Cambodia claims win in UNESCO tussle over temple
Cambodia declared victory Friday in a diplomatic standoff with Thailand after the U.N. cultural agency agreed to consider its plan for managing a temple that is on land claimed by both countries.
 
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said that Cambodia had achieved its goal when UNESCO's World Heritage Commission agreed on Thursday to consider its plan for the Preah Vihear temple on the border with Thailand.
 
However, UNESCO's decision to defer the matter to its meeting next year takes pressure off both countries.
 
Thailand, which claims the plan jeopardizes its claim to disputed territory, had threatened to quit UNESCO if the plan was endorsed at Thursday's meeting in Brazil. Thai officials said they viewed the postponement of the plan's consideration as progress.
 
In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled the 10th-century border temple belongs to Cambodia, rejecting Thai claims. UNESCO _ over Thai objections _ named Preah Vihear a World Heritage site in 2008, after Cambodia applied for the status. Cambodia's World Heritage bid reignited Thai resentment over the earlier ruling, and there have been small and sometimes deadly armed clashes in the area during the past few years.
 
Leaders of both countries have used the issue to stir up nationalist sentiment and shore up domestic political support. In Thailand, nationalist pressure groups demonstrated this week for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to take a hard line against Cambodia and UNESCO. The two sides' military leaders spoke about strengthening their respective forces at the border in preparation for any incursions from the other side.
 
Sok An led the Cambodian delegation at the UNESCO meeting, and spoke by satellite from Brazil live on television.
 
"UNESCO has officially accepted our management plan documents, so there’s no need to have a further discussion or voting. The result of the meeting is a big victory for Cambodia, a result we have been waiting for." Sok An said.
 
Thai officials insist that demarcation of the disputed land must come before UNESCO endorses any management plan.
 
"How we're going to move forward is a matter to be discussed by both sides," said Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban.
 
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova released a statement earlier this week calling for dialogue between the two countries. "It is our common responsibility to make these sites emblems of peace, dialogue and reconciliation," she said.  (Source:  Associated Press by SOPHENG CHEANG, 31/07/2010)
 
Errors stall Cambodian temple bid
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has postponed a decision on Cambodia's development plan for the Preah Vihear temple partly because it submitted a graphical illustration instead of a map, says a source in the Thai delegation.
 
Other reasons for the committee's postponement include evidence that Cambodia had deployed heavy weapons in the temple, that the country had failed to submit relevant documents on time, and that a memorandum of understanding between Thailand and Cambodia over the disputed territory in the area had not been settled.
 
The WHC decided to delay its decision on the management plan until next year's meeting in Bahrain because Thailand and Cambodia were unable to find common ground.
 
Brazil, the host of the meeting, had mediated between the two countries for an hour before the decision to postpone was made.
 
“The use of the graphical illustration, instead of a real map, has suggested a possible intent to conceal details about the areas surrounding the temple," the source said.
 
The Thai delegation capitalised on this by supplying a map that shows the construction of a road by Cambodia in the disputed overlapping 4.6 square kilometre zone.
 
Under a 2002 memorandum of understanding between Thailand and Cambodia, both sides agreed not to carry out any work in the area pending a survey to officially demarcate the common land boundary.
 
According to the source, the delegation has also submitted photos of a Cambodian installation of heavy artillery and troops in the temple.
 
"The Thai delegation had three minutes to talk to each of the WHC members. Our evidence made them feel that Cambodia's case was incomplete," said the source.
 
The source also called on Thai authorities not to get carried away with the delay and be prepared for the next WHC meeting.
 
"Cambodia has already set up a special body known as the Department of World Heritage, and we should also have a body that is responsible for this matter. It may be a long battle," said the source.
 
Part of the success of the Thai delegation led by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti should be attributed to three military officers who accompanied them on the trip: Lt Gen Thawatchai Samutsakhon, chief of the 2nd army corps, Lt Gen Niphat Thonglek, commander of border affairs attached to the Supreme Command, and Maj Gen Noppadol Chotisiri, deputy chief of the Army Survey Department.
 
Mr Suwit said yesterday the WHC's postponement of its decision on the site was partly because Cambodia had failed to submit its documents six weeks before the meeting as required.
 
