Mekong higher than 2000 flood levels

Radio Australia – August 20, 2008

High flood waters are continuing to move down the Mekong River.

The Mekong River Commission says the river from northern Thailand to central Cambodia is higher than it was in 2000, when the worst floods in four decades struck southern Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government has ordered rescue forces to be ready to move people from dangerous areas in southern Vietnam, where the Mekong river reaches the South China Sea.

Cambodian disaster management officials have alerted villagers of rising waters and authorities have prepared 4,000 boats and life-jackets for vulnerable areas in the eastern provinces of Kampong Cham and Kratie.

Four people have been killed in flooding and landslides in Laos, where the Mekong river has hit its highest level in at least 100 years after several months of unusually heavy rain.

Vietnam, Cambodia brace for Mekong floods, crops safe

By Ho Binh Minh

(Adds Cambodia’s warning, floods in Thailand paragraphs 4-5)

HANOI, Aug 19 (Reuters) – Rising Mekong floods upstream may cause landslides and deep inundation in Cambodia and southern Vietnam but the seasonal floodwater would also bring farmers good crops of rice and fish, officials said on Tuesday.

The Vietnamese government said rescue forces must be ready to move people from dangerous areas in southern Vietnam, where the Mekong river reaches the South China Sea after travelling more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles) from Tibet through Laos and Cambodia.

Four people have been killed in flooding and landslides in Laos, where the Mekong river has hit its highest level in at least 100 years after several months of unusually heavy rain (For a related story, please double click on [IDnSP192460]).

Cambodia has alerted villagers of rising waters and the authorities have prepared 4,000 boats and life-jackets for the vulnerable areas in the eastern provinces of Kampong Cham and Kratie, the national disaster management committee said.

The Mekong River Commission said the river from northern Thailand to central Cambodia was higher than it was in 2000, when the worst floods in four decades struck southern Vietnam.

“Floods in the Cuu Long River Delta happen every year, so people are used to taking preventive measures for crops and life,” Le Van Banh, director of the Mekong Delta-based Rice Institute, told Reuters by telephone from Can Tho city.

“In the past floods caused problem to transportation and it was hard for children to come to school, but in recent years Vietnam has built protective dykes and residential areas above the flood-peaking level,” he said.

RICE FIELD CLEANING

About 20 percent of Vietnam’s 86.5 million people live in the Cuu Long River Delta, the Vietnamese name for the Mekong river, which produces more than half of the country’s paddy output but supplies more than 90 percent of its commercial rice.

Rice growers say they will get extra income from fishing when flooding is high and after they end the summer rice harvest. Flood waters also clean up alum, pests and rats from fields while bringing more fertile soil.

“Since the floods are to wash away alum, we expect the yield of the next winter-spring rice crop to be good, at least on par with this year,” Banh said.

The winter-spring crop, the Delta’s top yielding, produced 10 million tonnes of paddy in April with a yield of 6.2 tonnes per hectare, prompting the government to raise Vietnam’s annual rice exports by 13 percent from earlier targets [nSP283104].

FAST-RISING WATERS

Seasonal floods appeared slowly in the Delta in July, a month earlier than usual. But this week flood waters are rising faster from heavy rains upstream two weeks ago, including the downpours that caused flash floods in northern Vietnam.

“Floods are forecast to rise above the average level in many years,” said Vo Thanh, a meteorologist in An Giang, one of the Mekong Delta’s main rice growing provinces.

Waters are expected to rise to 3.5 metres (12 feet) above sea level at Tan Chau gauging station on Friday, or 0.1 metre below the Alarm Level Two, which indicates inundation and danger of river bank and dyke erosion but towns are still protected.

In 2000, the Delta experienced the worst floods in four decades as waters rose to more than 5 metres, killing nearly 500 people, more than 300 of them children.

Since then the government has launched a campaign to protect life and property, having built 82,000 new homes, relocated 110,000 families or 80 percent of those living in dangerous areas, and opened swimming class for children and teachers.

However, about 30,000 families living near rivers are still facing risk of landslides, according to provincial figures. (Additional reporting by Ek Madra in PHNOM PENH; Editing by Paul Tait)

Cambodia’s Increased Transparency

VOA – August 19, 2008

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Intergovernmental Affairs for the United States Trade Representative Dr. Christina Sevilla visited Phnom Penh, August 13th, and took part in a forum with Cambodia’s Senior Minister of Commerce, H.E. Cham Prasidh. Dr. Sevilla congratulated the Cambodian government on the impressive strides it has made in increasing transparency and dialogue with the private sector. She signaled the United States commitment to deepening and expanding the trade relationship between the two countries.

Dr. Sevilla also noted that Cambodia needed to implement its World Trade Organization commitments and strengthen its intellectual property rights regime in order to improve the business climate.

The forum provided a platform for the participants to share U.S. and Cambodian experiences in consultative mechanisms for trade development in order to further the economic ties between the two countries. Promoting trade through improved policies and procedures is one goal of a private-public sector dialogue. Trade between the U.S. and Cambodia rose to two-billion-six-hundred-million dollars in 2008.

