Thursday, 24 January 2008

US to deny visas for Cambodian looters

ABC Radio Australia
24/01/2008

The United States has passed a law that could see travel bans for Cambodian officials accused of looting the country's natural resources.

The move has been hailed by conservationists as a strike against illegal logging.The law, enacted in December, endorses calls by the US Congress to deny visas to Cambodian officials identified in a 2007 report by the environmental watchdog, Global Witness, as being guilty of plundering Cambodia's forests.

The London-based Global Witness study titled "Cambodia's Family Trees," named several figures close to Prime Minister Hun Sen, including a Forest Administration director and the Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun, as being directly involved.

In response, an outraged government last year banned the Global Witness report from Cambodia and continues to dismiss its allegations.

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