Cambodia genocide court will not go bust: officials

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Officials at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal said they were confident the cash-strapped court would be able to gather the funds needed to stay on schedule and try surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.

Court officials last month warned that without a cash infusion, those tribunal operations under Cambodian control could face bankruptcy by May, while concerns were raised that staff might not get paid after April.

Money troubles also threatened to further delay the UN-managed operations, which face a budget shortfall later this year, prompting officials to head to the United Nations in New York last month to petition for more funds.

Helen Jarvis, spokeswoman for the Cambodian side, said Wednesday that a pledge this month of 450,000 dollars from Australia and earnings on the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar would keep the Cambodian half of the tribunal afloat for the time being.

"The final picture now is that we expect to have enough funds to the end of July for the Cambodian side," Jarvis told AFP.

Originally budgeted at 56.3 million dollars over three years, the tribunal, which opened in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the UN and Cambodia, raised its cost estimates to 170 million dollars in January.

International backers appear hesitant to pledge more money to the process amid allegations of mismanagement and political interference.

So far, Australia has been the only country to publicly announce more funds, but Jarvis said court officials were discussing details of the finances with the donors, and were expecting a finalised budget next month.

Other key donors to the tribunal are Japan, France, Britain and Germany.

"We know that the people of Cambodia, the people of the world, and donor countries all have recognised the importance of the court, and have expressed strong political support for the court," she said.

"Now that political support could be translated into financial terms," Jarvis added.

Peter Foster, the UN's tribunal spokesman, said officials had no concern about the future of the court, and the UN side had enough funds until the end of 2008.

"I am extremely confident that we will get all the funding that we will require," he said.

Five former regime leaders have been detained by the tribunal for their alleged role in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities, and public trials are expected to begin later this year.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-1979 rule.