Sunday, 19 October 2008

World No-Food Day: CEDAC Said that Around 100,000 Families in Cambodia Lack Sufficient Food - Saturday, 18.10.2008

Posted on 19 October 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 582

“Phnom Penh: At present, starving people are more numerous than before – around 150 million people. This is according to a statement of the co-chair of the People’s Coalition on Food Security, Mr. Antonio Tujan, during a World Food Day celebration on 16 October 2008.

“Dr. Yang Saing Koma, the director of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture – CEDAC – said during a press conference on 16 October 2008 at the organization’s headquarters in Phnom Penh, that around 100,000 families in Cambodia, corresponding to half a million people, lack food. In 2008, Cambodia faces the challenge of a food crisis because of the high price of food in the world. Mr. Yang Saing Koma added that CEDAC works with farmers from 2,000 villages countrywide and had discovered that 50%, or half of farmers who do rice farming, could not produce sufficient food during the year. Among 1.8 million farmers’ families doing rice farming, 500,000 to 600,000 families could not produce enough food. 800,00 families could afford to buy rice themselves over one month during the late rainy season.

“CEDAC found that this is because land to produce food does not increase. Although the agriculturally usable land of the whole country is six million hectares, but food can only be produced from more than three million hectares at the present time. Another factor is the lack of rain or that the rain comes late, and the irrigation system can serve only 40% of the total land. In Takeo and Kompong Chhnang, 80% of the farmers own rice fields smaller than one hectare per family.

“The executive director of the Pesticide Action Network Asia & the Pacific [“- Empowering People for Change -”] Ms. Sarojini Rengam, said during the World Food Day on 16 October 2008 that this was a message to show the people’s strategies to solve the food crisis. This anniversary builds up public understanding about major factors that result in food crisis [chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides], and it acts to increase the people’s voice against new policies and their effects.

“A farmer, Bouen Sophal, who is the community representative of Dang Tung district of Kampot, who also attended this anniversary celebration, reported that some farmers in Kampot face difficulties to buy chemical fertilizer from Vietnam which is expensive. After the paddy rice is cultivated, the paddy rice is sold, but it is not enough just to repay the money for the chemical fertilizer. Farmers buy chemical fertilizer from different companies and merchants, and most of them borrow money from other people or are in dept, and after they sold their paddy rice, what they get is almost insufficient to repay the dept. During each cultivation reason, farmers sell tens of thousands of tonnes of paddy rice to Vietnam. When they run out of paddy rice to eat, they buy rice from Vietnam. Vietnamese rice is expensive and contains lots of chemical substances.
This seriously affects their health. Nowadays, the farmers’ community at Dang Tung have organized a cooperative and have created twenty paddy rice banks to help any farmer who lacks food during the latter part of the rainy season, to rescue them from not being able to have food.

“Dr. Koma called on the government to expand more social cultivating concession land, rather than expanding economic concessions, to encourage farmers not to continue to sell their rice fields, to expand more community markets to facilitate the sale of the farmers’ products, and to increase and enlarge the farmers’ ability to produce and to keep seeds at their communities.”
Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4719, 18.10.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Saturday, 18 October 2008

Border dispute talks postponed

Straits Times
Oct 19, 2008

BANGKOK - THAI and Cambodian military officials have postponed planned talks aimed at calming a border dispute which recently escalated into a deadly shoot-out, a Thai army spokesman said on Sunday.

Senior army representatives had been due to meet on Tuesday in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap, but negotiations have been put off until later in the week.

'The regional border meeting scheduled on October 21 was postponed as the two countries are not yet ready,' said Colonel Taweesak Boonrakchart, spokesman for Thailand's northeastern army division.

'On the Thai side, we have to get approval from parliament before the government can any sign pacts.'

The talks would now be held on Thursday or Friday, still in Siem Reap, Col Taweesak told AFP.

Two Cambodian soldiers were killed and seven Thai troops injured on Wednesday when a firefight erupted between soldiers stationed on disputed land near Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Emergency talks the day after ended with both Cambodian and Thai officials agreeing to joint border patrols - which have not started yet - but offered no lasting solution to the military stand-off along the border.

Tensions between the neighbours flared in July when Preah Vihear was awarded United Nations World Heritage status, rekindling long-simmering tensions over ownership of land surrounding the ancient temple. -- AFP

PM, army chief have first encounter after military challenge

BANGKOK, Oct 19 (TNA) -- Thailand's powerful army chief Gen. Anupong Paochinda on Sunday encountered Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat for the first time after the army chief and other military leaders pressured him to resign to show responsibility for the police actions for the bloodshed in dispersing protesters nearly two weeks ago.