As a result, the Thai delegation pointed out to the committee that it did not have enough time to study the proposal which could affect the country's sovereignty, Mr Suwit said.
 
He said the WHC acknowledged the problem and wanted both countries to work out a solution before it considered a management plan.
 
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday pledged to direct necessary resources to examine Cambodia's management plan now that the WHC had postponed its decision on the matter.
 
He said concerned authorities would spend the next 12 months studying the proposal, so that Thailand is able to present an informed opinion to the WHC at its next meeting in Bahrain.
 
"Within a period of one year, we will look at Cambodia's document and come up with a comprehensive recommendation [to the WHC]. It will be different [next year]. We have a chance and we have to do our best," he said.
 
Mr Abhisit said the 2000 memorandum of understanding on the survey and land boundary demarcation Thailand signed with Cambodia was instrumental in the postponement.
 
According to Mr Abhisit, it was the memorandum that forced Cambodia into conceding that border demarcation had not yet been settled.
 
He said the issue should prompt Cambodia to review its decision to have the temple listed as a world heritage site and acknowledge the limitations that come with that designation.
 
Mr Abhisit said that before Cambodia's unilateral bid to register Preah Vihear temple as a world heritage site, both countries were able to use the site for economic benefit without incident.
 
As for the alleged encroachment into the disputed zone, he said the Foreign Ministry had already sent a message that Thailand expected Cambodia to respect the memorandum of understanding.
 
Mr Abhisit said authorities would look into reports about Cambodia's alleged encroachment.
 
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban played down speculation about renewed tensions, saying the delay would allow both countries to work out border disputes.
 
He said that any disputes with Cambodia would be dealt with at the government level.
 
Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon yesterday said there was no need to dispatch more troops to the Thai-Cambodian border despite a report that two battalions and heavy artillery had been sent there.  (Source:  The Bangkok Post, 31/07/2010)
 
US and Cambodia in controversial lockstep
Cambodia's first-ever multinational military exercise is part and parcel of intensifying competition between the United States and China for regional influence.
 
The recently completed US-Cambodia military drills, known as "Angkor Sentinel 10", involved 1,200 soldiers from 23 countries and were ostensibly part of Washington's Global Peace Operations Initiative, a program run jointly by the US Department of Defense and State Department to help train global peacekeepers against insurgency, terrorism, crime and ethnic conflict.
 
The largest contingents of troops in the exercise were from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and the US Army Pacific, even as it was billed as a multilateral peacekeeping operation.
 
Warming bilateral relations come as the Barack Obama administration puts new policy emphasis on Asia and moves to compete with, if not contain, China's growing influence in Southeast Asia. Cambodia, as well as Laos and Myanmar, are viewed by many observers as already firmly in China's orbit. China's influence in Cambodia has grown considerably in the past decade. While not the largest official donor to the country, its aid projects and investments are strongly publicized and come without demands for improved human rights, better governance or less corruption.
 
The US has provided over US$4.5 million worth of military equipment and training to the Cambodian military since 2006, and this was the first time the two sides jointly put the equipment to use. Recent statements by US officials highlighted the cooperation between Cambodia and US forces.
 
At the May 3 opening of the now-completed, US Defense Department-funded Peacekeeping Training Center, US charge d’affairs Theodore Allegra said the US remained ''committed to enhancing military relations with Cambodia in the areas of defense reform and professionalization, border and maritime security, counter-terrorism, civil-military operations and de-mining."
 
The $1.8 million training center was "evidence of the US government's commitment to enhancing partner capacity with Cambodia", he said.
 
At the July 12 opening ceremony of the military operations, US ambassador to Cambodia Carol Rodley said Washington was committed to enhancing its military relationship with Phnom Penh and called Angkor Sentinel a "unique opportunity" to expand the friendship between the two countries.
 
The drills, which also included participants from France, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, India, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mongolia and the United Kingdom, notably coincided with the 60th anniversary of US-Cambodia relations.
 
The program for the exercises consisted of two main components: a multilateral UN force headquarters computer-simulated command post exercise held in Phnom Penh and a two-week field training exercise at the RCAF's ACO Tank Command headquarters in Kompong Speu province 50 kilometers west of the capital.
 
