UN head set for regional tour

Thursday, 21 October 2010
James O'Toole
The Phnom Penh Post

CAMBODIA will be one stop on a four-nation tour that United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon embarks upon next week.

In addition to a two-day visit to the Kingdom that will begin next Tuesday, Ban will visit China and attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at which the coming Myanmar election and human rights could be key issues under discussion.

Ban will go to Thailand and Cambodia before the summit in Vietnam and talks with China’s President Hu Jintao in Beijing, UN spokesman Farhan Haq told a press briefing in New York Tuesday.

The UN leader will hold talks with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and other Thai government representatives during a brief stay in Bangkok on October 26 before moving on the same day to Cambodia.

In Phnom Penh, he will meet with King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen, and will also visit the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal.

UN court spokesman Lars Olsen and Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday that they could not provide further details of Ban’s visit.

In a speech in August during which he announced Ban’s visit, Hun Sen said he would raise the Kingdom’s ongoing border dispute with Thailand with the UN head.

“I will seek a compromise from the UN representative. Thailand should not be afraid of international intervention … and if Thailand is afraid, it means Thailand does not have good intentions,” Hun Sen said. “Real gold is never afraid of fire,” he added.

Ban moves on to Vietnam on October 28 to attend the ASEAN summit and meet with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The UN leader has urged ASEAN to put more pressure on Myanmar to free dissident icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition figures ahead of the country’s much-criticised election on November 7.

Ban will start the China leg of his tour on October 30 in Shanghai. He will attend the closing of the World Expo in Shanghai before a brief visit to Nanjing and then head for Beijing for talks with China’s president and other leaders.

The visit will come as China maintains its angry campaign against the awarding of the Nobel peace prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Ban has not criticised China directly, but has said the Nobel award recognised a “growing international consensus for improving human rights practices and culture around the world”.

AFP/ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE

Thai Prime Minister Cancels State Visit

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
15 April 2009

Thailand’s prime minister has postponed an April trip to Cambodia, as political turmoil in Thailand continues to shake the government.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had planned to visit April 18, where he was scheduled to return seven Angkorian statues to Cambodia and hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Norodom Sihamoni.

Abhisit’s government is facing a wave of protests from supporters of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and tens of thousands of red-shirted demonstrators swarmed the capital and clashed with police earlier this week.

A Thai Embassy official in Phnom Penh confirmed the cancellation and said no date has yet been set for another visit.

Cambodian and Thailand are engaged in a protracted border dispute, with hundreds of troops on each side entrenched near Preah Vihear temple, the site of small clashes and several casualties earlier this month.

Thai PM cancels visit to Cambodia: official

PHNOM PENH, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Due to the current instability in his country, Thai Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva has canceled his visit to Cambodia originally scheduled on April 18, national media on Tuesday quoted official source as saying.

"I received official notification that (Abhisit) has canceled his trip to Phnom Penh because of the political chaos in Thailand," Koy Kuong, spokesman of the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post.

Abhisit was scheduled to arrive here on Saturday for talks with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen and meeting with King Norodom Sihamoni and other senior officials.

Sry Thamrong, Hun Sen's personal advisor, told reporters last week that at least 7 out of 24 pieces of ancient Khmer artifacts will be returned to Cambodia, during Abhisit's expected visit to Cambodia.

These Khmer artifacts were stolen and trafficked out of Cambodia, but finally arrested by the Thai authorities.

Local media also reported that Hun Sen and Abhisit are expected to discuss the border disputes between the two countries during the Thai premier's visit here.