ADB, S.Korea Support Cambodia to Improve Cross-Border Road Links

2009-08-25 20:51:53 Xinhua

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Republic of Korea are supporting road and border improvements in Cambodia to help reduce poverty, increase economic opportunities, and boost ongoing efforts to strengthen trade and tourism in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), a press release issued by ADB on Tuesday said.

ADB's Board of Directors approved a loan equivalent to 16.3 million U.S. dollars for the project which will rehabilitate 113 kilometers of a national road in the northwest of the country, and upgrade a cross-border facility with Thailand. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance of Korea is extending a loan equivalent to 25. 6 million U.S. dollars through its Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF).

The pot-holed gravel road, that is impassable in the wet season due to flooding, cuts through two of the poorest provinces in the country -- Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meanchey. It links up with another major route which is a key conduit for goods and people between northwest Cambodia and northeast Thailand, and also forms a feeder connection to the GMS east-west corridor.

Roads are the lifeblood of transport in the GMS but poor surfaces raise costs, cause lost economic opportunities and contribute to high accident rates. The upgraded road and border facility will reduce travel times, improve traffic safety, increase access to markets, and provide new job and business opportunities. It will be another step to strengthen connectivity and develop economic corridors across the GMS -- a bloc of six nations committed to closer ties that support sustainable growth, boost employment and reduce poverty.

"The project will support the GMS strategy by improving connectivity between Thailand and Cambodia, thereby enhancing subregional transport and trade," said Shihiru Date, transport specialist in ADB's Southeast Asia Department.

The improved facilities are expected to aid cross-border tourism as the restored road connects to a key east-west route to Siem Reap site of the world famous Angkor Wat temple. Opportunities for contract farmers, who cultivate high-value fruit for export to neighboring countries should also expand, while the all-weather surface will improve access to health and education facilities. The project will include an HIV prevention and anti- human trafficking program, as new cross-border roads represent a potential threat for the spread of communicable diseases, and the trafficking of women and children.

ADB's loan, from its concessional Asian Development Fund, comprises 34 percent of the total project cost. It has a 32-year term with an eight year grace period carrying a one percent interest charge, and 1.5 percent for the balance. The Government of Cambodia will contribute counterpart funds of six million U.S. dollars, while the Ministry of Public Works and Transport will be the executing agency.

The estimated completion date for the project is December 2013.

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Source: http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/08/25/1361s511267.htm

Thai, Cambodian army chiefs say temple hostilities over

Asia-Pacific News

Aug 25, 2009, 2:44 GMT

Phnom Penh - Cambodian and Thai armed forces chiefs said 13 months of sometimes-fatal hostilities around the ancient Preah Vihear temple are at an end, local media reported Tuesday.

At least seven soldiers from both sides were killed in occasional clashes around the temple complex since mid-2008 in a tense standoff that has had other members of the ASEAN regional bloc concerned.

At a meeting on Monday between military top brass from both sides in Phnom Penh, General Songkitti Jaggabatra, the Supreme Commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, said the dispute would no longer be allowed to damage relations between the two kingdoms.

'I would like to clarify again that there will be no more problems between Thailand and Cambodia. The border will not be the cause of any further disputes,' he said in remarks carried by the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

His opposite number, General Pol Saroeun, echoed that.

'We have the same view. Our goal is to achieve peace and solidarity with each other as siblings,' Pol Saroeun said.

Their meeting came just days after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Cambodia would cut the number of troops stationed at Preah Vihear after Thailand reduced its forces to just 30 soldiers.

The 11th-century Hindu temple, which sits on Cambodia's northern border with Thailand, was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the World Court. Last year the UN's cultural body UNESCO added Preah Vihear to its World Heritage List, a move that rankled Thai nationalists who still contest the ownership of the site.

Cambodia and Thailand have yet to delineate much of their 804-kilometre long common border.

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Source: Asia-Pacific News M&G: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1497161.php/Thai-Cambodian-army-chiefs-say-temple-hostilities-over

Cambodia Releases E-Government Guidelines

August 25, 2009 12:44 PM

PHNOM PENH, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- The agency behind the nationwide e-government released a long-awaited guidelines for the first time, at the end of last week detailing what ministries and other government departments needed to do, to take their services online, a local media reported on Tuesday.

