to
Afghanistan
and Africa. What it needs most is a transfusion of political
will as
well as funding to tackle deep-seated problems created by years of
inertia
and conflict.
Associated
Press, Wednesday, June 19, 2002
By Ker
Munthit, Associated Press Writer
PHNOM PENH
- As foreign donors gathered in Cambodia to discuss aid for
the
poverty-stricken country Wednesday, a U.S. government agency warned
its
development was being undermined by a failure to stem corruption and
strengthen
the judiciary.
The
warning in a report by the General Accounting Office, the
investigative
arm of Congress, joins a chorus of domestic and
international
criticism of the sluggish pace of much-needed reforms.
Cambodia's
Finance Minister Keat Chhon told donors at informal talks
Wednesday
ahead of the three-day meeting, the government would be
"relentless
in pursuing reform in all walks of life, including the
judiciary."
Prime
Minister Hun Sen's government will ask for dlrs 1.457 billion in
assistance
for the next three years. Averaging dlrs 486 million
annually,
the request works out to less than the dlrs 560 million annual
grant
requested last year.
The GAO
report said progress had been made in only three of seven
sectors
marked for improvement by government and aid donors: public
finance,
military downsizing and land management.
Areas
lagging included the tackling of corruption, legal and judicial
reform,
restructuring public administration and forestry management,
said the
GAO report, dated June 13.
The report
warned that lack of progress could endanger reforms already
underway
and the "larger objectives of achieving economic and social
development."
The
government has not introduced a law to fight corruption despite
considering
the problem for seven years, the report said.
On
Tuesday, about 2,000 poor Cambodians demanded proper use of aid money
in a
demonstration led by opposition leader Sam Rainsy. The protesters
urged
donors to ensure the aid benefited the poor, not corrupt
officials.
Poverty is
widespread in Cambodia with up to 36 percent of its 12
million
population living on less than dlr 1 per day. About half of
national
budget comes from foreign aid.
Major
donors such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund,
the Asian
Development Bank, Japan, and France have already given more
than dlrs
3.6 billion in development assistance over the past decade,
according
to government statistics.
The United
States has contributed more than dlrs 200 million since 1993
to
strengthen democracy, improve health care and education, and address
land mine
problems, the GAO report said.
Chhon, the
minister of finance, said the government is optimistic it
will
secure the aid being requested at this week's meeting.
"But
more importantly we will have to make more efforts in the legal and
judicial
reform. We are building the momentum for it to accelerate," he
said.
Kyodo,
Thursday, June 20, 2002
Prime
Minister Hun Sen said Thursday that negotiations with the United
Nations
are continuing in an effort to resume talks on a tribunal to try
former
Khmer Rouge leaders.
"High-level
negotiations are going on behind the scenes and have been
constructive,"
Hun Sen told an international forum on aiding Cambodia.
A senior
government official involved in the process told Kyodo News
that Japan
is playing a leading role in mediating the two sides.
The
process hit a snag in February when the U.N. pulled out of the talks
that began
in 1997 with the Cambodian government on setting up the
tribunal,
saying the trial as planned by Cambodia would not be fair.
The
tribunal is intended to try former Khmer Rouge leaders responsible
for the
deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians in the late 1970s.
Three
senior Khmer Rouge leaders -- Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Nuon
Chea --
are living freely in Cambodia.
Only two
senior Khmer Rouge figures are now in custody -- military
commander
Ta Mok and Kaing Khek Ieu, better known as Duch, who reputedly
ran a
Khmer Rouge torture center in Phnom Penh.
Associated
Press, Wednesday, June19, 2002
Shortcomings
in Cambodia's legal system dooms prospects for U.N.-backed
trial of
Khmer Rouge: Amnesty
PHNOM PENH
- Amnesty International on Wednesday blamed shortcomings in
Cambodia's
judicial system for dooming talks between Cambodia and the
United
Nations ( news - web sites) on setting up a tribunal to judge
surviving
Khmer Rouge ( news - web sites) leaders for genocide.
The London-based
human rights group said it believed the main reason the
United
Nations announced in February it was pulling out of talks on
helping
the Cambodia government to hold a genocide tribunal was that
Cambodia's
judiciary "would not guarantee the independence, impartiality
and
objectivity required by the U.N."
"The
shortcomings of the judicial system have an impact not only on the
ability to
deliver justice today," Amnesty said in a report. "They also
prevent
the delivery of justice for the crimes of the past."