Increased transparency is good news for Cambodia’s private sector. For the economy to grow, the actions of government officials must be open to public scrutiny. Laws must be enforced fairly and impartially. Corruption and illegal business practices must be exposed and the rule of law applied to violators. Journalists have a responsibility to expose corruption and illegal practices in government and the private sector. They should report the news fairly, objectively, and without surrendering to bribery or political influence. Government has a responsibility to protect the press, non-governmental organizations, and private citizens who expose corruption and illegal practices.

Promoting transparency is one of a number of goals of U.S. trade policy. American policy works toward opening markets throughout the world to create new opportunities and higher living standards for families, farmers, manufacturers, workers, consumers, and businesses.

Thailand, Cambodia agree on full troop redeployment

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and his counterpart Tej Bunnag

HUA HIN, Aug 19 (TNA) – Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong on Tuesday agreed on full troop redeployment and to adopt a provisional arrangement over the disputed Preah Vihear temple pending the survey and demarcation of the area in question.

In a joint press conference after a full day of talks in this Thai resort town, Mr. Tej announced both parties have agreed on a full redeployment of troops in the area, among other measures.

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to convene a second meeting between the head of the Cambodian Temporary Coordinating Task Force and the head of the Thai Regional Border Committee (RBC) on August 29 in Cambodia to discuss the second phase of redeployment.

Both sides pulled out most of their soldiers on Saturday, leaving only 10 troops from each country at the compound of a pagoda near the temple.

They agreed to adopt a provisional arrangement pending the survey and demarcation work to be carried out by the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), which is expected to be convened in October.

However, the Thai Foreign Minister reaffirmed the arrangement must comply with the Thai constitution.

In the afternoon, a group of 10 Buddhist Dharmayatra was staging a protest against the bilateral talks and Preah Vihear’s listing as a World Heritage Site in front of the hotel where the ministerial meeting was in
session. The group submitted a letter of protest to a foreign ministry official before leaving.

It is expected that the next round of the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will take place after the Joint Boundary Commission is convened in October.

Tensions at the ancient temple escalated after the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s World Heritage Committee early last month named the temple as World Heritage site to Cambodia. The International Court of Justice in 1962 ruled that the temple belongs to Cambodia, but that the surrounding area remains in dispute between the two countries. (TNA)

No agreement yet for Thai-Cambodian foreign ministers’ border dispute meeting

CHA-AM, Thailand, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — No new agreement has been reached yet after hours of negotiations between Thai and Cambodian delegations led by respective foreign ministers over the disputed border around the Preah Vihear temple on Tuesday at Thailand’s central resort town Cha-am, Phetchburi province.

The meeting between Thai Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong and a parallel study group by military and related border affairs officials opened on the morning at a hotel in Cha-am, some 220 kilometers southwest of Bangkok and near the beach resort town Hua Hin.

The meeting is aimed to find a peaceful solution to a long border dispute regarding a 4.6-sq-kilometer area around the 11th-century ruins of the Khmer-style Hindu temple of Preah Vihear, listed recently by UNESCO as a World Heritage, and to lay down foundations for future cooperation on demarcation and demining work along the disputed border.

The meeting lasted some six hours with a short lunch break before the two ministers left for a scheduled audience to the ThaiKing Bhumibol Adulyadej at the royal summer palace at nearby Hua Hin, where the King now resides, at around 4:30 p.m. (0930 GMT).

They will return to the hotel in the evening to continue the meeting, which was supposed to end within the day. However, the anticipation for a conclusion of success or breakthrough was low, as both sides had strong claims over some points that made the negotiation hard to pass through, sources said.

This is the second-round talks on a ministerial level. The two foreign minister had their first talks on July 28 in Siem Reap, Cambodia, which produced no big breakthrough.

As a result of the talks and a good gesture before the second meeting, however, the two sides did remove most of their military personnel, which have been quickly strengthened since mid-July to an estimated 1,000 more from each side, along the disputed border around the temple since Saturday.

On Tuesday afternoon, outside the hotel, a number of Thais had a quiet protest against Cambodia’s “occupation” of Preah Vihear site and surrounding border areas, by raising banners which reads “Cambodia get out.”

Earlier before the meeting started, Tharit Charungvat, spokesman for the Thai Foreign Ministry, said the atmosphere between the two ministers was good on Monday when they met and joined in a dinner, and that the situation has been improving a lot, as the tensions at the border have been eased as a result of the military “redeployment” following previous talks under bilateral mechanism including the General Border Committee which started early July and the Foreign Ministers’ first meeting.

Tharit reiterated that territorial dispute is normal for any two neighboring countries, and that the situation for Thailand and Cambodia has now cooled down.

Thailand hopes that Tuesday’s meeting would turn out positive results, and “the situation will go back to normal as soon as possible”, but he could not give the timetable for when the planned border demarcation work and complete military retreatment from the zone in question would start or finish.

Before Tuesday’s talks, only about 10 soldiers from each side remain at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda on the access to the Preah Vihear temple, which sits at the border between Thai northeastern province of Si Sa Ket and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province, following a respective “redeployment” since Saturday, and some 20 others from each side 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 Bunnag 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 on “military redeployment” along the disputed border.

Earlier Reports from Phnom Penh quoted Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and 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.”     

Editor: Yan