Cambodian daily newspaper closes

Radio Australia – August 19, 2008

One of Cambodia’s three daily English-language newspapers, The Mekong Times, will close.

Editor-in-chief, Neth Pheaktra, says the company had decided to stop publishing because of a budget crisis.

The Mekong Times, which also published in the Cambodian language, hit the stands last February.

The announcement of its demise comes ten days after The Phnom Penh Post, one of the kingdom’s leading papers, launched its first daily edition.

Cambodia’s burgeoning media market now has two English-language dailies, one English weekly, a number of glossy magazines and a large and lively Cambodian-language press.

Govt pressure drive Cambodian fuel prices down

New Straits Times, Malaysia - August 19, 2008

Pressure from the government has propelled the fuel providers in Cambodia to decrease their retail prices a little, and more price cutting can be expected in the future, China’s Xinhua news agency quoted a report in English-language newspaper the Phnom Penh Post Tuesday.

Petrol and diesel prices at most Phnom Penh stations dropped 400 to 500 riels (about US$0.10) per liter at the weekend, following a meeting last week between the government and oil companies, where finance officials pressed for a cut in pump prices, said the paper.

“We ask all major companies to consider reducing petrol and diesel prices,” Chuo Vichet, chief of cabinet at Ministry of Finance and Economy, was quoted as saying.

“We didn’t order (oil companies) to cut petrol prices, but being partners, we hope companies to reduce prices step by step,” he said.

“We understand that this is a free-market economy, but the government is hoping petroleum distributors to drop price to a reasonable level for consumers,” he added.

During the meeting here Thursday, Minister of Finance and Economy Keat Chhon talked with petroleum majors Sokimex, PTT, Kampuchea Tela, Total Cambodge, Caltex and Savimex on price cut.

After the preliminary cut, petrol and diesel at most Phnom Penh stations now sells at 5,200 riels (some US$1.27) a liter for premium fuel.

Cambodia’s oil consumption totally depends on imports and about 100,000 tons are imported per month, according to the government.

Thai former deputy interior minister sentenced to ten years in prison

BANGKOK, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — Thailand’s former deputy interior minister Vatana Asavahame on Monday was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment without parole by the Supreme Court after he was found guilty in a wastewater treatment project corruption case.

According to the Bangkok Post webnews, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions, by an eight-to-one vote on Monday, sentenced Vatana, who is also the chief advisor to the now ruling Puea Pandin Party, to 10 years in prison without parole.

The report said a warrant has been issued for Vatana and he is believed to be hiding in Cambodia where he owns a hotel and casino.

Vatana was accused of abusing his authority as the deputy interior minister 16 years ago by getting officials to illegally issue title deeds for public canals and rubbish dumps in central Samut Prakhan Province.

Editor: Bi Mingxin

Thailand says border tensions eased as Cambodia talks open

August 19, 2008

Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag (right) shakes hand with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong

HUA HIN, Thailand (AFP) — Tensions over an ancient Khmer temple have eased following the withdrawal of most soldiers from the ruins, the Thai foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday as new border talks opened with Cambodia.

“The situation is moving in a positive manner. The tension is now being cooled down,” Tharit Charungvat told reporters as foreign ministers from both countries began meeting in the Thai beach resort town of Hua Hin, southwest of Bangkok.

At the weekend, up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops pulled back from a small patch of disputed land near Cambodia’s 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, suggesting that an end to the month-long military stand-off could be near.

Twenty troops from both sides remain stationed at a small pagoda in the contentious border area, while 40 Cambodian and Thai solders remain nearby.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and his Thai counterpart Tej Bunnag met for dinner late Monday in Hua Hin, and were expected to hold talks through the day Tuesday.

“The situation has improved quite a lot in regards to the standoff between the militaries from both sides,” Tharit said. “The tension around the area has been eased. We hope very much that the situation will go back to normal as soon as possible.”

Relations between the neighbours flared up last month after Preah Vihear was awarded world heritage status by the UN cultural body UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the ancient Khmer temple.

On July 15, Cambodia arrested three Thai protesters for illegally crossing the border to try to reach the temple, sparking the deployment of troops from both sides on the tiny patch of disputed land near Preah Vihear.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, but surrounding land remains in dispute.

The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

CWS emergency situation report #2: 2008 Tropical Storm Kammuri

Source: Church World Service (CWS)

Date: 18 Aug 2008

SITUATION:

Flooding caused from Typhoon Kammuri is affecting a large area of southeast Asia. Vietnam was hit first by rain from the storm earlier this month, leaving more than 100 dead or missing; subsequent flooding — described in some reports as the worst flooding in 100 years — has affected Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand, and flooding is expected shortly in Cambodia. The flooding is described as almost a “tidal surge” in strength as it moves south toward Cambodia.

