Cambodia, Thai troops to pull back from temple at weekend: general

August 14, 2008

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to sharply reduce their troop numbers around a disputed temple before a new round of border talks opens Monday, a top general said.

The agreement was reached Wednesday during a meeting of military officials from the two countries, Cambodian General Neang Phat, a top official at the defence ministry, told reporters.

Thai military officials confirmed the deal, but neither country would reveal exactly how many troops would be withdrawn from the area around the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple.

“Both sides agreed to redeploy the troops, who are stationed in the pagoda (near the temple), to the lowest possible number in order to avoid confrontation with each other,” Neang Phat told reporters Thursday.

More than 1,000 troops from both countries are stationed around the ruins of the ancient Khmer temple. Cambodia and Thailand agreed last month to withdraw their forces from a small patch of disputed territory near the temples.

Foreign ministers from both countries are set to meet Monday and Tuesday to hammer out details on the deal.

“The redeployment of the troops that we have agreed to will finish before the ministerial meeting on August 18,” Neang Phat said.

Neang Phat said the remaining troops would be allowed to carry only simple rifles and guns. Their future positions would be determined after the ministerial meeting next week, he added.

The border dispute erupted July 15, after three Thai nationalist protesters were arrested for trying to illegally cross into Cambodia to reach the temple.

Thai nationalists were incensed that Cambodia last month won world heritage status from the United Nations for the ruins, which Thailand has long claimed despite a World Court ruling giving the ruins to Cambodia.

Chinese company to conduct feasibility study on dams in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — The Cambodian government has given the go-ahead for a Chinese company to conduct feasibility study into building two hydropower dams on the Sre Pok River, English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily said Thursday.

“It is just feasibility study to see whether or not they can do it,” Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem was quoted as saying.

A memorandum of understanding was signed with the company in June to study the possibility of building the two dams, but the specific locations can’t be told, said the minister.

“It is a big benefit to have cheap electricity because gasoline is so expensive,” he added.

The agreement with Guangxi Guiguan Electric Power Co. Ltd. commits it to reviewing and analyzing the effects of the projects on the social, environmental and ecological conditions of the area.

The Sre Pok River runs through northeastern provinces of Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng.

Cambodia 6th leading destination for Korean overseas investment

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — Cambodia has become the sixth leading destination for South Korean overseas investment, English daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post Thursday quoted South Korean Ambassador Shin Hyun-suk as saying.

The total amount of South Korean investment in Cambodia to March 2008 stood at 1.46 billion U.S. dollars, followed by China, the U.S., Hong Kong of China, Vietnam and Malaysia, he said.

The number of South Korean investors in Cambodia was above 500 and they used to focus on the garment sector, but in recent years became diversified to banking, agriculture, food processing, tourism, manufacturing, construction and IT, he said.

“In terms of amounts, construction is the dominant field for South Korean investment in Cambodia in these days,” he added.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s imports from Cambodia totaled 8.9 million U.S. dollars in 2007, an increase of 62.5 percent over 2006, and South Korea’s exports to Cambodia have posted big rises over the past three years, amounting to 144 million U.S. dollars in 2005, 206 million U.S. dollars in 2006, and 281 million U.S. dollars in 2007, he said.

“Once the South Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement is ratified, the trade volume between South Korea and Cambodia will be boosted immensely,” he added.

Editor: Yao

Funds pour into Preah Vihear

Written by Brendan Brady and Thet Sambath

Phnom Penh Post – Tuesday, 12 August 2008

Charities and individual donations add up to nearly US$1 million for soldiers involved in the protracted standoff with Thai troops over disputed territory around the World Heritage Site

 

HENG CHIVOAN - Revellers at Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium celebrate UNESCO’s listing of the Preah Vihear temple.

THE patriotic fervour over the Preah Vihear temple standoff has incited an unprecedented flow of personal donations towards the national cause, a philanthropic outpouring which is both a symbolic display of solidarity and a useful supplement to shore up gaps in the country’s shrunken military budget.

Through media-established funds alone, Cambodians have to date donated an estimated US$830,000 to buy food, medicine and other necessities for soldiers and villagers at Preah Vihear temple, according to figures from fund raising organisations set up after the border dispute began.

What started with contributions from local journalists deployed to Preah Vihear has erupted into a countrywide phenomenon with everyone from rural villagers to Okhnas making their mark through both modest and high-profile offerings.

“The soldiers are defending our heritage, so it is my obligation to help them,” said Chan Dara, who added that he is just one of many farmers in Pailin to make a $5 donation.

