Thursday, March 30, 2006

U.S. Peace Corps offers Cambodia services

The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, March 29, 2006

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Peace Corps volunteers will arrive in Cambodia for the first time early next year to teach English and work in health education, a U.S. embassy official said Thursday.

An office will be opened in Cambodia in the next few months and the agency will work with local leaders to determine where the volunteers can be best used, a statement said.

"Finding English teachers is something they can do fairly quickly," U.S. Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle said. "In the health sector, it's something that really complements our development work here very strongly."

Discussions to establish a Peace Corps presence began several years ago but only "the recent change in the political situation made it really an opportune time to bring them in," Daigle said.

Democracy suffered a setback last year when Prime Minister Hun Sen launched criminal defamation lawsuits against some critics and tightened his grip on power. He withdrew the suits last month and promised to decriminalize defamation law to allow for more openness.

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