Mr. Somchai, who also holds the defence minister's portfolio, met Gen. Anupong at Sunday's rehearsal for the royal funeral of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana, the King's elder sister, to be held November 14-19.

The embattled prime minister refused to quit after Gen. Anupong publicly asked him last Thursday on nationwide television to resign to show responsibility over the police crackdown on protesters of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy on October 7 which left two persons dead and nearly 500 others injured.

Declining to disclose to journalists what issues he had discussed with the prime minister, Gen. Anupong simply said he had already spoke out his mind on the military stance over political situation in the country. He said Mr. Somchai was "not worried about anything".

As for Mr. Somchai, he said he had not yet spoken with military leaders on the border conflict with Cambodia and he would talk to them later after receiving full information.

There is still no timeframe set for talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and officials are preparing to fix the date for him to meet the Cambodian government leader, said Mr. Somchai.

Two Cambodian soldiers died and seven Thai soldiers were wounded during the clashes last Wednesday on disputed border area near the ancient temple of Preah Vihear.

Both countries have agreed to joint border patrols aimed at preventing a repeat of the deadly clashes near the temple but implementation has not yet started. (TNA)

Donation to contribute to the family of the 3 Heroes soldier

To all CAAI members

The Cambodian Association (Auckland) Inc. is sharing our condolence to the families of the three soldiers who lost their lives in the course of defending Cambodian sovereignty and pride.

We are planning to accept donation from member of our community in New Zealand from Sunday the 19th October 2008 to Sunday the 2nd November 2008 and will pass on to the three families.

Donation can be made to Wat Udom Samagum temple, Leng Hor (09 277 6351) and the list of donors will be registered and updated in this site until the fund are completely passed on to the three families.We thank you for your thought and looking forward to your contribution.

Leng Hor
Treasurer
The Cambodian Association (Auckland) Inc.

List of People has donate on the 19/10/2008:

Mr. Lim Phon $10
Mr. Leang Kry $10
Mr. Taing Piseth $20
Mr. Var Sameth $50
Mr. Ly Seng $20
Mr. Heng Thona $50
Mr. Khun Hun $20
Mr. Tum Bunthea $50
Mr. Ly Meng Huot $100
Mr. Vath Varin $50
Mr. Mok Saran $20
Mr. Parseth Kosal $20
Mr. Chhour Leon $40
Mr. Samy Saikham $50
Mr. Heng Touch $20
Mrs. Ouk Saing $20
Mr. Sieng Cheng $20
Mr. Heng Hav $20
Mr. Nge Tin $20

Latest pictures from Preah Vihear

A Cambodia soldier watches at the frontline on top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian and Thai soldiers hold a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones of the Cambodian-Thai border at the frontline on top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian soldiers stand guard while Cambodian and Thai commanders have a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones of the Cambodian-Thai border at the frontline on top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Thai soldier (R) checks a weapon, which was captured during fighting last Wednesday, at a joint meeting on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Thai troops stand guard on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A Cambodian soldier patrols on the top of Phnom Trop mountai near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian soldiers stand guard while Cambodian and Thai commanders have a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones of the Cambodian-Thai border at the frontline on top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian soldiers walk at the frontline on top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian commander Col. Chea Sopha, left, delivers B-40 rockets and its launcher to Thai Col. Than, right, at the frontline on the top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian soldiers stand guard at the top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian troops patrol on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian troops patrol on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A Thai soldier holds a B-40 rocket at the top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Thai soldier (R) checks a weapon, which was captured during fighting last Wednesday, at a joint meeting on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A Thai soldier (C) checks weapons that were captured during fighting last Wednesday, at a joint meeting on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian commander Col. Chea Sopha, second left, delivers B-40 rockets to Thai Col. Than, right, at the top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodian Commander Colonel Chea Sopha (R) shakes hands with Thai commander Than during a joint meeting on the top of Phnom Trop mountain, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodia soldiers patrol on the top of Phnom Trop, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodia Commander Colonel Chea Sopha (L) offers weapons captured during fighting last Wednesday, to Thai commander Colonel Than, during a joint meeting on the top of Phnom Trop, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodia Commander Colonel Chea Sopha (L) talks with Thai commander Colonel Than during a joint meeting on the top of Phnom Trop, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Thai troops and Cambodia troops talk on the top of Phnom Trop mountain, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008, near the site where Cambodia Commander Colonel Chea Sopha and Thai commander Colonel Than held a joint meeting.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

The standoff at the temple

A Cambodian machinegunner stationed in the disputed border zone.