The
16-page report condemned Cambodia's judiciary as international aid
donors and
top government officials opened a three-day meeting Wednesday
in the
Cambodian capital. Millions of dollars in assistance and reform
plans will
be discussed.
Cambodia
is still rebuilding from the 1975-79 rule of the communist
Khmer
Rouge, who emptied cities, abolished currency, disrobed monks and
forced
virtually everyone to work on agricultural collectives. The
regime is
blamed for the unnecessary deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians
due to
disease, starvation, overwork and execution.
The Khmer
Rouge's top leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998 but other leading
figures
live freely in Cambodia. No one has appeared before a court to
answer for
the atrocities committed in the 1970s, although two
defendants
have been in jail for more than three years awaiting trial.
During
years of talks toward establishing a U.N.-assisted Cambodian
tribunal
to judge the Khmer Rouge, U.N. and Cambodian negotiators have
acknowledged
shortcomings in Cambodia's legal system but said
international
assistance would overcome them.
Kyodo,
Thursday, June 20, 2002
38 year
old man gets prison term for buying sex abroad
The Osaka
District Court on Thursday sentenced a 38-year-old Japanese
man to two
years and six months in prison for paying two underage girls
for sex in
Cambodia in 2000.
According
to the ruling, Takeshi Ozawa paid a 13-year-old Vietnamese
girl $60
to have sex with him in a hotel in Phnom Penh in August 2000
and paid a
14-year-old Vietnamese girl $550 to have regular sex with him
for a week
in a hotel in the city in December 2000, even though he knew
both girls
were under 18.
Ozawa's
arrest in December 2001 was the first under a 1999 law that
makes it
illegal to pay for sex with a minor abroad.
"The
crimes were extremely malicious and the prison sentence without
suspension
is inevitable," Judge Miyako Fujiwara said.
The judge
said Ozawa visited Cambodia a number of times to buy sex from
underage
girls, adding, "His committals are addictive."
Local
police in Phnom Penh arrested Ozawa on suspicion of child abuse
and other
allegations. He was freed on bail during a preliminary trial
and
returned to Japan last June before the Cambodian court reached a
verdict,
according to the Osaka police.
The Osaka
police said they began investigating the case after being
notified
about it by the National Police Agency, and then arrested Ozawa
in
December.
The law
banning people from buying sex from those aged under 18, which
took
effect Nov. 1, 1999, allows Japanese police to arrest suspects even
if the
illegal acts have taken place abroad.
If found
guilty, offenders face a maximum three years in prison.
Reuters,
Friday, June 21, 2002
By Ek Madra
PHNOM PENH
(Reuters) - Foreign donors expected to offer Cambodia some
$500
million in aid for the next year warned on Friday they would not be
so
generous in future unless there was progress in fighting graft and
protecting
the environment.
Donors meeting
in Phnom Penh for the annual Consultative Group meeting
are set to
announce their aid package later on Friday. But the money
comes with
conditions attached, and many donors say promised reform has
failed to
materialise.
"Demonstrable
limits on the Royal Cambodian government's capacity and
perhaps
willingness to make progress reinforce the need for
prioritisation.
A pattern of increased donor support should not be taken
as a
given," Britain said in a statement.
It said
the government had achieved "overall disappointing progress
against
the action points agreed at the 2001 Consultative Group meeting,
with only
four of 10 points done and at best modest progress in the
areas
judged partially done".
Donors
want an improvement in the pace of reform, particularly in
fighting
corruption, judicial and legal reform, human rights, fiscal
development,
demobilisation of the military and environmental issues
such as
logging.
The United
States said future aid would also depend on whether general
elections
next year were free and fair.
"Support
for free and fair national elections will be a priority for
U.S.
assistance in the coming year," the U.S. delegation said in a
statement.
"If
the conduct of the 2003 national elections provides a safe
environment
for all participants to compete... we can anticipate a basic
reexamination
of remaining restrictions on U.S. assistance to Cambodia."
CORRUPTION
A PROBLEM
World Bank
country director Ian Porter, co-chair of the meeting, said
the past
year had seen significant progress by the government.
"But
progress with respect to anti-corruption and legal and judicial
reform has
been disappointing," he said.
"It
is critical that the government's overall strategies and policy
pronouncements
are translated into effective implementation and real
results."
Donors
give Cambodia about $500 million each year, or more than half the
country's
annual state budget. Cambodia received $560 million in aid
last year
and $548 million in 2000, and is now seeking $484 million a
year over
the next three years.
