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Kem Sokha indicated that the Human Rights Party (HRP) and the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) did not succeed on agreeing on the conditions for a “merger.”

The union of the two opposition parties that are represented at the National Assembly could not be approved as planned, Kem Sokha, HRP president, announced during a press conference held at his home on Tuesday 06 October.

“No results were found during eight negotiation sessions between the working groups from both parties,” Kem Sokha added while indicating that he wished to see a clear position from the SRP on this issue.

Yim Sovann, SRP spokesman, confirmed that the alliance between the two parties is a not a priority.

Since the 2008 general election, the SRP held 26 seats at the National Assembly and the HRP held 3. Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, both former members of Funcinpec, left the royalist party in 1994 and 2002, respectively. Following the 2008 election, they called on the boycott of the inauguration session of the National Assembly. Since then, the two leaders have indicated their intention to “unite” or “merge” the two opposition parties.

The Stung Treng provincial authority indicated that almost 3,000 hectares of rice crops are flooded. The flood also affects 3 inhabited villages and communes along main rivers.

Loy Sophat, Stung Treng provincial governor, indicated on Monday 05 October that 95% of the flooded [rice crop fields] were completely destroyed and more than 300 families were evacuated to safety: “The flood is rising fast in the past few days….”

Rising water along the Sesan and Sre Pok rivers flooded numerous villages and communes along the rivers in Ratanakiri province. The flooding started on 28 September 2009, and it is taking place along 3 major rivers in Stung Treng province: the Sekong, Sesan and Mekong rivers. The flooding overcame houses where more 3,000 families are living in.

The Stung Treng authority said the up to 05 October, 81 villages located in 26 communes are flooded. Five districts are affected by flooding in the province of Strung Treng.

Pe Nou Korn, from Muong village, Siem Pang district, indicated that all roads are flooded and that water still continues to rise this Monday: “Due to the flood, the rice crops are all destroyed. Please help us the government!”

Sy Suon, the Siem Pang district governor, said that the authority has planned for the evacuation of people: “If they must be evacuated, we have the means to evacuate them to safe ground.”

The authority indicated that this year’s water rise is much quicker than usual, and people living the rivers, in particular in Ratanakiri, cannot take their belongings and animals out on time.

The authority and NGOs following up on this issue, indicated that the passage of the typhoon brought in a lot of rain to Cambodia and Vietnam, therefore, several Vietnamese hydro-electric dams had to open their gates to release the excess water.

Tep Bunnarith, director of the Stung Treng-based association for environment protection, said that the main cause of the flood is due to the release of water from Vietnamese hydro-electric dams.

Tep Bunnarith said: “The government must have a clear plan to evacuate people out so that they do not have to face this problem every year.”

Due to the flood, 3 people died in Ratanakiri province and a child was injured. Houses belonging to more than 7,000 families are flooded, and several hundreds of them fell down and were carried away by the water. 50% of the people are now homeless, 8,000 hectares of rice crop are flooded and numerous domestic animals (cows, pigs, chickens and ducks) were drowned, and numerous people’s belongings were also flooded. The extent of the damage is not known yet at this point. On Monday afternoon, Sekong villagers indicated that a farmer died due to flooding also. Nevertheless, there is no official number of deaths yet.

"CHINESE AID OFFERS AN ESCAPE HATCH FOR COUNTRIES UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE WEST..."

As the government accepts millions of Chinese aid and investment dollars, observers remain divided on whether Beijing’s meteoric rise will help or hinder the country over the long term.

AT a September 14 ceremony marking the construction of the US$128 million Cambodia-China Prek Kdam Friendship Bridge in Kandal province, Prime Minister Hun Sen hailed the recent growth in aid and investment from China, saying it was helping to strengthen the country’s “political independence”.

“China respects the political decisions of Cambodia,” he told his audience. “They are quiet, but at the same time they build bridges and roads, and there are no complicated conditions.”

With a flourishing economy and a new-found international confidence, China is on the rise in Southeast Asia, and Cambodia – a small but important corner of Beijing’s regional backyard – has been one of the key beneficiaries.

Last month, officials announced they were looking to secure $600 million in Chinese funds for infrastructure projects, including two bridges and the rehabilitation of National Road 8 linking Kratie and Mondulkiri provinces.

The announcement came on top of the $880 million in loans and grants received since 2006, including the $280 million Kamchay Dam in Kampot and the recently-completed $30 million Council of Ministers building.

Chinese embassy spokesman Qian Hai said Chinese investments in the Kingdom totalled about $4.5 billion, a success built on a policy of respecting Cambodia’s right to deal with its own affairs.