In the field
October 18, 2008

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia – The way a country deals with the press says a great deal about the way it deals with its own people. I found a stark contrast between the attitudes of Cambodia and Thailand this week, while trying to cover the brief skirmish between the countries’ two armies on a disputed patch of ground near a wonderfully remote and romantic ancient temple.

Preah Vihear is suffused with mystery and majesty in equal measure. Its vertiginous position and splendid isolation are beguiling. The problem is it also happens to be right on the Thai-Cambodia border. But it’s not the collection of finely carved, quietly crumbling stones that is the subject of the wrangle; instead it’s the strategically important, but far less impressive, patch of scrub next door.

I won’t go into the history of this now, as practically every supposed fact is disputed — suffice to say it involves more than a century of claim and counter-claim.

Anyway, what was interesting was the way the Thai army had totally sealed off the border from their side, denying the press access. Checkpoints several kilometers away stopped reporters getting anywhere near to the site of the violence. Watch report on disputed Thai-Cambodia border

But luckily my crew and I had decided to take a chance on the Cambodian side. It involved flying to Siem Reap , driving right past Angkor Wat (for those who’ve never heard of it, think the movie “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”) and then basically going another six hours along mostly dirt roads until we reached the bottom of the cliff, where we changed our van for a powerful SUV, for the white-knuckle scramble to the top.

The Cambodian army couldn’t have been more helpful. A taciturn general, sitting like a Khmer king in a tent in the middle of the jungle, solemnly pointed at the border as they saw it. He told us his troops didn’t want a confrontation with the Thais, but claimed the Thai soldiers had fired first and had repeatedly crossed into their territory.

Around his camp, field guns and mortars had been set-up. Many of his troops wore the traditional red Khmer scarf, as favored by the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge troops who’d used the Preah Vihear temple as their last bastion until 1998.

They gave us a guided tour of their positions. We talked to a machine gunner, dressed in a grubby vest, who insisted the Thais fired first and pointed to the pile of spent cartridges lying in the grass under his weapon. They’d been a fierce firefight for an hour and he claimed the Thais had fired rocket-propelled grenades at their positions, just yards from the temple itself.

We managed to talk to one Thai soldier who was reluctant to answer the question of who started the attack, but he again reiterated they didn’t want to fight the Cambodian soldiers who they’d been living next to in a jungle camp for weeks.

Neither side is willing to pull back and yet both sides claim they don’t want any further escalation. The Thai military seem very keen to keep the press away; the Cambodians seem keen to show reporters around.

Perhaps that’s not significant and just a result of different media strategies. But I got the impression there was something else. It was as if the Cambodians felt they had nothing to hide, and the Thais were guiltily excluding the press in case too many awkward questions were asked.

Now before all our Thai readers go into spasms of anger, I am not making a judgment as to who fired first: this is merely an observation of how it felt on the ground. I’m sure there is a perfectly innocent explanation to the whole clash. My cameraman thinks that some soldier tripped on his flip-flop and accidentally fired his RPG. You know, it’s such a ridiculous situation that actually wouldn’t surprise me.

Both countries need to grow up, start acting responsibly and start thinking about their people, many of whom live in abject poverty, rather than resorting to the kind of petulant show-boating politics and chest-puffing nationalism which both sides should be ashamed of.

Posted by: CNN Correspondent, Dan Rivers

Dave Newhouse column: Ex-stripper now works to empower Asian women

THE OACKLAND TRIBUNE
10/18/2008

IT WAS A death march for many who tried to flee Cambodia, but Elizabeth Sy doesn't remember any of it. She was in her mother's belly as her family walked over sleeping soldiers and dead bodies, while stepping around land mines in their perilous escape to freedom.

Elizabeth would be born in Deerfield, Wis., where an American couple had sponsored her large family. Elizabeth was the 10th and last child, delivered by her 52-year-old mother.

It was a miracle the family even made it through the jungles of Cambodia, a dangerous two-month trek in 1982, during a time of violent civil war in that country.

''There was no food,'' Elizabeth was told later. ''Some of my siblings ate the buttons off their shirts. When they caught a lizard, that was like a really big meal. One of my sisters, less than a year old, got infected from the residue of cluster bombs. She ended up with a disability where one side of her body was shorter than the other, and she was less than able-minded.

''She was so sick, and crying so badly in the jungle that one of my family members said, 'You got to kill her because she's going to give us away.' My father started to suffocate her, but my mom had to stop him. That tells you the intensity of what it was like to try and escape.''