However, the exercises did not sit well with some military officers in Thailand, the US's erstwhile security partner in the region. Thailand plays host annually to the region's largest US-led joint military exercise, Cobra Gold. Some Thai officers have expressed dismay that the US is showing increased strategic interest in a country that has emerged as one of its biggest security threats in light of recent border disputes and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's perceived meddling in Thai domestic politics.
 
United States Under Secretary of State William Burns discounted this view in a July 16 press conference in Bangkok. "We don't see that as in any way contradicting or in conflict with our commitment to working with the Thai military on regional security or peacekeeping operations," he said.
 
Guns for hire
Cambodia has come a long way since being the recipient of one of the United Nations' largest peacekeeping operations from 1991-1993. After decades of debilitating civil war, the country has in recent years sent peacekeepers, primarily de-mining experts, to Sudan, Chad, Central African Republic and Lebanon.
 
Human-rights activists argue that while Cambodia may no longer need peacekeepers itself, its population is still in need of protection from its own armed forces, including units involved in the recent joint exercises.
 
In a July 8 report, Human Rights Watch (HRW), a US-based rights lobby, alleged that many RCAF units selected to participate in the joint exercises had abysmal rights records. HRW said that by allowing the controversial units to participate in the drills, the US had undermined its own commitment to the promotion of human rights in Cambodia.
 
HRW, Cambodian human-rights organizations and other international rights groups, as well as the US State Department, have all detailed ACO Tank Command units involvement in illegal land seizures. These include the November 2009 seizure of farmland from 133 families in Baneay Meanchey province and the use of tanks in 2007 to flatten villagers' fences and crops in a forceful move to confiscate land.
 
HRW noted that certain elite units, such as the prime minister's personal bodyguard, Airborne Brigade 911, Brigade 31 and Brigade 70, were all scheduled to participate in the Phnom Penh portion of the exercise. Both the bodyguard unit and Brigade 70 were involved in the 1997 grenade attack on a political rally by the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, according to HRW.
 
Airborne Brigade 911, meanwhile, has been linked to arbitrary detentions, political violence, torture and summary executions. Brigade 31 has been accused of involvement in illegal logging, intimidation of opposition party activists and land-grabbing, including the use in 2008 of US-provided trucks to forcibly evict villagers from their land in Kampot province.
 
Cambodian military officers and soldiers operate without fear of arrest or punishment, human-rights groups say. ''Hun Sen has promoted military officers implicated in torture, extra-judicial killings and political violence,'' said Phil Robertson, HRW's deputy Asia director.
 
While some of these acts have been carried out for the benefit of the business interests of military officers, others have been done at the request of private companies with links to the military. Plans announced by Hun Sen in February for corporate sponsorship of military units to cover defense costs have many worried that the contributions will increase companies' control over military units to do their bidding.
 
Cambodian government officials dismissed HRW's claims. The US has likewise defended its involvement in the exercises. In a July 11 statement by embassy spokesman John Johnson, he said all participants in the exercises were "thoroughly and rigorously vetted" by the embassy and the Defense and State departments.
 
This was echoed by Burns during his visit to Phnom Penh. "Any military relationship that we conduct around the world is consistent with US law. And so, we look very carefully, we vet carefully, the participants from Cambodia, from other countries, in any kind of exercise that we engage in."
 
HRW called on the US government to suspend military aid to Cambodia until improved and thorough human-rights vetting process could be implemented to screen out abusive individuals or units from receiving US aid or training. However, indications are that the US has little interest in putting the brakes on rapidly improving bilateral ties with Cambodia.
 
Symbolic gestures
One major symbolic step was the removal last year of Cambodia and Laos from a list of Marxist-Leninist states. The re-designation opened the way for increased US investment by removing restrictions on US Export-Import Bank financing and loans to both countries. Washington is currently one of Cambodia's largest donors with more than $72 million in assistance this year focused on health, education, economic development and government accountability. The US donated $65 million in 2009.
 
Washington is apparently showing its support in other ways, too. Last month, an American judge sentenced Cambodian-American Chhun Yasith to life in prison for his leading role in an attempted coup in November 2000 by a group calling itself the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF). Although the CFF had previously received some tacit US approval, the verdict sent a message to other Cambodians that support for any anti-government activities from US soil would no longer be tolerated.
 