“We do not interfere in the internal affairs of Cambodia,” he said, adding that Phnom Penh has reciprocated by recognising Beijing’s One-China Policy, which advocates peaceful reunification between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. “We always respect each other’s sovereignty.”

Southeast Asian push
As in countries across the developing world, China’s global sales pitch – millions of dollars in aid and investment decoupled from the issue of human rights or democratic reform – has won it many friends in Phnom Penh.

Hun Sen’s remarks about Chinese “non-interference”, however, have opened up a fresh debate about the long-term effect of Chinese aid and investment to Cambodia, with observers remaining divided on whether China’s rising tide will uplift the country or scuttle its progress on human rights and reforms.

International analysts say China’s policies in Cambodia are only one aspect of its engagement with the region as a whole – a strategy based on re-establishing its traditional role as the “Middle Kingdom” in the region.

Carl Thayer, a professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Sydney, said China’s strategy of “non-interference” had won the country increasing influence in Southeast Asia, where it is seen as a shield against pressure from the United States and other Western countries.

“Chinese aid offers an escape hatch for countries under pressure from the West [that] promote human rights and democratic reform,” Thayer said.

Rights and wrongs
Inevitably, the rising Chinese influence has prompted concerns that funds could wean the government off Western aid “burdened” with human-rights and good-governance conditions – rolling back democratic reforms implemented since the early 1990s.

Joshua Kurlantzick, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington and the author of Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power is Transforming the World, said Chinese aid was likely to have a “corrosive” effect on good governance and human rights in Asia.

“Hun Sen knows how to play China off of the Western donor group, and China’s aid – even if not necessarily linked to any downgrading of human rights – could have the effect of a kind of race to the bottom on human rights,” he said.

Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at the US-based Human Rights Watch, agreed that unconditional Chinese aid to Cambodia could act as a “financial lifeline” that might otherwise be cut by Western donors.

She said, however, that Western nations often failed to work together effectively to set and enforce aid conditions in Cambodia, meaning that China’s growing presence was unlikely to have any long-term effect on human rights.

“The most important point – and key problem – is that the government in Phnom Penh ... seems determined to be extraordinarily abusive, regardless of whoever’s money is on offer,” she said by email.

The weight of history
Cambodia, like many Southeast Asian countries, has had a long and stormy relationship with Beijing.

Chinese leaders had a close friendship with then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk during the 1950s and 1960s, and offered Sihanouk asylum after he was overthrown by a republican coup in March 1970.

China’s staunch support for the Khmer Rouge regime soured the relationship for the remainder of the Cold War, leading Hun Sen to refer to China in a 1988 essay as “the root of everything that was evil” in Cambodia.

But as memories of Cambodia’s long civil war have faded, historical grievances have been replaced by more practical concerns.

After Hun Sen ousted then-first Prince Norodom Ranariddh in the factional fighting of July 1997, China was the first country to recognise his rule.

Balancing East and West
Despite a recent influx of Chinese yuan, there is no indication the government is ready to turn its
back on the West.

Chea Vannath, an independent political analyst based in Phnom Penh, said that growing Chinese influence would likely be used to counterbalance the influence of Western countries – a vital strategy for a country of Cambodia’s size.

“I think that what the government is trying to do is to diversify its aid.... It is eager to strike a balance,” she said.

“As a sovereign government, Cambodia needs aid from both sources.”

Regarding the possibility that Chinese aid could erode human rights, Chea Vannath said global winds were blowing in the opposite direction, promoting pluralism and transparency through international groupings such as ASEAN and the World Trade Organisation. Cambodia is a member of both bodies.

Kurlantzick also cited the increasing openness of Beijing’s aid and investments in Cambodia, saying that donors were “less in the dark” about Chinese money than previously, thus increasing the potential for future cooperation.

Thayer agreed that rumours of a drop in Western influence were exaggerated and said countries had little to gain from throwing their lot in exclusively with one side or the other.

“All the countries of Southeast Asia, to varying extent, have long adjusted to China’s rise and political influence,” he said.

“They do not want to be put in a position of having to choose between China and the United States.”

Thayer noted that the US is still Cambodia’s largest export market, and that President Barack Obama had encouraged trade with Cambodia as a means of recouping American prestige amid a region in which it has a troubled recent past.

Ultimately, Chea Vannath said, Chinese influence – dating back to the 11th century – is a permanent reality for Cambodia but one that, in combination with contributions from the US and Europe, stands to deliver long-term benefits for the Kingdom.

“Culturally and historically, on and off, good and bad, we’ll always have China with us,” she said.