Battambang resident Ung Phoeung said his cash donation both “showed love for my people” and, more practically, helped Cambodian soldiers who might “lack food and equipment”.   

‘A war supported by the people’
Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, told the Post on August 4 that while the government had earmarked adequate funding for the defence ministry at the beginning of the fiscal year, the additional donations for soldiers demonstrated that “this is a war supported by the people, and when the country has war, people have a duty to assist their nation”.

CTN reporter Soy Sopheap said a fund established by a group of broadcast and print media journalists to support soldiers deployed at the temple had so far raised nearly $100,000.

Television networks have established support funds using local celebrities in day-long telethon fundraisers. CTN has collected $330,000 in donations, of which $190,000 has been committed to troops at Preah Vihear and Anlong Veng in the form of supplies, said its director Tok Kimsay.

“The response from the people has been very strong. Even beggars have come to CTN to make contributions,” he said. 

Donations gathered by Bayon TV have reached $400,000, of which $30,000 has been already committed, according to Huot Kheang Veng, assistant to the network’s director. The network is deliberating on the use of the remaining funds.

“The military has their own budget and they have enough, but this is a sign of people’s hearts,” Huot Kheang Veng said.

Anlong Veng is teeming with troops from both sides but, without an iconic prize like Preah Vihear temple hanging in the balance, the district has remained out of the media spotlight.

“I see most donations go to Preah Vihear temple only. We are confronting Thai soldiers also, but without the same support,” said Nuon Nov, deputy commander of Military Region 4, which includes Anlong Veng.

Tourist visits double at Preah Vihear

Written by Khouth Sophakchakrya

Phnom Penh Post – Tuesday, 12 August 2008

THE presence of machine guns and rocket launchers hasn’t kept proud Cambodians from making a pilgrimage to Preah Vihear to pay their respects to the mythic 11th-century temple and its new hoard of guardians.

Thai and Cambodian soldiers remain locked in what looks set to be a prolonged standoff in and around the temple’s grounds.

But domestic tourism to the site has more than doubled since its UNESCO World Heritage listing on  July 7, said Pheng Sameoun, assistant to the general director of the Preah Vihear National Authority.

“Since Thai troops entered the temple, there have been fewer foreign tourists, but the number of locals visiting has doubled,” Pheng Sameoun told the Post on Sunday.

According to Pheng Sameoun, the dispute has stirred such a torrent of interest in the temple that, if the surrounding infrastructure  such as roads were developed considerably, it could come to rival the Angkor Wat temple complex as the leading domestic holiday destination among Cambodians.

Chheang Solina, 22-year-old Phnom Penh high school student, said she was shocked last Sunday when she saw Thai and Cambodian soldiers occupying the temple, but was reinvigorated walking through its corridors.

“When I arrived at the top of the temple, and breathed in the fresh air, I had a feeling of great pride to be born as a Khmer,” she said.

She added that she was happy because the Naga statues seemed to eat the Thai troops.

Bad roads and high transportation costs didn’t stop Seng Vireak, 19, and his family from making the daylong trip from the capital, bearing food and supplies to hand out.

Khmers living overseas have joined the wave, making the trip from Europe or the United States to set foot on the temple, whose symbolic value seems to appreciate every day troops occupy it.

Many were seen making donations of money to monks and soldiers living there.

SRP defectors get top posts as Sam Rainsy complains to UN

Phnom Penh Post – August 14, 2008

Written by Post Staff   

As those who jumped ship pre-election now reap the benefits, their erstwhile party says it will not drop its claims of electoral fraud  

THE ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) released a draft of its new coalition government this week in which at least 37 former members of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) were appointed positions ranging from secretary to undersecretary of state.

Sok Pheng, who led a mass defection of SRP members to the CPP a few months before national elections and strongly criticized the SRP during the national polls in July, said that he received no official information about future appointments but was ready to accept whatever post was offered.

“I joined the CCP because it offered more possibilities to help the nation,” Sok Pheng told the Post on Tuesday. “The SRP could not move forward.”

Pheng was named secretary of state for the Council of Ministers, according to the list of appointments in the new coalition government. Other defectors were also given plum appointments.

SRP spokesman Son Chhay said the party didn’t care about the appointments and that the defectors were simply looking out for themselves rather than the nation. “It is the CCP policy to make these appointments for their own benefit,” Chhay said.

Government spokesman and Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said the appointments are not yet official and could change.