Cambodia
has been discussing for much of the last decade a possible
trial of
former leaders of the notorious Khmer Rouge regime which
oversaw
the deaths of some 1.7 million people during the late 1970s. But
years of
talks between the United Nations and Cambodia over setting up a
tribunal
broke down this year.
Prime
Minister Hun Sen told the meeting on Thursday he was committed to
justice
for the victims of the Khmer Rouge "killing fields" but that a
successful
trial would require considerable financial assistance from
overseas.
There have
been questions, however, about Hun Sen's real commitment to a
Khmer
Rouge trial. Hun Sen, himself a former low-level member of the
Khmer
Rouge, has been accused of foot-dragging to prevent what could be
an
embarrassment for many senior Cambodian figures, including top
members of
his party.
Sam
Rainsy, a former finance minister who heads the opposition Sam
Rainsy
party, said aid money had been wasted.
"In
spite of billions of dollars that have been lavishly poured into
this
country over the last nine years, the Cambodian people continue to
live in
poverty," he said in a statement.
"I
hope the donors will not be fooled again."
Phnom Penh
Post [Free Online Edition], June 21 - July 4, 2002
By
Caroline Green
The
government has delayed signing a loan deal with the Asian
Development
Bank for an environmental management project, complaining
that
proposed consultant salaries are too high.
The Post
has obtained the Memorandum of Understanding for the $20.5
million
Tonle Sap Environmental Management Project. It budgeted for $8.3
million to
be spent on consultants, and $1.1 million for raising
government
salaries. International consultants would receive $12,000 per
month and
an extra $80 per day for expenses, all paid for out of the ADB
loan.
Director
of Fisheries Nao Thouk confirmed that the government had asked
the ADB to
review salary costs.
"The
government complained that the salaries are very high," he said.
"The
two sides will discuss the matter during the MoU signing ceremony.
I think
this is too much [money] because we have to pay the loan back to
the ADB.
They should keep the salaries as low as possible."
The MoU
also drew strong criticism from NGOs and the opposition Sam
Rainsy
Party, whose MP Son Chhay said ADB loans did not serve the
interests
of the people and were not approved by parliament.
"This
has happened many times and we want to vomit at it. It is
ridiculous
when the average Cambodian only gets $200 a year," he said.
"What
can we do? Some deal has been made outside the country and there
is no
transparency and accountability."
Urooj
Malik, country director of the ADB, said he was unable to comment
on the
project as the bank was still in discussion with the government.
However a
statement from the ADB showed that a typical project would see
around 5
percent of costs allotted to salaries. That is far less than
the 46
percent of total costs allocated to salaries in the environmental
management
MoU.
Mak
Sithirith, coordinator of the NGO Forum's Fisheries Action Coalition
Team, said
wages for the project were unusually high and this was not an
effective
allocation of money.
"Not
much money will actually go to implementation," he said. "This
[project]
will benefit mostly the foreign consultants and those working
for the
ADB, but will have less benefit for local communities."
Nao Thouk
said he expected the revised MoU would be signed in late June.
"I am
happy with the [concept of the] project because it could help the
government
increase preservation of the environment and the Tonle Sap
lake
resource and fishing lots," he said.
However
Sithirith questioned the need for an ADB loan. He said the
fisheries
sector generated substantial income, and felt some could be
used to
fund conservation projects in the Tonle Sap area if the
government
managed it properly.
"It
is unfair. I don't know how much the people will get from this yet
they will
be burdened with paying it back," he said. "Cambodia will have
a big
problem in paying so much money back."
The Tonle
Sap project will focus on community capacity building and
natural
resource management. It is composed of an $11.8 million loan
from the
ADB's Special Resources Fund and a $3.9 million contribution
from the
Cambodian government.
It also
includes a $760,000 grant from the UNDP's Capacity 21 program
and a
Global Environment Facility grant of $3.7 million. The project
will be
implemented mainly through the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and
Fisheries.
VOA News,
Friday, June 21, 2002
Ron Corben
Bangkok
Cambodia
has received pledges of more than $600 million from
international
donors for the coming year. But international donors are
again
warning the Cambodian government that more needs to be done in
fighting
graft and protecting the environment, to ensure assistance
continues.
The
international aid pledges account for more than half the
government's
total budget. The pledges came Friday at the end of an
annual
meeting of the Cambodia Consultative Group.