The National Information Communications Technology Development Agency (NIDA) also released information security to ensure government information was kept secure and protected from system intruders, China's Xinhua news agency reported, citing a report from the Phnom Penh Post.

NIDA Secretary General Phu Leewood was quoted as saying that the e-Government Service Deployment Plan was important for building information communication technology (ICT) capacity in govenment and also for tracking progress and what remained to be done.

"This is a master map for us to walk together in the right diection for all [government and private] institutions to get up to speed with the global ICT sector," he said.

Thirty government ministries and institutions received the two sets of guidelines at a seminar last week.

The guidelines were based on a needs analysis conducted at all relevant ministries in 2007 with technical assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

They identify areas in which e-government can be used to build the public service competency of government institutions, provide guidelines for collecting data and help establish a blueprint for expanding government services.

Van Khema, a deputy director at NIDA in Charge of networks, said the key obstacle in the path of the e-government rollout is the connection of all 24 provinces to the central government's information-sharing system via a fibre-optic backbone.

He declined to give a timeline, saying only the infrastructure would be in place "soon".

Called the Provincial Administration Information System Project, the e-government project has a budget of some US$15 million to connect offices within each province to one another, and another US$20 million to connect each province to the government in Phnom Penh.

Three data centers -- in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville -- will act as hubs for surrounding provinces.

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Source: Bernama.com

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=435456

Cambodia to recall some troops at border: PM

www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-22 20:16:27

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Saturday that there was no fighting at border and he will recall some troops to help the farmers to planting crops after some areas had been hit by drought.

"We are monitoring to withdraw the troops from the frontiers and we need soldiers to help the local farmers during this time," the premier said at the opening ceremony of irrigation in Pursat province, southeastern part of Phnom Penh, citing that Thailand now has 30 soldiers at the border.

"But in case we have problem at the border, we can mobilize our troops so quickly to border area," he said, adding that "we are moving back our troops of Kompong Thom and Siem Reap provinces to their headquarters from the border."

"I hope there is no fight each other again there," he stresses. Cambodian and Thai troops have confronted at areas near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple since July, 2008 when the UNESCO listed the temple as the World Heritage Site of Cambodia.

Moreover, Hun Sen said that "in modern age, we need to discuss the matters with each other and we do not want to see any people shed their blood."

Troops tension at border is becoming ease and both side plan to measure the areas soon to plant border markers.

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Source: China View http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/22/content_11927585.htm

Cambodia denies Thai claim of maritime problems

Last Updated: Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:22:00 +1000

Cambodian defence officials have denied Thai media reports that Cambodian patrols have entered disputed maritime areas near Thailand's Koh Kut island.

The reports came less than one week after marines and warships from the Thai navy's 1st Fleet were deployed close to disputed areas.

The Phnom Penh Post quotes a secretary of state at the Defence Ministry saying he hasn't received any reports from his subordinates about a Cambodian move into the areas.

The chief of the Preah Sihanouk provincial coast guard station, says his men conduct regular patrols in Cambodian waters but never entered the 27,000- square-kilometre overlapping claims area.

The Bangkok Post reports Thailand's Ministry of Defence is planning to register a complaint about a Cambodian patrol entering disputed waters.

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Source: ABC Radio Australia News

http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200908/2663645.htm?desktop

Man denies penning leaflets

FRIDAY, 21 AUGUST 2009 15:04 MEAS SOKCHEA

Claims he has gone into hiding for fear that authorities will try to arrest him.

A man whose name appeared on hundreds of leaflets accusing Prime Minister Hun Sen of corruption has been forced into hiding for fear of government reprisals.

The leaflets, penned by an anonymous author and posted around the streets of the capital in the early hours of Wednesday morning, condemned the premier as an "absolute leader" and "puppet of Vietnam".

Bearing a small picture of the prime minister, they accused him of destroying the Khmer regime's once-great reputation and "selling the nation".

Scribbled in Khmer handwriting at the top of the papers were five names: Pan Sovanny, Sreng Vuthy, Chea Socheap, Chim Thoeun and Kem Sopheak. Although nothing is yet known of the identity of the first four, Kem Sopheak - who claimed to be a Sam Rainsy Party activist, on Thursday contacted the Post by phone to deny any involvement.

"I'm scared for my safety", Kem Sopheak said. "I don't know what to think. I have nothing to do with these leaflets. I didn't even know about them until my nephew saw one with my name on it at Wat Phnom and contacted me straight away."