Security related ties have also improved, partly out of recognition that several high-profile terror suspects have passed through Cambodia. In January 2008, US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Robert Mueller made a visit to Cambodia to open a new FBI office at the embassy. Mueller said at the time, "It's an important country to us because of the potential for persons transiting Cambodia or utilizing Cambodia as a spot for terrorism."
 
Since then Phnom Penh has requested FBI help to solve the assassination of opposition journalist Khim Sambo and his son in July 2008 during a national election campaign. The journalist was known for his scathing criticisms of Hun Sen's administration, including allegations of corruption. The government has also requested FBI assistance in a joint investigation into a failed bomb plot against several government buildings by would-be Cambodian rebels in January 2009.
 
Prior to opening its new office, the FBI was involved in an investigation into the 1997 grenade attack on a rally by the opposition Sam Rainsy Party in which 16 people were killed and an American citizen was among the injured. The US government and the FBI were later criticized for pulling out of the investigation when it was believed they were on the verge of solving it. A June 1997 Washington Post article cited US government officials familiar with a classified FBI report on the investigation as saying the agency had tentatively pinned the blame on Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit.
 
Jousting between the US and China for influence has become more openly apparent. After the US suspended the delivery of military vehicles following the repatriation of ethnic Uighur asylum seekers from Cambodia to China in December, Beijing stepped in with a $14 million pledge of military aid in May. The 256 military vehicles and 50,000 military uniforms covered under the pledge were delivered by China in June.
 
China has also provided small arms to Cambodia in recent years, including modern QBZ Chinese-made assault rifles for Cambodia's Special Forces units. With China keen to maintain its edge in Cambodia and expand its influence in the rest of the region, US policymakers may feel Washington can ill-afford to miss opportunities to improve ties. The upshot may be that strategic partners are less rigorously vetted as new friends are sought and military relationships developed.  (Source:  Asia Times by Clifford McCoy, 31/07/2010)
 
Cambodia's "Angkor Sentinel 2010" military exercise ends
A two-week multi-nations' military exercise that began in Cambodia in mid-July ended Friday.
 
In his speech in Kompong Speu province, about 50 kilometers west of Phnom Penh, Tea Banh, deputy prime minister and minister of national defense said the military exercise was successful and hoped that Cambodia, in the future, will again be a host and home for international military exercises in the form of the peacekeeping operations.
 
He, meanwhile, reiterated that the exercise was nothing related to threat or show of muscle to any country, but for a purpose of strengthening security and peace in the region.
 
The military exercise was conducted in two forms of "command post" and "field exercise".
 
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen presided over the "field exercise" that began on July 17 in Kompong Speu province, while the "command post" was conducted in Phnom Penh was presided over by Gen. Moeng Samphan, vice minister of National Defense.
 
Delivering speech at the field exercise, Hun Sen said the exercise has "opened a new page to integrate Cambodia into the region and the world and will also strengthen and expand Cambodia's capacity in supporting peace operation, enhancing multi -lateral cooperation as well as strengthening international relations and regional partnership for the cause of peace and humanity".
 
Both of the military exercises with official name of "Angkor Sentinel 2010"-- are part of the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) program, the United Nations Peacekeeping framework for strengthening peace and security.
 
A total of 26 countries and two international organizations, including the United States, France, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, India, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mongolia and Britain, have participated in the Angkor Sentinel that involved about 1,000 troops.
 
The previous exercises in GPOI framework were conducted in 2007 in Khaan Quest in Mongolia, in Shanti Doot of Bangladesh in 2008 and Garuda Shield in Indonesia in 2009.  (Source: Xinhua, 30/07/2010)
 
Good Signs Over Postponement Of Temple Management Plan
The postponement of the Unesco World Heritage Committee's decision on the Preah Vihear Temple management plan to next year; will enable Thailand and Cambodia to seek a solution to the overlapping territorial claim adjacent to the temple.
 
Deputy Prime Minister in Charge of Security Matters Suthep Thaugsauban said today it would be good for Thailand and Cambodia to go to the negotiation table and solve the problem during that time.
 
The World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, last night was postponed to next year in Bahrain, following Thailand's opposition to the management plan.
 
Thailand threatened to resign from the World Heritage Committee if the meeting went ahead and approved the management plan for the 11th century Hindu temple submitted by Phnom Penh.
 