Cambodian
Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said the $600 million are, in
his words,
a reward for the government's efforts in earlier reforms.
Phnom Penh
had asked for $484 million in aid this year. Cham Prasidh
acknowledged
progress in some areas was slow. He blames that, not on a
lack of
political will, but a lack of political expertise.
Cambodia,
one of the world's poorest nations, has been able to establish
some
political stability in recent years, after almost three decades of
bloodshed
and internal civil strife. Only five years ago, Cambodian
tanks and
gunfire were on the streets of Phnom Penh, in a struggle for
political
control.
Since
then, the government has made progress in political and social
stability.
The World Bank, in a release Friday, welcomed progress in
some
areas, but said gaps still remained in forestry protection and
civil
service reforms.
The bank
commends Cambodia for appointing an auditor-general and
undertaking
other legal reforms, such as adoption of a land law.
Some
donors, however, urge the government to set priorities on reforms,
and warn
that increased aid support should not be taken for granted.
A U.S.
diplomat in Cambodia said Washington pledged $45 million. That
includes
$3 million from the Centers for Disease Control and $2.5
million to
help remove land mines.
This year,
donors are expected to look for improvements in the pace of
reform,
especially in fighting corruption, improving the legal system,
increasing
protection for human rights, demobilizing the military and
protecting
the environment.
International
Herald Tribune
Friday,
June 21, 2002
By Michael
Richardson (IHT)
TROPANG
VENG, Cambodia: After Phan Vibol was conscripted into the army in
1982 when
Cambodia was still occupied by Vietnam, he carried his mortar on
many
patrols through the forest and rice fields in search of the Khmer
Rouge.
In another
area of Kampot province, Khieu Teng was fighting with the Khmer
Rouge
against the Vietnamese-backed army that Phan Vibol had joined. When
he was
fighting, his only thought was of life and death, Khieu Teng said
the other
day in his village at Mon Soh, 150 kilometers (95 miles)
southwest
of Phnom Penh. He is happy now that there is no more war and
bloodshed.
Cambodia's
dark era of civil conflict, Khmer Rouge tyranny and foreign
occupation
finally ended in 1998 with the surrender of the last Khmer Rouge
commanders.
Since then Phan Vibol and Khieu Teng have developed a common
interest,
although they have never met. They are among 16,500 soldiers
officially
demobilized from the country's army. It was bloated by the
addition
of thousands of troops as peace was restored and former rival
armed
factions, including the Khmer Rouge, were integrated into a single
military
structure.
The
coalition government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, with assistance from
the World
Bank, says it has checked and listed all members of the armed
forces in
1999. As a result, a little more than 15,500 "irregular soldiers"
were
reportedly removed from the payrolls, along with approximately 9,000
widows.
The "irregulars" were evidently nonexistent or "ghost"
troops who
were
registered so that corrupt officers could pocket their pay.
That left
about 131,000 members of the armed forces. In an effort to ensure
that less
money was spent on the military and more on education, public
health,
rural development and poverty alleviation, Cambodia's foreign aid
donors
agreed to contribute to the demobilization scheme.
The donors
are meeting in Phnom Penh this week. In recent years, they have
funded
about half the Cambodian government's budget, at a cost of around
$500
million per year.
The $42
million allocated to the demobilization program should be enough to
ensure
that the equivalent of $1,200 is paid to each of the 31,500 soldiers
leaving
the military. The intention is to help them and their families
integrate
into civilian life.
Whether
those demobilized are getting full value is difficult to judge
because
they are being paid mainly in kind, not cash. Phan Vibol and Khieu
Teng, both
of whom are farmers, said that they had each received as
promised a
cash severance payment in local currency equivalent to $240, or
one year's
military pay, plus several sacks of rice and a resettlement kit
that
included cooking utensils, farm tools, clothing and mosquito nets.
But they
and many other demobilized soldiers in Cambodia complain that they
have not
received some of the most valuable items they were promised. Phan
Vibol, who
left the military in May 2000, has received the motorcycle he
needs for
transport but not the cow he needs for plowing the fields.
Khieu
Teng, who was discharged last October, has received neither the
promised
motorbike nor the sewing machine that he wants for his 16-year-old
daughter.
Why the
delay? The former soldiers say that they don't know. The
government,
which has committed $7.2 million to the demobilization program,
blames the
World Bank for delaying the disbursement of its $18.4 million
concessional
credit to the scheme. The bank, meanwhile, has told other
donors
that it wants to be certain that proper procurement procedures are
in place
to minimize the potential for corruption and make sure that
soldiers
returning to civilian life get the best possible deal.