But Elizabeth's journey was only the beginning. Her financially struggling family moved from Wisconsin to the tony Southern California coastal town of Dana Point. Elizabeth worked in her family's doughnut business, then attended UC Berkeley before dropping out to become a stripper.

A night-club stripper would seem an unlikely recipient of the Agape Foundation's Rising Peacemaker Prize, which Sy (pronounced Cee) received last month in San Francisco. But her tireless work as a social worker in empowering Southeast Asian girls at risk, notably in the sex trade, impressed the Agape people.

Sy, 26, is the founder of Banteay Srei, an Oakland organization that helps girls and women between ages 14 and 19 make better life choices than the world of prostitution.

So why become a stripper, which Sy did for 2½ years in San Francisco? Well, at Cal she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 18. This led to depression, lack of health insurance and serious debt — as well as a chance to make $1,000 a night taking her clothes off.

"I learned very valuable lessons," she said of stripping, "about this really underground culture, why people get into it, and how hard it is to get out of it. I told my mother about what I was doing, and she and her friends helped me transition out. But I paid my debts."

At Cal, she had taken a course on women's empowerment that became "a calling in life" as an activist. These last five years, she has worked specifically with Southeast Asian girls.

"They're so under the radar," she explained. "Asian women are so exoticized; people are willing to pay more for them. So they get recruited really aggressively."

And these are first-generation American-born girls living in Oakland.

"In Alameda County, there is a huge, underground minors-involved-with-prostitution scene — and of all cultures," Sy said Tuesday. "It's an epidemic of poor girls, some sexually abused, being recruited into this economic job opportunity. I have one girl, 16, who started at 11."

Sy works mainly with girls who aren't engaged in sex work — to stop them beforehand. Her group trains them in such traditional cultural choices as cooking and gardening. They also learn about health issues, and the risks of hurrying into teenage sex.

So why doesn't Banteay Srei (Cambodian for "women's temple") attempt to convince teen prostitutes of an alternative lifestyle?

"We don't have these romanticized ideas that we're going to get people out of the (sex) trade," Sy said. "When they need to make that change, it needs to come from within themselves. We try to give them the resources."

Sy was married a month ago to Liam O'Donoghue, 28, a media coach. Her social work ends next June when she enters nursing school. Her interesting life continues to expand.

It's a good thing her family made it through that Cambodian jungle.

"There was an incredible journey that happened before I was born into the world," she said. "And I've had an incredible journey in my 26 years. I've learned hard lessons, but I've never regretted anything, and I'm excited to see what I do with the rest of my life."

Thai-Cambodian conflict hits border villagers in the pocket

Cambodians travel home after fleeing from their village near Preah Vihear temple

Cambodian soldiers stand guard at Preah Vihear temple

Thai soldiers stand along the Cambodia-Thailand border near Preah Vihear temple

KANTHARALAK, Thailand (AFP) — Up until late June, thousands of tourists each month would flock to the 11th century Preah Vihear temple to admire its elegant carvings and crumbling stone staircases.

But now, the stunning UN World Heritage Site perched just over the Thai border high on a Cambodian mountaintop is teeming with troops, not tourists, after a decades-long dispute over surrounding land erupted into violence.

The Thai entrance to the temple has been closed since June 22 when border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia unravelled, leaving many Thais along the border who relied on the steady stream of sightseers in dire straits.

"My income has dropped more than 50 percent from when I was selling at the temple," said 50-year-old clothes seller Malai Konghom, who has had to move her business 13 kilometres (eight miles) away from the border.

"I am lucky that all my kids have already graduated but I still feel the effects... I sit here on a quiet day, hoping to sell something to tourists visiting the waterfalls."

Hotel manager Porntip Nimlamai, 47, said she had to sack a maid and reduce her expenses, as only four of the 14 rooms at her property in Kantharalak town near the border are filled.

"It is quite serious, I stopped doing my accounts in August because it is always in the red," she told AFP, adding that she had resorted to switching off lights and removing refrigerators from empty guestrooms to reduce bills.

Preah Vihear is the most important example of ancient Khmer architecture outside Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance is in Thailand's northeastern Si Sa Ket province.

Any tourists wanting to visit from Cambodia would have to scramble up a thickly forested mountain or charter a helicopter.

The current tensions erupted when the UN's cultural body awarded Preah Vihear World Heritage status, reigniting old arguments about land surrounding the temple, which has never been fully demarcated.

Thailand and Cambodia agreed in August to reduce troop numbers at the site, but the remaining soldiers engaged in a gunfight Wednesday that left two Cambodian soldiers dead and several from both sides injured.