“I cannot say how many government positions will be offered to former SRP members because they have not yet been confirmed,” Khieu Kanharith said. “The appointments were offered as incentives and were based on previous job experience.”

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“I joined the cpp as it offered more opportunities to help the nation.”

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On Tuesday, the SRP and the Human Rights Party (HRP) announced they will collectively file a complaint against the results of the recent election, which they claim was marred by widespread ballot fraud.

“We are going to file a complaint to the United Nations and the European Union because these poll results which were proclaimed by the National Election Committee are not acceptable,” Rainsy said.

Rainsy claimed if the polls had been free and fair the Cambodian People’s Party would have won 75 seats rather than 90, and said his own SRP would have grabbed 36 seats not 26.

Secretary general of the HRP, Uo Chanrath confirmed his party supported the complaint to the UN.

Khieu Kanharith ridiculed the complaint, saying “now only two parties are rejecting the results,” alluding to the fact that former SRP-partners Funcinpec and the Norodom Ranariddh Party have u-turned and now say they support the election results.

(Non-Olympian) Cambodian diver … on the Tonle Sap River

A Cambodian boy dives into the swollen water of the Tonle Sap River in front of Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian boy dives into the swollen water of the Tonle Sap River in front of Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodia media to carry aid to military at temple

Bangkok Post – August 13, 2008

Phnom Penh – Cambodian journalists Wednesday announced they would answer a call for aid from soldiers stationed at a remote northern temple complex and travel there to distribute supplies. 

A group of journalists including the privately owned Cambodian Television Network said they would visit the Ta Moan temples in the north of the country soon to deliver food and other essentials to troops near the site that is disputed by Thailand. 

Cambodia’s ill-equipped army has been heavily supported by various groups nationwide in its hurried stand against alleged Thai incursions, including journalists and social activists, politicians and prominent members of society since the temple standoffs started last month. 

Senior officials from Oddar Meanchey province, home to the Ta Moan Thom temples, appealed for assistance for soldiers and police this week to maintain their vigil. 

The Cambodian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that the temple complex was “indisputably inside Cambodian territory.” 

“We deny any demand that contravenes Cambodia’s legal rights,” the Foreign Ministry said. 

Thai soldiers have reportedly denied Cambodians access to the Ta Moan temples since July 28. 

Cambodia won Unesco World Heritage listing for the Preah Vihear temple ruins – 150 kilometres east of Ta Moan – on July 7 against Thailand’s wishes. Thai troops then moved into territory claimed by Cambodia, but Thailand insists this has not been legally decided. 

Later that month, Thai troops allegedly blocked Cambodian access to the Ta Moan group of temples, also on the 800-kilometre border, which is disputed at many points. 

Cambodia says it hopes the issue can be resolved “peacefully and lawfully” at scheduled a bilateral meeting between foreign ministers in the Thai province of Prachuap Kiri Khan Monday.

Thailand, Cambodia agree to reduce troops at temple

SURIN, Aug 13 (TNA) — In an attempt to reduce tensions at their common border over the disputed Ta Muen Thom temple ruins, Thailand and Cambodia on Wednesday agreed to reduce the number of their military personnel guarding the site.
 
The agreement was reached following a meeting between Lt-Gen. Suchit Sitthiprapa, Thailand’s Second Army commander, responsible for security affairs in northeastern Thailand, and Cambodian Deputy Defence Minister Gen. Neang Paht at a hotel in Thailand’s Surin province bordering Cambodia.

Both sides agreed at the meeting to reduce the number of armed forces personnel guarding Ta Muen Thom ruin which sits on Surin’s Phanom Dong Rak border district which Cambodia argues is in its Uddor Meanchey province.
 
Thailand and Cambodia also agreed to open the barbed wire installed at the ruin early Thursday so that military and the residents of both countries could communicate with each other and visit Ta Muen Thom ruins. Thais will also be allowed to visit another ruins about a kilometre inside Cambodia.

Both countries also agreed to hold another meeting next Monday in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin.

Tensions in the area heightened after Gen. Boonsang Niempradit, Thai supreme commander, on August 4 asked Cambodia to withdraw its soldiers from the temple environs.

The  demarcation boundary between the two countries has not yet been settled by the Thailand-Cambodia General Border Committee (GBC).

A Thai foreign ministry spokesman has said the Ta Muen Thom ruin is only one of a number of sites along the unclear boundary between the two countries. Thailand is trying to conduct its actions under the framework of the GBC, he said, and the temple problem should also be discussed under that mechanism.