Some
former soldiers, like Sau Saveoun, have received skills training in
addition
to their severance pay, rice ration and resettlement kit. Sau
Saveoun
now has a bicycle repair business in Thom Thomei village in Kampot
that he
says earns him nearly four times his former military pay. But he
still
hasn't received the water pump he was promised when he was discharged
in May
2000. "I haven't asked why because I'm scared," he said. "I just
take what
I can get."
Note: File contains three related articles. CT
Kyodo,
Friday, June 21, 2002
By Puy Kea
Foreign
donors from 22 nations and seven international organizations on
Friday
pledged an aid package to Cambodia amounting to $635 million,
some $75
million more than the amount pledged last year.
The pledge
was announced by Cambodian Finance Minister Keat Chhon after
the
three-day Consultative Group meeting, held in Phnom Penh for the
first time
since 1996.
Keat Chhon
said Cambodia had requested some $480 million at the start of
the
meeting, but the amount pledged exceeded the request due to
additional
projects in the Greater Mekong Sub-region and good
commitments
undertaken by Cambodia.
With the
aid pledge, donors emphasized continued support will depend on
accelerated
and substantive progress in the government's policy reforms,
including
urgent efforts to fight corruption and reform the country's
legal and
judicial reform.
On Tuesday,
opposition leader Sam Rainsy led a rally in Phnom Penh
calling on
the donors to better scrutinize the government's commitment
to ending
corruption, deforestation, impunity, prostitution,
lawlessness,
illiteracy and malnutrition.
At the
meeting, donors also spelled out four additional areas: forestry,
civil
service reform, procurement, and budget allocations to social
sectors.
The
donors, meanwhile, emphasized the importance of strengthening the
framework
for free and fair general elections scheduled for July 27 next
year,
including fair access by opposition parties to electronic media
during
their electoral campaigns.
Japan, the
biggest donor to Cambodia since the early 1990s, pledged $14
billion
yen (about $112 million) for this fiscal year, compared to last
year's
$118 million.
Most of
the Japanese aid is earmarked for improving Cambodia's
infrastructure,
removing land mines, reducing troop levels, and
enhancing
health and education.
At the
meeting, Japan also urged Cambodia to further promote reform in
key issues
including judicial reform and good governance, said Japanese
Ambassador
to Cambodia Gotaro Ogawa, who headed the Japanese delegation.
Since
1996, Cambodia has received foreign aid amounting to some $2.5
billion,
an average of $500 million per year.
The
government still depends on foreign aid to finance about half of its
annual
budget.
The
donors, meanwhile, voiced regret over deadlocked plans to set up a
tribunal
to try former Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for the deaths of
at least
1.7 million Cambodians in the late 1970s.
The
process hit a snag in February when the United Nations pulled out of
talks
begun in 1997 with the Cambodian government on setting up the
tribunal,
saying the trial as planned by Cambodia would not be fair.
Three
senior Khmer Rouge leaders -- Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Nuon
Chea --
are living freely in Cambodia.
Cambodia
is one of the world's poorest nations with a per capita income
of less
than one dollar a day.
Some 36%
of the country's population of 12 million lives under the
poverty
line and 80% are farmers.
***
Reuters,
Friday, June 21, 2002
By Ek
Madra
PHNOM PENH
(Reuters) - Cambodia said on Friday foreign donors had
pledged
more than the $484 million in aid it had requested for the next
year
despite grumbling about slow progress in fighting corruption and
protecting
the environment.
The exact
figure pledged was not immediately available, but Finance
Minister
Keat Chhon said Cambodia had been offered a total of $635
million in
aid and loans. He did not give a breakdown.
More
details of the package were due to be announced later.
The annual
aid is equivalent to about half the government's annual
budget and
keeps services in the impoverished country going despite a
moribund
economy. Cambodia received $560 million in aid last year and
$548
million in 2000.
"We
received more than what we expected from the donor donations,"
Commerce
Minister Cham Prasidh told Reuters. "This is a reward for the
efforts
that the government has made so far to implement its
commitments."
International
donors have been meeting in Phnom Penh this week for the
annual
Consultative Group meeting to decide how much to give Cambodia.
The money
comes with conditions attached, and many donors say promised
reform has
failed to materialise.