Since the shoot-out, both sides have agreed to a joint border patrol aimed at preventing more violence, but with no timetable planned the villagers have no idea when the border will reopen and healthy trade will return.

Like other countries, Thailand is also suffering from the global financial crisis, and tourists are also wary of domestic political tensions which erupted into deadly clashes between police and anti-government protesters on October 7 in Bangkok.

Sriphuwong Chantachompoo, a Si Sa Ket tourism official, said that until the military face-off at the border, the number of tourists visiting Preah Vihear from Thailand had been increasing.

Figures from the Thai national park where tourists cross over to Preah Vihear show that during the 2006/2007 fiscal year, 142,679 tourists visited the park, up from 125,353 a year earlier.

From October 1, 2007 until the temple entrance closed in June, it had received 111,728 tourists -- and none since.

Sriphuwong said the whole province only sees about 80 tourists a month now, who come to visit the area's other temples and waterfalls.

"It has had a huge effect -- the number of tourists has dropped sharply," he said.

"It is difficult to hold events to draw tourists (without the temple). It's not like the south, which has beaches, or the north, which has beautiful views of the mountains. The northeast does not have scenery like that," he added.

And foreign embassies in Bangkok are now advising their citizens to stay well away from the entire area, as tensions remain and troops stay put.

"Previously, we used to advise people to avoid the temple, now we're telling them to avoid the whole border area," a British embassy spokeswoman in Bangkok told AFP.

Thai Leader Seeks Talks With Cambodia on Border

By REUTERS
Published: October 18, 2008

KANTHARALAK, Thailand (Reuters) — Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat of Thailand said Saturday that he would seek face-to-face talks with Cambodia’s leader, Hun Sen, to try to ease a growing border conflict over a 900-year-old mountaintop temple.

“I am looking for the right time to talk with him,” Mr. Somchai told reporters after visiting Thai troops facing Cambodian forces along the border. “We should have an opportunity to talk.”

The Thai leader echoed Mr. Hun Sen’s comments on Friday that outside mediation was not needed to resolve the dispute. “This is an issue between Thailand and Cambodia,” Mr. Somchai said.

Both sides have sought to ease tensions since three Cambodian soldiers were killed in a firefight on Wednesday, the worst of several attacks at the site in recent months. Two Cambodians and seven Thais were wounded.

Both leaders were expected to attend a Southeast Asian meeting in Beijing this week to discuss the global financial crisis, but it was not clear whether they would meet on the sidelines.

“At this moment, there is no change in schedule,” a Thai government spokesman, Nattawut Saikuar, said Saturday. “After talking to him late yesterday, the prime minister will go to Beijing as planned.”

Cambodia - News : both sides talk - 18.10.2008

Villagers caught in Thai-Cambodia border dispute - 18 Oct 08

AlJazeeraEnglish

Somchai Wongasat, the Thai prime minister, is visiting his country's disputed border region with Cambodia.

Tensions escalated at the region surrounding the ancient Preah Vihear Temple on Wednesday.

Now, Thai and Cambodian leaders say they are keen on maintaining peace.But as Marga Ortigas reports, villagers who live near the temple are wary.

"Project Clean Water" A Success

Mary Jane Gearns and the principal of Bengkrom School in Cambodia stand in front of the Tank donated to school childen by the Garden City Branch of AAUW.

THE GARDEN CITY NEWS ONLINE
October 17, 2008

Two years ago the branch took on a new challenge, "Project: Clean Water." Members of the branch were invited to hear Dr. Hendrie, a retired pediatrician, speak at a Garden City Rotary Club meeting. Branch members were so taken by Dr. Hendrie and her work for children in Cambodia, they decided to lend a hand.

Dr. Hendrie had adopted a Cambodian village, truly saving the villagers through her month-long visits four times a year. She and her Sharing Foundation began by establishing an orphanage, a school, and a cottage industry training adults in sewing.

An ongoing problem was the illness and eventual deaths of the natives which was caused by arsenic found in most of the wells. Dr. Hendrie joined forces with an American trained Ph.D Hydrologist. They found that large water tanks filled by monsoon rains could be treated to provide clean water to families, protecting them from the bacteria, parasites and arsenic poisoning that were killing so many children and adults.

The Garden City AAUW, with the help of the Nassau, North Shore, Massaqequa area and Huntington Branches, raised $2,000 to have a tank built for the village of Beng Krom on the Mekong River. More than 500 children are now sent home from school each day with a plastic bottle filled with clean water for family drinking and cooking.