Thailand is concerned that the plan could include part or all of a disputed 4.6 square kilometre area adjacent to the temple claimed by both countries.
 
According to the ruling of the International Court of Justice in 1962, the temple is situated in a territory under Cambodia's sovereignty.
 
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, listed the temple as a world heritage site in 2008.
 
Since then, both countries have been at loggerheads when Thailand protested Cambodia's move to list the ancient temple as a world heritage site.
 
Soldiers from both sides have clashed on several occasions and tension at the border remains as both have overlapping claims over ownership to the temple access.
 
Suthep does not worry about the situation at the Thailand-Cambodia border, following the latest development in Brazil because Thailand undertook a peaceful solution.  (Source:  Bernama by Jamaluddin Muhammad, 30/07/2010)
 
Suthep: No tension along the border
The Thai-Cambodia border area remains quiet even though the World Heritage Committee has postponed its consideration of Cambodia’s management plan for Preah Vihear temple to next year’s meeting in Bahrain, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said.
 
“There is nothing to worry about. Thai people should not panic as the government has a clear-cut guideline to settle the border dispute with our neighbour by peaceful means,” Mr Suthep said on Friday morning.
 
Mr Suthep, who is in charge of security affairs, said the postponement gives an opportunity for Thailand and Cambodia to hold talks on the demarcation of the disputed border area.
 
Asked about reports that Cambodia had built a road and temple in the disputed area, the deputy premier said he needs more times to gather information on the matter. He would keep the public informed.
 
He called on all parties to refrain from making the Preah Vihear temple dispute a political issue for political gain or self-interest, because it is a matter of benefit for the nation and all Thai people.  (Source:  The Bangkok Post, 30/07/2010)

Thai PM firms on temple plan:  No Thai cooperation' on Preah Vihear area
Thailand will not cooperate with the World Heritage Committee if it agrees to a management plan for the Preah Vihear temple that infringes upon the disputed border area, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says.
 
The prime minister is sending a message to the WHC meeting which is expected to discuss Cambodia's management plan for the Hindu temple and its surrounding areas before the gathering, which began on Sunday in Brasilia, Brazil's capital, ends next Tuesday.
 
The Cambodian-sponsored plan is on the WHC agenda for its 21-member committee to discuss.
 
Phnom Penh is required to submit the management plan for WHC approval after the temple was placed on the world heritage listing of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2008.
 
Thailand's main concern is that the overlapping territory of 4.6 square kilometres, which has not been demarcated, could be included in the plan and jeopardise negotiations to sort out the area, which has been the main source of border conflicts between the two countries.
 
Thailand last year successfully blocked the plan at the meeting of the WHC in Seville, Spain.
 
This time, Mr Abhisit is refusing to cooperate with the WHC on the issue as the conflict over sovereignty of the area remains unsettled.
 
He reiterated yesterday Thailand's stance on opposing the management plan, which he says should not be brought up for discussion until the two countries resolve their dispute over the territory.
 
If the WHC's resolution on the management plan affects Thai sovereignty, the government will make it clear that it will not accept it, he said after talks with key leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) at Ban Phitsanulok.
 
 
The prime minister met with the PAD's co-leader Pibhop Dhongchai, the movement's spokesman Panthep Puapongpan, Senator Kamnoon Sitthisamarn and historian ML Walwipha Charoonroj, who leads the Preah Vihear listing monitoring network.
 
With the Brasilia meeting scheduled to discuss the issue, the PAD, led by Maj Gen Chamlong Srimuang, and 1,000 supporters converged on UNESCO’s Sukhumvit office yesterday in an effort to derail the Cambodian effort and call for a review of the registration of Preah Vihear as a world heritage site.
 
The rally broke up after officials from the UN agency agreed to forward the demands to the WHC meeting.
 
The 21 members of the serving WHC committee are Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, China, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Iraq, Jordan, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
 
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti is leading the Thai delegation to Brasilia to try to stifle Cambodia's management plan.
 
Mr Kamnoon said the PAD and the government shared a similar view on protecting the country's sovereignty.
 
He said he felt "relieved" since the government had prepared measures to be taken against the UN agency if it ignores Thailand's stance.
 