“The Mekong flood is moving downstream,” said Laos-based CWS Asia Regional Coordinator Skip Dangers. ” My prediction is that we will be getting flood emergency reports from Cambodia later this week.”

He added: “The major damages and casualties in Laos from this flood are outside of Vientiane (Laos’s capital) and because of the generally poor communications infrastructure in Laos (particularly in those villages on the river between Vientiane and Luang Prabang where there are no roads or phone infrastructure) and the fact that roads out of Vientiane are blocked by high water, it will take some days (or longer) to get a clear picture of the situation.”

Flooding is affecting rural areas throughout the region because small villages line most riverbanks, making the villages particularly vulnerable to flash flooding.

According to information provided by CWS staff in Vietnam and Laos:

-Flooding has struck parts of Myanmar (Burma) still trying to recover from Cyclone Nargis, the May storm that killed anywhere between 84,000 and more than 100,000; the latest flooding has affected both the capital of Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta area affected most severely by Nargis.

-In Laos, landslides caused by the flooding have killed at least four people there.

-Three northeastern Thai provinces that border the Mekong River and Laos have been badly affected, causing massive flooding to thousands of acres of fertile farmland.

-In Vietnam, a total of 125 have died, and 38 are reported missing; nearly 800 homes have been destroyed, and 17,793 homes have been flooded or damaged.

CWS RESPONSE:

CWS staff members in Laos and Vietnam, working with government and partner relief groups, are conducting assessments to determine unmet needs. CWS may issue an appeal to respond to this emergency.

For further information about disasters to which Church World Service is responding please visit www.churchworldservice.org or call the CWS Hotline, (800) 297-1516.

CWS Emergency Response Program special contacts: (212) 870-3151

Program Director: dderr@churchworldservice.org

Domestic: bvollmering@churchworldservice.org

Thousands flee as Mekong breaks flood records

Seth Mydans, Hanoi

The Age, Australia - August 19, 2008

 A Cambodian woman swims with her cattle to higher ground. Photo: Reuters

TORRENTIAL rain and overflowing rivers have brought some of the worst flooding in decades to Vietnam and its neighbours in the past week, affecting cities and farmlands in five nations.

In northern Vietnam, at least 130 people have been killed, dozens are missing and thousands have been driven from their homes. Hundreds of tourists were evacuated near the hill tribe resort area of Sa Pa.

Flooding has also hit parts of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos as well as Burma, where waters rose in the Irrawaddy Delta, still recovering from a cyclone that left 138,000 people dead or missing in May.

The floods have hit much of Burma, including the main city, Rangoon, as well as Mandalay in the centre and the Karen and Mon states in the south-east.

In Vientiane, the capital of Laos, officials said the Mekong River had brought the worst flooding in memory, rising to nearly 15 metres above its lowest level in the dry season.

The high water in Vientiane broke a record set in 1966 and overflowed a levee that was built after that flood.

Mud-slides also cut the main road from Vientiane to the ancient capital of Luang Prabang, a city of temples and monasteries where the Mekong also rose.

Laotian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalansy said four people, including a child, had died in Vientiane after being injured in landslides triggered by the flooding.

Speaking by phone from Vientiane, Mr Yong said there were reports that the flooding was receding.

The flooding also cut electricity in Luang Prabang, a popular tourist destination.

In parts of north-eastern Thailand, officials said, the Mekong had reached its highest level in 30 years, inundating farmlands and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people in three provinces along the river, which divides Thailand from Laos. Officials said the high water had been caused by downpours in southern China, Laos and Thailand.

As the high waters of the Mekong moved downstream, Cambodia and eastern Thailand prepared for major floods, and officials were telling residents in some areas to move to higher ground with their livestock.

In the southern Mekong Delta of Vietnam, where the 4800-kilometre river flows into the sea, forecasters said rising waters had reached a critical level two weeks earlier than last year and that worse flooding lay ahead.

The most destructive flooding in recent years came in late 1999 in Vietnam’s central provinces, leaving 750 people dead or missing.

Agencies

Thai, Cambodian FMs meet again for border dispute

CHA-AM (PHETCHBURI), Thailand, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — Foreign Ministers from Thailand and Cambodia met Monday at a central Thai resort for a second-round ministerial talks on a border dispute.

Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag greeted his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong and the two had a diner together Monday evening at a hotel in Cha-am district, Phetchburi province in central Thailand, some 220 kilometers southwest Bangkok, near the beach resort town Hua Hin.

The meeting was to start officially on Tuesday morning here, ina bid to find a peaceful solution to a long border dispute regarding areas around the ancient Khmer-style Hindu temple of Preah Vihear, the 11th-century ruins listed recently as World Heritage, and to lay down foundations for future cooperation on demarcation and demining work along a 4.6-sq kilometers disputed border area.