The project began in February, 2006 and the tank was in operation five months later. It's not often that charitable efforts become a reality so quickly. With clean water, the children's school attendance has increased to the point that Dr. Hendrie, has had to raise funds to build more bathrooms!

Ms. Gearns was delighted to actually see the water tank inscribed with the words, The Sharing Foundation and the Long Island Chapter of the American Association of University Women, knowing that the gift is truly saving the lives of children and their families.

UPDATE 1-Thai PM seeks direct talks over Cambodia border row

(Adds Thai govt spokesman, paras 6,7)

By Prapan Chankaew

KANTARALAK, Thailand, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said on Saturday he would seek face-to-face talks with Cambodian leader Hun Sen after a border clash near a 900-year-old temple this week.

"I am looking for the right time to talk with him. We should have an opportunity to talk," Somchai told reporters after visiting Thai troops facing Cambodian forces along the border.

The Thai leader echoed Hun Sen's comments on Friday that outside mediation was not needed to resolve the dispute. "This is an issue between Thailand and Cambodia. We should not let other countries get involved," Somchai said.

Both sides have sought to ease tensions since three Cambodian soldiers were killed in Wednesday's 40-minute firefight. Two Cambodians and seven Thais were wounded.

Both leaders were expected to attend a Southeast Asian meeting in Beijing next week to discus the global financial crisis, but it was not clear whether they would meet then on the sidelines.

"At this moment, there is no change in schedule. After talking to him late yesterday, the prime minister will go to Beijing as planned," government spokesman Nattawut Saikuar told Reuters.

On Saturday, a Thai soldier died after slipping while on patrol and accidently shooting himself, an army spokesman said.

The armies have agreed to conduct joint border patrols and to hold more talks on reducing their forces around the Hindu temple, a source of border tension for generations.

Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander who has ruled Cambodia for more than two decades, said on Friday the stand-off would not escalate into a wider and more serious conflict.

Some analysts link the eruption of fighting on the border to the political instability that has roiled Thailand for the past three years, and reached another climax this week when Somchai faced calls from his own generals to quit.

Army chief Anupong Paochinda's televised interview on Thursday, in which he said Somchai should step down after bloody clashes between police and anti-government protesters last week, ignited fresh coup rumours two years after former premier Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a bloodless putsch.

But Somchai refused on Friday to resign or call a snap election, saying Anupong was expressing "one opinion".

Somchai said an investigation of the Oct. 7 street clash, which killed two protesters and injured nearly 500, would be completed in 15 days and decide who was responsible.

Analysts read Anupong's remarks as an attempt by the army, which is under pressure from the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), to undermine Somchai so much that he jumps without the need for a full-blown coup.

"As expected, (Somchai's) response puts the ball straight back in the military's court," the Nation newspaper said in an editorial on Saturday.

Somchai, Thaksin's brother-in-law and a political novice, came to power in September after a court removed his predecessor, Samak Sundaravej, for hosting a cooking show on commercial television while in office.

The political crisis dates back to 2005 when the PAD, which has the explicit backing of Queen Sirikit, launched street protests against Thaksin. It has meandered through a coup to elections and back to protests and shows no signs of resolution.

Even if Somchai did call a snap election, lingering rural support for Thaksin would be likely to return a broadly pro-Thaksin government, putting it on a collision course once again with the royalist and military elite in Bangkok.

(Additional reporting by Pisit Changplayngam; Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Thai, Cambodian Army Commanders Discuss Border Truce

By VOA News
18 October 2008

Cambodian and Thai military commanders met on their disputed border Saturday to discuss ways to avoid clashes, after deadly gunfights this week.

Surrounded by dozens of soldiers in full combat gear, Cambodian Major General Srey Deok and Thai Colonel Chayan Huaysoongnern discussed how to prevent future flare-ups of violence. After their meeting, the two ate lunch together.

A deadly gunfight between Cambodian and Thai soldiers erupted Wednesday along the disputed area near a centuries-old temple. Two Cambodian soldiers were killed in the shootout, and soldiers from each side were wounded. Cambodia claimed to have captured some Thai troops.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the border clash would not escalate into a wider conflict.

The prime minister told reporters in Phnom Penh Friday the two rivals have agreed to resolve the dispute directly, rejecting the need for an outside mediator to negotiate a settlement.

Military officials from both sides reached an agreement Thursday to conduct joint military patrols along the border.

Wednesday's fighting took place near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple - the center of the decades-old land dispute.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice granted sovereignty of the temple to Cambodia, but it did not rule on the surrounding land.

Troops have been building up on both sides of the border since July, when the United Nations approved Cambodia's application to make the temple a World Heritage site. The honor enraged Thai nationalists.