But Cham
Prasidh said Cambodia was doing its best:
"They
are slow reforms but it is not for lack of political will but for
lack of
political expertise. When we can solve this problem we can move
it
faster," he said.
Donors
warned the government on Friday that they would not be so
generous
with aid in future unless there was progress in fighting graft
and
protecting the environment.
"DISAPPOINTING
PROGRESS"
"Demonstrable
limits on the Royal Cambodian government's capacity and
perhaps
willingness to make progress reinforce the need for
prioritisation.
A pattern of increased donor support should not be taken
as a
given," Britain said in a statement.
It said
the government had achieved "overall disappointing progress
against
the action points agreed at the 2001 Consultative Group meeting,
with only
four of 10 points done and at best modest progress in the
areas
judged partially done".
Donors
want an improvement in the pace of reform, particularly in
fighting
corruption, judicial and legal reform, human rights, fiscal
development,
demobilisation of the military and environmental issues
such as
logging.
The United
States said future aid would also depend on whether general
elections
next year were free and fair.
"Support
for free and fair national elections will be a priority for
U.S.
assistance in the coming year," the U.S. delegation said in a
statement.
"If
the conduct of the 2003 national elections provides a safe
environment
for all participants to compete...we can anticipate a basic
reexamination
of remaining restrictions on U.S. assistance to Cambodia."
Cambodia
has been discussing for years a possible trial of former
leaders of
the notorious 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime which oversaw the
deaths of
some 1.7 million people. But talks between the United Nations
and
Cambodia over setting up a tribunal broke down this year.
Prime
Minister Hun Sen told the meeting on Thursday he was committed to
justice
for the victims of the Khmer Rouge "killing fields" but that a
successful
trial would require considerable financial assistance from
overseas.
There have
been questions, however, about Hun Sen's real commitment to a
Khmer
Rouge trial. Hun Sen, himself a former low-level member of the
Khmer
Rouge, has been accused of foot-dragging to prevent what could be
an
embarrassment for many senior Cambodian figures, including top
members of
his party.
***
Associated
Press, Friday, June 21, 2002
By Ker
Munthit, Associated Press Writer
PHNOM PENH
- International aid donors on Friday pledged dlrs 635 million
in
assistance to Cambodia for the next year, exceeding the optimistic
expectations
of Cambodian officials.
But the
donors also demanded that the government take steps toward
fighting
corruption and instituting legal and judicial reforms, said Ian
Porter,
the country representative for the World Bank, which is one of
the
donors.
The
pledges are tied to "sustained and accelerated reforms," he told a
news
conference to announce the aid from around 20 nations and
institutions,
who held a three-day meeting here with Cambodian
officials.
Porter
said some progress in reforms has been made in this
poverty-stricken
nation, which is still recovering slowly from nearly 30
years of
war and civil strife. But he said last year's progress was
inadequate.
"If
significant progress is not made in the coming year, then I think
... donor
support for Cambodia will not remain at the kind of level it
is at
now," he added.
Finance
Minister Keat Chhon said his government is strongly committed to
"vigorously"
pursuing reducing poverty, combatting corruption and
accelerating
legal and judicial reforms.
"If
we reform, we will survive and prosper, if not, we will die," he
told
reporters.
Cambodia's
sole opposition Sam Rainsy Party issued a statement
applauding
the pledges, along with the pressure on the government to
accelerate
reforms.
"Beyond
diplomatic language, we see their will to encourage crucial
reforms,
the implementation of which is conditional to the disbursement
and the
continuation of aid," it said.
Prime
Minister Hun Sen's government had asked for dlrs 1.457 billion for
the next
three years - or dlrs 486 million annually.
The total
for the coming year exceeds last year's annual pledges by
about 13
percent.
In press
statements issued Friday, Japan - which gives more money
directly
to the Cambodian government than any other donor - pledged 14
billion
yen (dlrs 113.6 million) for the next year, and the Netherlands
dlrs 5.5
million.
The Dutch
pledge covered cooperation in such areas as strengthening good
governance,
reforming the military and improving human rights.
French
Ambassador Andre Jean Libourel told reporters his government
expected to
contribute about dlrs 35 million for next year, about the
same as
last year.
The
European Commission said in a statement it has earmarked 68.7
million
euros (dlrs 66.3 million) in assistance over the next three
years.