But Maj Gen Chamlong apparently did not feel that way. He said it would be difficult for the Thai delegation to support its objection to the management plan for the temple and its surrounding area, but warned the PAD would not give up its rallies to block it.
 
"We need to reaffirm our position because we don't believe that the Thai representatives will be able to oppose Cambodia's plan," he said.
 
"But we still have time to protest until the decision is made. Another series of protests will be definitely arranged to have our voices heard."
 
The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear belonged to Cambodia.
 
The disputed area near the temple is claimed by Thailand as part of Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket.  (Source: The Bangkok Post, 28/07/2010)
 
VN businesses increase interest in Cambodia
In the past year, Vietnamese business groups have revved up investment in Cambodia and actively contributed to the country's social security programmes, said the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Cambodia (AVIC).
 
At a review meeting in Siem Reap on Sunday, AVIC said Viet Nam had become the third largest foreign investor in Cambodia, after China and the Republic of Korea.
 
Addressing the meeting, Tran Bac Ha, general director of the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV), which helped pave the way for Vietnamese businesses to set up representative offices in Cambodia, said Vietnamese investment to Cambodia had grown rapidly in the past year. Vietnamese businesses were granted licences for 63 projects with a combined investment capital of US$900 million.
 
Various Vietnamese economic groups and corporations have entered the Cambodian market, investing in different areas including telecommunications, finance and banking, air transport, agriculture, light industry, rubber and industrial tree planting, mining, energy and healthcare.
 
Aside from trade and investment activities, Vietnamese businesses have also pledged $6 million in funding to local social welfare schemes.
 
As part of the move to promote Vietnamese investment in the country, the Bank for Investment and Development of Cambodia (BIDC), a Cambodia-based affiliate of BIDV, opened a new branch in Siem Reap.
 
The BIDC earlier set up branches in HCM City and Phnom Penh in order to create a link between the financial markets of Cambodia and Viet Nam, and provide financial service packages for Vietnamese enterprises wishing to invest in Cambodia.
 
Vietnamese investors in Cambodia include the Viet Nam Military Telecom Corporation (Viettel), BIDV, the Viet Nam Coal and Minerals Corporation (Vinacomin), Viet Nam Airlines and Hoang Anh Gia Lai group.  (Source:  VNS, 27/07/2010)
 
Cambodian garment workers clash with police
At least nine female garment workers were injured on Tuesday in clashes with Cambodian riot police who used shields and electric shock batons to try to end a week-long strike over the suspension of a local union official.
 
More than 100 police, at least 50 in riot gear and carrying assault rifles, tried to force an estimated 3,000 female workers back into their factory, pushing several to the ground and stunning them with batons, a Reuters witness said.
 
The clashes were the latest setback for an industry that was badly hurt by the global economic slump from 2008 and more recently has been plagued by strikes over low pay and working conditions.
 
The factory on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh, is owned by a Malaysian firm and produces garments for companies including Gap, Benetton, Adidas and Puma.
 
Srey Kimheng, a secretary-general of the Free Trade Union (FTU), told Reuters at least nine workers were injured when police with a court order tried to clear roads and force them back to work.
 
The demonstration was brought to an end, and union leaders were talking to the workers about calling off their action aimed at forcing the company to give the union official his job back.
 
Local police Chief Mok Hong insisted there had been no injuries and told Reuters the operation had gone smoothly.
 
The sector, Cambodia's number three currency earner behind agriculture and tourism, shed almost 30,000 jobs in 2009 after a drop in sales to the United States and Europe.
 
Industry data showed the country exported garments, textiles and shoes to the value of $2.3 billion last year, down from $2.9 billion in 2008. More than half go to the United States.
An estimated 300,000 of Cambodia's 13.4 million people work in the garment manufacturing sector and send vital cash to impoverished rural villages where many people live on less than $1 a day.  (Source:  Reuters by Prak Chan Thul, and Additional reporting by Chor Sokunthea; Editing by Martin Petty 27/07/2010)
 
Anger in Cambodia Over Khmer Rouge Sentence
For 30 years since the brutal Khmer Rouge regime was driven from power, Cambodians have lived with unresolved trauma, with skulls and bones from killing fields still lying in the open and with parents hiding the pain of their past from their children.
 