PM at bedsides of injured soldiers. What about Cambodian PM?

By THE NATION, AFP
Ubon Ratchathani
Published on October 19, 2008

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat yesterday visited seven soldiers injured during last week's skirmish with Cambodian troops.

He flew from his temporary office at Don Mueang Airport in the morning to a military hospital in this northeastern province, where one soldier remains critically ill from head injuries.

Somchai first called on Paratrooper Boonrit Khanti, whose condition was the most serious. He talked to the trooper's doctor and wife.

The PM later visited the six other injured soldiers.

"I am saddened that soldiers have been wounded, so today I have visited them," Somchai said at the end of his trip.

"They are in good spirits and say that if they fully recover they will go back to their duties." The pre-mier later flew to neighbouring Si Sa Ket province, where the violence erupted near the ancient Preah Vihear temple, leaving two Cambodian soldiers dead and seven Thai soldiers injured.

After being briefed by a military commander for 15 minutes, Somchai said no time and place had yet been agreed for talks with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen but he was adamant a peaceful solution was possible. "Thailand insists that we have to live in peaceful coexistence. If there is any problem we will resolve it by negotiation, but our soldiers will protect our sovereignty," Somchai said after the briefing.

In Ubon Rachthani the PM was welcomed by more than 3,000 government supporters, who offered him moral support in the face of mounting political pressure.

Cambodia, Thailand Break Accords

Prensa Latina

Phnom Penh, Oct 18 (Prensa Latina) Cambodia and Thailand broke off the agreement through which they shared 17.6 square miles surrounding Ta Moan Thom Hindu temple on the common border, regional media reported Saturday.

According to a report of Radio Free Asia Cambodian service Pnom Penh does not agree with the concept of joint patrols in spite of the fact that the agreement was signed last Thursday to establish a provisional cease fire.

Neither army command has put the terms of the agreement into practice.

Observers have noted that Thai and Cambodian soldiers have remained on their bases and the situation has generally returned to normal.

Meanwhile Si Sa Ket neighbors, the Thai province where the sanctuary is located, expect to have progress on the next round of contact between Cambodian and Thai leaders next Tuesday.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hu Sen declared Friday that border clashes with Thailand for the control of the area surrounding Preah Vihear temple will not result in "a large scale war."

Thai PM: Thailand, Cambodia can settle border disputes through talks

www.chinaview.cn
2008-10-18

BANGKOK, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat said Saturday he believes negotiations with the Cambodian government aimed at settling border disputes between the two neighboring countries are now possible and that there is no need to ask ASEAN for help in mediation.

Somchai made the remarks in Thailand's northeastern province of Si Sa Ket when he visited soldiers wounded in gun fight with Cambodia on Wednesday around disputed area near Preah Vihear temple, according to the Thai News Agency.

Somchai said Thailand and Cambodia shared the same idea that differences could be settled through negotiations as the two countries are neighbors.

Negotiations are expected to be held soon, said Somchai.

Thailand's Second Army Chief Lt-Gen. Wibulsak Neepal was scheduled to lead Thai delegates for bilateral talks at Cambodia's Siem Reap province next Wednesday and Thursday.

Somchai said that Thailand has never trespassed on other countries' territories and the two countries agreed to hold talks under the agreed-upon mechanisms to settle the border disputes.

Editor: Jiang Yuxia

CAMBODIA/THAILAND: Temple Row May Lead to Wider Conflict

IPS

By Andrew Nette

PHNOM PENH, Oct 18 (IPS) - This week’s gun battle between Thai and Cambodian soldiers over the disputed Preah Vihear temple raises the possibility of wider conflict between the two South-east Asian nations.

Civil society groups and political observers in Phnom Penh are worried about the impact on the fragile peace building gains made by Cambodia since its civil war ended in the late nineties.

"You have hundreds of heavily armed soldiers face to face with each other, trained to kill," said Chea Vannath, a prominent political and social commentator in Phnom Penh.

"Of course it is going to be a volatile situation and things like this will continue to happen and could get worse if immediate action is not taken to defuse things."

"It is a very worrying situation,’’ said Theary Seng, executive director of the Centre for Social Development.

"We are trying to build on the limited peace that we have achieved after decades of conflict and now it feels like we are going backwards."

The clash, which resulted in the deaths of two Cambodian soldiers and saw several others on both sides wounded, was the most serious incident yet in the four-month standoff over the ancient temple.

It followed an ultimatum by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier in the week to Thai troops to withdraw from an area near the temple known as Veal Intry, or "Eagle Field", or face the possibility of war.