Taking apart in the meeting also include Lt. Gen Sujit Sithiparpa, Thailand’s Second Army Commander who is responsible for security in the northeastern region including the disputed area, and his Cambodian counterpart Gen. Chea Mon, Cambodia’s Fourth Army Commander.

As a good gesture ahead of the talks, the two sides began pulling out their troops, believed at over 1,000 from each side earlier, stationed around the Preah Vihear Temple, which sits at the border between Thai northeastern province of Si Sa Ket and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province.

Only about ten soldiers from each side remain at a pagoda near the Preah Vihear temple now after the pull-out since Saturday, and some 20 others from each at areas nearby for patrol.

The military stand-off, which has seen a quick increase of military personnel along the disputed border zone by each side, started after three Thais, including a monk, were briefly detained by Cambodian authorities on July 15 for “intruding Cambodian territory” by breaking into the Preah Vihear temple compound to declare Thai sovereignty over the temple.

The temple was awarded to Cambodia in a 1962 verdict of the International Court of Justice, which some Thais have been reluctant to accept. The dispute became a hot issue when Cambodia launched efforts to bid for the listing of the temple as a World Heritage Site last year.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee approved Cambodia’s application early last month, triggering a wave of national sentiment in Thailand urging the Thai government to take counter actions in defense of territorial sovereignty.

Then Thai foreign minister Noppadon Pattama was forced to resign last month for signing a joint communique to endorse Thai support for Cambodia’s World Heritage bid without prior parliament approval, which was later held unconstitutional. Veteran diplomat Tej was appointed as the successor just in time for the first ministerial talks on July 28 in Siem Reap, Cambodia, which produced no breakthrough but an agreement to reduce military deployment along the disputed border.

Thai Foreign Ministry officials reiterated to Xinhua that the Thai side did not instigate the situation by deploying more troops to the disputed area around the Preah Vihear temple, but that Thai authorities had sent letters to Cambodian government a few times to protest the setting up of Cambodian communities around the disputed border area in breach of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by two sides in 2000, which was long before the July 15 incident.

The Cambodian authorities had not acted in response to Thailand’ protests, the Thai officials said.

On Monday morning, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and Army chief General Anupong Paochinda inspected border points near the Preah Vihear temple.

Reports from Phnom Penh quoted Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong as saying before leaving for Thailand on Monday that he was optimistic about the second bilateral meeting “to seek peaceful resolution to withdraw the troops totally from the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda and the surrounding areas of the Preah Vihear Temple.”

Following the meeting, Hor Namhong will also be granted an audience by the Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej Tuesday afternoon at the royal summer palace in Hua Hin, where the King now resides, before going back to Cambodia.

Editor: Bi Mingxin

Samak visits border troops, advises patience

Bangkok Post – August 19, 2008

By Wassana Nanuam

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Monday advised soldiers guarding the border to be patient as Thailand and Cambodia attempt to resolve the row over the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple through negotiations. 

“All soldiers should help maintain ties between Thailand and Cambodia. You should be patient and ignore any attempt to cause rifts between the two countries,”the prime minister said during a visit yesterday to the border in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket, which is adjacent to Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province. 

Mr Samak stressed the importance of Thai-Cambodian relations as the two countries are immediate neighbours and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). 

He hoped Cambodia would reduce troop numbers in the disputed area to the same level as Thailand. 

Thailand has 300 troops in the 4.6-sqkm overlapping zone, while Cambodia has 500 in total, the prime minister said. 

The Thai and Cambodian foreign ministers, Tej Bunnag and Hor Namhong, were to meet at an informal dinner last night in Cha-am district of Phetchaburi. They will co-chair the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) meeting today.

Army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda visited the area and the Ta Moan Thom temple in Phanom Dong Rak sub-district in neighbouring Surin yesterday and said later he was not worried about the border situation in the area. 

Neither country wanted a military stand-off, Gen Anupong said. He hoped the two ministers would agree at the JBC talks to withdraw more troops from the overlapping zone. 

Thailand and Cambodia completed the first round of troop reductions on Sunday. The pullout agreement was reached at the JBC meeting in Siem Reap on July 28. 

Hor Namhong was also optimistic that a new round of talks with Thailand would result in a lasting solution to the long-running border dispute. 

“The meeting will achieve good success in resolving the problem step by step,” the Cambodian minister said in Phnom Penh before departing for Thailand. 

Hor Namhong insisted his government wished to resolve the problem peacefully, amicably and by legal means. The two countries share “a lot of economic and trade interests”, he said. (with additional reporting by AFP)