On Monday, Cambodia took a significant step toward addressing its harsh past with the first conviction of a major Khmer Rouge figure in connection with the deaths of 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979.
 
But some survivors were distraught over what they saw as a lenient sentence, one that could possibly allow the defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, 67, commonly known as Duch, to walk free one day.
 
A United Nations-backed court found Duch (pronounced DOIK), the commandant of the central Khmer Rouge prison, Tuol Sleng, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for overseeing the torture and killing of more than 14,000 people. The court reduced that term to 19 years because of time already served and in compensation for a period of illegal military detention.
 
"I am not satisfied!" cried one of the few survivors, Chum Mey, 79, who had testified in excruciating detail about his 12 days of torture. "We are victims two times, once in the Khmer Rouge time and now once again."
 
He was shouting in agitation in the muddy courtyard outside the tribunal building.
 
"His prison is comfortable, with air-conditioning, food three times a day, fans and everything," he said. "I sat on the floor with filth and excrement all around."
 
It was the first time in Cambodia's modern history that a senior government official had been made accountable for serious human rights violations and the first time such a trial had been held that met international standards of justice.
 
The verdict took into account mitigating circumstances that a court spokesman, Lars Olsen, said included Duch's cooperation, his admission of responsibility and limited expressions of remorse, the coercive environment of the Khmer Rouge period and the possibility of his rehabilitation.
 
There is no death penalty in Cambodia and prosecutors had sought a 40-year sentence, but many people said they would accept nothing less than a term of life in prison.
 
"People lost their relatives -- their wives, their husbands, their sons and daughters -- and they won't be able to spend any time with any of them because they are dead now," said Nina You, 40, who works for a private development agency. "So why should he be able to get out in 19 years and spend time with his grandchildren?"
 
Bou Meng, 69, another survivor who testified at the trial about his torture and humiliation, said he had waited for this day to quiet the ghosts he said continued to torment him. "I felt it was like a slap in the face," he said of the verdict.
 
But Huy Vannak, a television news director, said it was enough simply to have justice in a court, 30 years after the killing stopped.
 
No sentence could measure up to the atrocities Duch committed, he added.
 
"Even if we chop him up into two million pieces it will not bring our family members back," he said. "We have to move on now."
 
Others still needed more time. "Actually I'm kind of shaking inside at the moment," said Sopheap Pich, 39, a sculptor. "I'm not sure how I should feel. I'm not happy, not sad, and just kind of numb."
 
For its symbolism, he said, a life sentence would seem most appropriate. "To come up with a number doesn't seem to make sense," he said. "I'm not sure how you come up with a number."
 
Mr. Olsen said the prosecution had 30 days to file an appeal. For now, Duch was returned to the special detention house he shares with four other defendants who are awaiting trial in what is known as Case 2.
 
In that case, four surviving members of the top Khmer Rouge leadership are accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes. In addition to those tortured to death and executed in killing fields, many people died of starvation, disease or overwork or in the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh, in which the entire population of the city was driven out to the countryside.
 
The defendants include Ieng Sary, 84, who was foreign minister; his wife, Ieng Thirith, 78, who was minister of social welfare; Nuon Chea, 84, known as Brother No. 2; and Khieu Samphan, 78, who was head of state. Several other major figures have died, including the Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, in 1998.
 
The judicial investigation in this case is expected to conclude in September with formal indictments, and the trial itself is not expected before sometime next year.
 
Unlike Duch, these defendants have denied guilt, and their lawyers have been active in raising legal challenges.
 
In their most interesting challenge, they failed in an attempt this year to exclude evidence obtained through torture -- in other words, the Tuol Sleng archives of prisoner confessions that contain some of the potentially most damaging testimony about the chain of command.
 
The four defendants have been in custody since late 2007 and some of them hate each other, according to people familiar with the conditions of their detention.
 
In particular, these people say, Mr. Nuon Chea refuses to speak to Duch, who implicated him during his trial. According to testimony in pre-trial hearings, Ms. Ieng Thirith, who has shouted angrily during court hearings, has been abusive to her fellow detainees on at least 70 occasions.
 
For his part, Duch is said to be fascinated by the court's actions and follows reports and analyses closely on television.  (Source:  The New York Times by SETH MYDANS, 27/07/2010)