Financial
Times
Thursday,
Jun2 20, 2002
By William
Barnes in Bangkok
The
investigative arm of the US Congress said at the start of the annual
donors
meeting in Cambodia that the failure to curb corruption and
strengthen
a pliable judiciary was damaging the country's efforts to lift
itself out
of poverty.
The
Government Accounting Office report joins a chorus of foreign and local
criticism
of prime minister Hun Sen's government, which is accused of a
slackening
interest in key reforms.
Phnom Penh
has asked for $1.457bn over the next three years, or $486m
annually -
down from the $560m asked for last year. Developed countries
provide
more than half the state budget every year of a country still
recovering
from decades of often disastrous dictatorship.
Keat
Chhon, the finance minister, told donors that the government would be
"relentless"
in the pursuit of wide-ranging reforms but that this "took
time".
The GAO
conceded that a bloated military had been trimmed, that land
management
had improved and that public finances were under better control,
but it
said that problems remained with corruption generally, including the
judiciary,
the reform of local government and logging control. The GAO
report
said the government had failed to produce an anti-corruption law
after
seven years' deliberation.
The donors
have little choice but to stump up most of what Cambodia asked
for, said
a diplomat, because "a third of the people live in poverty. The
consequences
of even trying to send a signal would not be pleasant". The
money was
likely, however, to come wrapped in sharper criticism and the
warning
that future aid could be diverted to such as Afghanistan, he added.
Amnesty
International yesterday blamed the "lamentable" state of the
judicial
system for the United Nations' decision in February to withdraw
its
participation in a genocide tribunal for the surviving leaders of the
Khmer
Rouge.
"The
shortcomings of the judicial system have an impact not only on the
ability to
deliver justice today, they also prevent the delivery of justice
for the
crimes of the past," said an Amnesty report.
Phnom
Penh, June 21, 2002
THANKS TO
DONORS FOR THEIR COMMITMENT TO PUSH FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE AND
PROMOTE
DEMOCRACY IN
CAMBODIA
We,
Members of Parliament from the Sam Rainsy Party, thank donor
countries
and international financial institutions for the
significant
amount of aid they pledged to support Cambodia’s development
at the
Consultative Group meeting that ended today.
In
particular, we appreciate their firm commitment to push for good
governance
and promote democracy in Cambodia, in line with the
Resolutions
of the Congress of the Poor held in Phnom Penh on June 18.
Beyond
their diplomatic language, we see their will to
encourage
crucial reforms, the implementation of which is conditional to
the
disbursement and the continuation of aid.
The
priorities in the reform process include:
1- The
fight against corruption with the adoption of a long-awaited
anti-corruption
law.
2- A
clearer and more effective forest policy in order to stop illegal
logging
and protect the ecological system.
3- The
implementation of a land reform in order to stop land grabbing
and
improve agricultural production and productivity.
4- A
reform of the judiciary in order to make it less subject to
corruption
and political interference.
5- A
reform of the civil service with the objective of restoring the
rule of
law, delivering decent public services, and providing civil
servant
with livable salaries.
6-
Concrete decentralization measures in order to effectively empower
the
recently elected local leaders, involve the local
communities
in decision making process, and effectively address the
needs of
the people at the grassroots level.
7- Better
allocation and more effective use of public funds, especially
with
regard to demobilization and procurement regulations and
procedures.
8- Serious
preparations for the 2003 parliamentary elections since
democracy,
good governance and development go hand in hand.
Donors
realize that poverty reduction, which they state as the main goal
of their
assistance, does not mean anything without the
above
priorities being seriously included and implemented in any
government
programs and policies that are expected to yield
results.
Donors are
entitled to see results before committing to providing
further
assistance. Therefore, donors will be more demanding and
less
complacent with the Hun Sen regime. They realize that Hun Sen, who
holds the
Cambodian people hostage, has been
blackmailing
them in order to obtain money to keep his bankrupt regime
afloat.
Hun Sen has claimed that the Cambodian people,
whose fate
is in his rude and incompetent hands, would suffer more
because of
worsening poverty if donors refused to subsidize the
current
Phnom Penh regime. But Hun Sen has been fooling donors because,
in spite
of billions of dollars that have been lavishly
poured
into this country since 1993, the Cambodian people continue to
live in
dire poverty and without justice.
Therefore,
donors have the moral obligation to help ensure that the
parliamentary
election next year will reflect the will of the
Cambodian
people, who – understandably – want to put an end to the Hun
Sen regime
in order to build a new, modern, democratic
and
prosperous Cambodia.