Sopheak said he had been an SRP activist since 1996. On hearing of

their intervention, but was told by SRP headquarters that the party had no record of his membership and would have to hand him over to the United Nations.

SRP lawmaker and spokesman Yim Sovann confirmed the party had been approached by Kem Sopheak, but was unable to confirm his involvement with the opposition party.

Yim Sovann insisted, however, that the party would do everything in its power to help Kem Sopheak.

"We asked to see his party card, but he couldn't produce it", Sovann said.

"We don't know where he lives, so we cannot confirm whether he is a member of our party. However, we do not discriminate. He is Khmer, and if he was threatened in any way, we would take pity on him and help him. To that end, we have taken him to a human rights organisation."

Christophe Peschoux, head of the UN's Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Cambodia, confirmed Thursday that the organisation had spoken with Kem Sopheak.

"We interviewed him already, and now we're looking into the story to establish what's going on," Peschoux said. "At this stage, it seems very murky."

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I don't know why anyone would put my name on that leaflet.

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Kem Sopheak told the Post he was in hiding and was afraid of having legal action taken against him.

"I can't tell anyone where I'm staying because I'm scared the government will arrest me", he said.

"I don't know why anyone would put my name on that leaflet. It couldn't have been me: I can only read a little bit and cannot write at all."

Posted in various public places in Phnom Penh before being torn down by police, the leaflets called on the people of Cambodia to oppose Hun
Sen's "puppet regime". "I remember the time when Khmer glory was well-known all over the world," one leaflet seen by the Post reads.

"We were feared and admired for our civilisation, culture and fine arts, but all that has now disappeared because of the absolute regime of the present government."

The government Thursday insisted Kem Sopheak had nothing to fear.

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said the names on the leaflets were of no interest to officials, but that their creators were.

Three separate departments are now investigating, he said: the police, the espionage unit and the anti-terrorism squad.

Neither Phnom Penh Municipal Police chief Touch Naruth, who is heading the police investigation, nor Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak could be reached for comment on Thursday.

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Source: The Phnom Penh Post

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009082127914/National-news/man-denies-penning-leaflets.html

Leaflets knock prime minister

THURSDAY, 20 AUGUST 2009

HUNDREDS of anonymous anti-government leaflets condemning Prime Minister Hun Sen as an "absolute leader" and a "puppet of Vietnam" appeared around the streets of Phnom Penh in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The leaflets, bearing a small picture of the premier, warned Cambodian citizens that their present leader was single-handedly responsible for reducing the once-great Khmer nation to ruins.

Partly handwritten and partly typed in Khmer, they accuse the prime minister of "selling the nation" and called on the people of Cambodia to oppose Hun Sen's "puppet regime".

"I am so proud that I was born Khmer," reads one, a copy of which has been obtained by the Post. "The Khmer race built Angkor. I remember the time when Khmer glory was well-known all over the world. We were feared and admired for our civilisation, culture and fine arts, but all that has now disappeared because of the absolute regime of the present government."

The leaflets were printed on A4 paper and appeared in prominent public places across the city - including Wat Phnom - before sunrise, but were swiftly taken down by police, witnesses said.

The government played down the leaflets' significance on Wednesday, insisting that Cambodians would not be swayed by acts of political subversion, and that the real test of their loyalty would be the ballot box.

"This is not the first time such a thing has happened," Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said. "This has happened many times before, but the result is always the same at the elections."

Police confirmed on Wednesday that they were investigating the incident, but said the allegations made in the leaflets were "out of date" and failed to take into account the government's current rate of development.

Kirt Chantharith, chief of general staff and spokesman for the commissioner general of the National Police, said: "[They] should not use words like this to insult the leader, but the leaflet is out of date. This game is very old and hasn't worked. National development has been thinking ahead."

Phnom Penh police Chief Touch Naruth echoed the sentiments. "Some people had burned it already because it is saying the same old thing, but they know the true situation," he said.

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, was critical of the language used in the leaflets, warning that the use of such openly inflammatory rhetoric could be counterproductive.

"Insulting someone is not necessarily freedom of expression," he said. "Writers should have clear morals and avoid insulting the government."

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Source: The Phnom Penh Post http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009082027881/National-news/leaflets-knock-prime-minister.html