Media photographs of Cambodian civilians fleeing the fighting with their possessions were reminiscent of images during the country’s decade and a half civil war.

The standoff originated in July after Preah Vihear was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This angered Thai nationalists who argue the site belongs to Thailand and who accused their political leadership of caving in by agreeing to the listing.

On Jul. 15, Cambodian guards briefly detained three Thai nationalist protesters who crossed into the area and refused to leave.

Cambodia claims the Thais sent in troops to retrieve their nationals and both sides have been building up their forces since.

The question now is whether Cambodian and Thailand will knuckle down and find a genuine solution before the standoff spirals out of control again.

Although both sides have contained outbreaks of hostilities, successive rounds of meetings have failed to reach a permanent solution.

Instead, the standoff has mutated into a much more serious and multifaceted problem.

Legally, the temple has belonged to Cambodia since a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962.

The ICJ’s 1962 ruling provoked violent protests in Thailand, which has never accepted the verdict and questioned the validity of the map used by Cambodian to claim ownership of the temple, the same map document used by UNECSO as the basis for its recent decision.

Thailand successfully blocked Cambodia’s efforts to list Preah Vihear in 2006 and 2007 on the grounds that a 4.6 square km piece of land in the temple compound is still subject to border dispute.

It is this land, ot covered by the recent ruling, that is at the centre of the standoff. The fact that both sides are working off fundamentally different maps of the contested area hugely complicates matters.

"Put simply, the version of events you get depends on whose map you are using," said one diplomatic observer in Phnom Penh.

Another factor hampering efforts to find a resolution is Thailand’s ongoing political upheaval.

"The negotiation process has been fragmented, there is no continuity on who is involved on the Thai side because of the political turmoil in Thailand," said Vannath.

While most observers agree that groups in Thailand are using the temple as a proxy to further their domestic agendas some believe powerful interests in Cambodia also have a stake in the conflict.

"There are powerful politicians on both sides who are using the dispute to further their interests, including some in the ruling party here [in Cambodia] who figure it looks good to be seen standing up to a larger nation," said Theary Seng.

The temple standoff has played into the dissatisfaction felt by many Khmers about their unequal relationship with larger neighbours Thailand and Vietnam, both of whom have encroached on Cambodia’s borders since the 14th century.

While Thailand and Cambodia have significant trade and investment links and much in common culturally, Khmers also view Thailand as having been quick to take advantage of their country’s troubles.

"The fighting can either stop the process of finding a resolution or speed it up," maintained Vannath.

"What they should do is have at least some distance, some zone of comfort so the soldiers do not have to directly see each other."

"We need to get the U.N. involved," argued Theary Seng. "

ASEAN is toothless and we will always be the weaker party to the Thais in that forum, we need to go elsewhere for a resolution."

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said this week Cambodia would brief the UN about the situation but would not yet request intervention.

"The Cambodian government are on record as saying they reserve their right to go to international arbitration but that at this time they are committed to bi-lateral negotiations with Thailand," said the diplomatic observer.

"I can see why they want to sort it out between themselves. They have already been to the courts once in 1962 and it solved nothing."

Cambodian civil society is alarmed about the deeper implications of the conflict.

Media reports claim growing numbers of young Cambodian men in the country’s north and northwest are quitting their studies to enlist for military service.

The tenor of public debate about the temple conflict is also becoming increasingly strident and nationalist.

"I am a little concerned when I hear people, especially young people, taking a very nationalistic line in forums like talk radio, talking about the other side as the enemy," said Vannath.

"It’s easy to get into war. It’s harder to establish peace. Cambodia knows this better than a lot of countries and should act accordingly."

"The wider impact is serious," agreed Seng Theary. "It feeds on discrimination and historic rivalries between the two countries which actually have very similar cultures."

The standoff has also sparked concerns of a repeat of the anti-Thai violence in early 2003, when mobs burned down the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh and a number of Thai-owned businesses.

This was in response to a Cambodian newspaper article falsely alleging a prominent Thai actress had stated that Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s most important national symbol, belonged to Thailand.

Responsibility for the riots was never been established. Hun Sen attributed them to ‘incompetence’. Some say economic interests, keen to rebalance the relationship with Thailand, fuelled them but that they got out of control.

Thai authorities have warned their citizens to avoid travel to Cambodia and the embassy in Phnom Penh stated this week it had prepared evacuation plans.

"There will be no repeat of 2003," maintained Vannath. "The government has learnt its lesson and they will be careful to ensure things do not get out of hand."

Cambodia police have been stationed outside the embassy for the duration of the dispute and their numbers have been increased over the last two weeks.