Kasit, formerly a senior diplomat, made critical remarks about Hun Sen when he participated in a protest by the People's Alliance for Democracy last year, shortly before he became foreign minister.

MR Priyanandhana Rangsit, an appointed senator who is deputy chair of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, said yesterday it would be improper for Chalerm to act in such a way.

"It is really improper to attack someone with a matter of the past. It's not a good idea for ties between the two countries and between Kasit and Samdech Hun Sen," she said, referring to the Cambodian leader by his Cambodian title.

She said Kasit's status had changed and he was now the Thai foreign affairs minister and no longer an activist affiliated with the PAD.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said it appeared Chalerm was trying every way possible to get his political camp back into power and acting for their benefit. "That could cause damage to the country," he said.

But Suthep said he had no concern that Chalerm's move might threaten ties with Phnom Penh, as he believed the Cambodian leader had a good grasp of Thai politics.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen is a senior politician with a good understanding of politics. I don't think I need to call him [to explain about the matter]. But if I have time, I will call on him again to talk about bilateral ties. We must keep good ties with our neighbours," he said.

By JIM GOMEZ; Associated Press Writer

Published: 10/05/09

(Post by CAAI News Media)

MANILA, Philippines -- Typhoon Parma weakened into a tropical storm but lingered off the northern Philippine coast Monday, causing widespread flooding and landslides that have killed 16 in the country and churning up rough seas that sank a cargo ship off neighboring Taiwan.

The Taiwanese coast guard said 10 crew members of a Panamanian cargo ship are missing after the vessel sank in the Taiwan Strait near the Bashi channel, which separates the island from the Philippines.

Chief Philippine government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz said Parma headed northwest into the South China Sea after blowing across the country's north, which is still reeling from an earlier storm that killed almost 300 people. Parma was now almost still because Typhoon Melor, which blew into Philippine waters Monday from the west, was pulling it back toward the coast.

Parma can still roar back into the country and will continue to dump heavy rain, Cruz said. The storm was located 137 miles (220 kilometers) off northern Laoag city, packing winds of 65 mph (105 kph) and gusts of up to 84 mph (135 kph).

Typhoon Melor over the northern Pacific Ocean was pushing west, Cruz said. It was too far off the coast to affect the rain-soaked northern Philippines and was expected to blow toward southern Japan later this week, he said.

Parma hit the main island of Luzon on Saturday. Flooding and landslides over the weekend killed at least 16 people, but the capital, Manila - still awash in floodwaters from another storm barely a week earlier - was spared a new disaster.

In Taiwan, authorities had issued landslide and flash flooding warnings for eastern and southern areas in preparation, and evacuated 6,582 residents from vulnerable regions.

Officials at the Coast Guard Administration said three of 14 crew members onboard the Panamanian-registered Silver Sea are safe after the ship went down in heavy seas Sunday in the Taiwan Strait. It said one has been confirmed dead while 10 others are missing.

Parma spared Taiwan its full brunt Monday, veering off its southwestern coast.

Still, it brought very heavy rains. The Central Weather Bureau reported 29 inches (746 millimeters) of precipitation in the eastern county of Yilan since Sunday. That comes just weeks after a deadly typhoon hit southern Taiwan causing torrential rains and the island's worst flooding in decades.

Parma hit the Philippines just eight days after a Tropical Storm Ketsana inundated Manila and surrounding provinces, killing almost 300 people. Saturday's storm dropped more rain on the capital, slowing the cleanup and making conditions more miserable.

Still, classes in and around Manila were reopened Monday after a weeklong closure, except where schools were turned into evacuation centers.

At the Santa Elena High School in flood-hit Marikina city, east of Manila, muddied teachers and students turned up for class. They were still coming to terms with their ordeal.

"We were near tears because of the situation, especially over the past days when the students were texting us that they have lost their homes," said teacher Virma Mariano. "We have teachers who went through a near-death experience when they were being chased by the flood, they went from one roof to the other."

Army troops and firefighters shoveled mud off the school grounds. A sodden heap of damaged books lay outside the library, now a messy tangle of wooden furniture and soaked papers. Young students gazed as troops struggled to clean up their devastated school.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro toured flood-ruined farming regions in northern Bulacan province. He said it remained uncertain when the devastated regions can fully recover.

THE brother of Chea Vichea, the labour leader whose death prompted two controversial convictions in 2005, has called for a jailed murderer to appear as a witness in the retrial of the case.

Chea Mony, the victim's younger brother, told Cambodia Express News that he sent a letter to the Court of Appeal asking that former national police chief Heng Pov be summoned as a witness in the August 17 retrial of the men convicted of killing Chea Vichea: 24-year-old Born Samnang and 36-year-old Sok Sam Oeun.

Heng Pov was arrested and convicted of a variety of charges, including murder, in 2006.

Though the defendants in Chea Vichea's case were convicted in 2005, the verdict was highly criticised by local and international organisations that felt that the men were innocent scapegoats. The victim's family turned down the court-ordered compensation from the accused in protest of the verdict.

While Heng Pov supported the verdict as police chief, he admitted after his arrest that he did not believe the men were guilty. No witnesses were called to testify, and no forensic evidence was presented in court.

Appeal Court Deputy President Chuon Sunleng said Sunday that he had yet to see Chea Mony's letter, but that he would consider the request.

"I've never heard of a convicted criminal being called as a witness, but I will read the letter and take it into consideration," he said.

Though they were originally sentenced to 20 years in prison, the Supreme Court ordered the provisional release of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun on December 31, pending new investigations.

Trans-Atlantic rower Rob Hamill is about to head to Cambodia to testify against the Khmer Rouge prison boss accused of torturing and murdering his brother.

Kerry Hamill was 27 when his yacht strayed into Cambodian waters back in the late 1970s.

A fellow crewman was shot dead while he and a passenger ended up at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, where both were tortured and murdered.

Mr Hamill has been furiously collecting evidence since he found out he could testify about his brother's killing.

He will testify before the tribunal next week.

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has refused to back down after reopening a debate over an ancient temple on the disputed border with Cambodia which has provoked bloody clashes.

Bangkok this week asked world heritage body UNESCO to reconsider its decision to formally list the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia, as ownership of land surrounding the ruins is still in dispute.

Cambodia on Saturday rebuked Thailand for raising the matter, saying that its soldiers would defend their land again if necessary following outbreaks of violence in the past year which have left seven dead.

But Abhisit -- who made a one-day visit to Cambodia last week in an attempt to push forward border talks -- said the UNESCO move itself was to blame for the tensions.

"We are concerned that the moves by UNESCO may speed up conflicts, tensions or a border clash," the Oxford-educated Abhisit said on his weekend television programme.

He said Thai deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban would soon travel to Cambodia to explain Thailand's position, but said that Bangkok still believed all border issues should be solved by peaceful measures.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades, but tensions spilled over into violence last July when the temple was granted UN World Heritage status.

Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.

Soldiers from Cambodia and Thailand continue to patrol the area, with the last gunbattle in the temple area in April leaving three people dead.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said in Phnom Penh on Saturday that his country "welcomes Thailand militarily, diplomatically, internationally or through peaceful negotiations."

"(But) it (border fighting) has happened twice... (so) if they want to send their troops to Cambodia a third time, we will welcome them too," he said.

The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

The decades-long conflict in Cambodia devastated not only the human population of the Southeast Asian country but its biodiversity as well. The conflict led to widespread declines of species in the once wildlife-rich nation while steering traditional society towards unsustainable hunting practices, resulting in a situation where wildlife is still in decline in Cambodia, according to a new study from researchers with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Although many biodiversity hotspots have seen their share of conflict—the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Vietnam—the relationship between war and conservation has rarely been studied. Social scientist Michael Mascia with WWF and Colby Loucks, Deputy Director of the WWF's Conservation Science Program interviewed Cambodian villagers to understand the impacts of war on village’s surrounding wilderness.

“Armed conflict is a social phenomenon often detrimental to wildlife and wildlife habitat, but the legacy of armed conflict for wildlife in post-conflict settings remains unexplored,” Loucks and Mascia, along with other authors, write in their paper published in Conservation Letters.

Since scientific data for wildlife abundance in Cambodia was lacking, Loucks and Mascia depended on the knowledge of locals in the Sre Chis commune, a collection of six villages in eastern Kratie province. Asking the interviewees about 18 different species, the researchers found that the decades-long conflict in Cambodia caused deep-declines in wildlife abundance, the loss of some species altogether, and moved the society from subsistence hunting to commercial exploitation.

“We looked at how conflict directly and indirectly shaped people’s use of wildlife – during and after conflict. The influx of guns, the emergence of new markets, the forced hunting teams – all were directly related to conflict. It was the conflict, lastly, for well over two decades that created the environment for permanent shifts in livelihoods to the dependence on the trade of wildlife,” Loucks and Mascia told mongabay.com

Wildlife declined from pre-1953 (when the conflict began) to 2005, but the most measured declines occurred in the 1970s—when the conflict was at its worst. The researchers found that 14 of 18 species declined, while five disappeared altogether, including the Asian elephant, the kouprey, Eld’s deer, hog deer, and Siamese crocodile. Before the conflict arrived in Sre Chis, the villagers only sold one species to outside markets—the guar—but by the 1970s seven more species were being trafficked: elephants, banteng, Eld’s deer, hog deer, tiger, leopard and sun bear.

“It is clear to [the villagers] that there are fewer individuals of the species…and that they need to go further from the villages to find them,” Loucks said.

Shockingly every one of these species (or subspecies) is threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List, except the Indochinese leopard which hasn’t been surveyed. The sun bear is considered Vulnerable, while the Indochinese tiger, Asian elephant, Eld’s deer, and hog deer are all listed as Endangered. The Siamese crocodile, the banteng, a species of wild cattle, and a wild ox known as the kouprey are each Critically Endangered.

As related by Loucks and Mascia, these declines consistently followed societal changes brought on by war: additional firearms, the beginning of a wildlife trade for international markets, and a Khmer Rouge policy that actually mandated hunting. Prior to the 1970s villagers hunted with the crossbow, since guns were either illegal or difficult to obtain, but when the Khmer Rouge came to Sre Chis they handed out guns to locals and paid them to hunt. During the conflict, wildlife meat went to soldier on the front lines.

The conflict in Cambodia ended in 1991, but the interviewers discovered that wildlife declines continued due to the technological and social changes brought on by war. Instead of hunting for soldiers, the villagers had now begun to hunt for commercial sale in markets both in Cambodia and abroad.

“Documenting these impacts and the subsequent ripple effects in post-conflict society – shifting livelihood strategies and the decline of wildlife – allow us to understand the links between conflict and wildlife decline,” Loucks and Mascia said. “This sheds light on the importance of re-engaging with communities, empowering them to manage their resources, and providing economic opportunities soon after the cessation of conflict. With this information, we can design more effective conservation strategies, tailored to local conditions.”

Importance of conservation to postconflict society

The UN has drafted important guidelines for ‘disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration’ of combatants (known as DDR), but they don’t take into account the conservation of natural resources, according to Loucks and Mascia. Even though many conflicts begin with—or in some way involve—over-exploitation of a nation’s resources.

Therefore the authors suggest “that conservation investments in postconflict societies should be integrated within and support broader peace-building efforts targeting combatants, noncombatants, civil society organizations, and the state”.

Mascia goes on to say that “many conservation strategies are consistent with current approaches to peace-building, such as capacity-building for government agencies and local communities, fostering good governance and rule of law, and promoting alternative livelihoods and income generating activities. In societies where natural resources are a source of conflict, strengthening civil society and good governance in the environmental sector is necessary not just for effective conservation of biodiversity, but for peace-building generally.”

Loucks and Mascia see conservation as a tool to aid with disarmament in postconflict society by justifying confiscating weapons when used for illegal hunting. In addition, conservation organization act as important support for newly formed governments by “promoting rule of law; encouraging participatory and transparent decision making; and supporting other activities that foster good governance within the conservation sector and beyond,” according to the paper.

Furthermore, the authors argue, conservation groups have the capacity to monitor postconflict efforts to make certain both individuals and large-scale investments are not engaging in unsustainable natural resource exploitation. Instead of handing such postconflict countries over to international corporations for large-scale monoculture plantations, industrial agriculture or mining—which may degrade the environment and stoke further conflict—conservation organizations could manage environmental restoration projects.

Such restoration projects “would serve multiple purposes” the authors write, including “employment of both ex-combatants and noncombatants, enhanced delivery of ecosystem services to resource-dependent communities, critical habitat for wildlife, and reduced wildlife trade by providing alternative sources of income.”

Finally, the authors recommend that conservation groups be allowed to perform capacity-building at the community level in order to reach out to remote areas, places where a new government may not have influence or even means of communication. According to the paper, such programs “can empower local actors and strengthen local governance regimes, absorb ex-combatants into the labor force, and provide legal economic opportunities for ex-combatants and noncombatants alike.”

The people—not just the wildlife—of post-conflict nations would benefit greatly from increased conservation and environmental awareness, according to the paper.

“We believe that the UN, governments, civil society, and NGOs all have a role they can play to integrate natural resource conservation, biodiversity protection, and peace-building efforts from the local to national or global scale. To design conservation strategies that are both ecologically and socially sustainable, we need to build tailored solutions that bridge the traditional divide between security and the environment.” Loucks and Mascia told mongabay.com.