Cambodians protest Xayaburi in Bangkok

Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Shane Worrell
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodians were among anti-Xayaburi dam protesters who demonstrated outside Thai Parliament in Bangkok yesterday, urging Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to halt construction and tear up an agreement to buy the proposed dam’s power.

A group of Cambodians travelled to Bangkok especially to raise their concerns about the proposed hydroelectric dam, joining protesters from seven provinces in Thailand’s northeast.

They were out of luck, however, as the Thai government – which would buy the majority of the dam’s power, if built – refused to hear their calls, which accompanied 8,000 signatures on giant catfish petition postcards.

Xayaburi a go, says Lao minister

Thursday, 13 September 2012
Rann Reuy
The Phnom Penh Post

Laos will build the controversial Xayaburi hydro-electric dam on the Mekong river – and has already agreed to sell some of its electricity to Cambodia, its energy minister claimed yesterday.

In Phnom Penh for the 30th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting yesterday, Soulivong Daravong, Laos’s Energy and Minister, said the contentious 1,285 megawatt dam in the country’s north was a safe project that should not draw the anger of Laos’s Mekong basin neighbours.

“We are trying to progress, because this is an opportunity for us and we will do it sustainably,” Daravong said. “If the project is sustainable, they have no reason to object.”

Daravong went as far as to say he had received no objections from Cambodia and Vietnam – two countries that claim to have written to Laos recently, urging it to halt the project until trans-boundary impacts of the US$ 3.8 billion project are studied.

MRC Official Confirms Construction Continues on Controversial [Xayaburi] Dam

Xayaburi dam construction (Photo: Bangkok Post)

The chief builder of the dam told local media in Thailand recently his company was moving forward with construction.

01 September 2012

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer

PHNOM PENH - A Mekong River official in Laos has confirmed that construction of the controversial Xayaburi dam there is underway, with major advanced preparations completed.

Cambodian officials object to the construction of the dam without further impact studies, following concern from conservation groups that such a dam could threaten the fish of the river, on which millions of Cambodians rely for food.

$70m from India for power

Monday, September 3rd, 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

India is financing the construction of a US$70 million transmission line to bring electricity from hydroelectric projects in Laos to Cambodia, according to Indian Chamber of Commerce President Debasish Pattnaik.

Speaking yesterday after the official launch of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (ICC), Pattnaik said Laos has signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to finance the transmission lines from Laos to Stueng Trang and the $70 million soft loan from the Indian government would finance the line from Stueng Trang to Kratie.

He said the transmission lines from Kratie to Phnom Penh were already in place.

Tenders for the construction of the project by local contractors would be called by the Indian government in October, Pattnaik said.

Laos Joins Rice-Growing Project

Vientiane, Sept. 3 (Prensa Latina) Laos joined the project of creating an organization of rice-producing countries in Southeast Asia, which in the opinion of its promoters will strengthen the competitiveness of the grain in the region

Thai Minister of Commerce, Boonsong Teriyaphirom, one of the most active promoters, received approval of his peer from Lao Nam Viyaketh, during the recently held 44 ministerial conference of the Association of Nations (Asean) in Phnom Penh

With this addition there are now four the members of the bloc interested in this type of cooperation although Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam have already arranged themselves with the same purpose.

Southeastern stories [Luang Prabang Film festival 2012]

Luang Prabang Film Festival unveils selection for third annual edition

September 4, 2012
Wise Kwai
The Nation

The Luang Prabang Film Festival is ready for its third edition this December with a line-up of movies from across Southeast Asia.

The titles are selected by the festival's Motion Picture Ambassadors (MPAs) with an aim to represent the best works produced in Southeast Asia within the past five years.

They will all be shown in nightly free open-air screenings in the central market plaza of the Unesco World Heritage city.

The festival will also feature short films, as well as exhibitions, seminars, workshops, concerts and performances.

Led by the chairman of its board of Directors, Lao-Australian actor Ananda Everingham, the festival will welcome many VIP guests and audiences from across the region and further abroad.

Thai films dominate the festival. Among the six titles offered by film critic Kong Rithdee is a mini-retrospective on the recent commercial features by Tanwarin Sukhapisit, the Isaan romance "Hak Na Sarakam" and the transgender drama "It Gets Better".

There's also Tom Waller's monastic mystery, "Mindfulness and Murder" and Wichanon Sumumjarn's debut feature "In April the Following Year, There Was a Fire".

The Thai line-up is rounded out with "The Cheer ambassadors", Luke Cassady-Dorion's rousing documentary of the underdog Thai squad that won the world cheerleading championships.

The Cambodian selection is heavy on documentaries, including "Duch, Master of Forges of Hell", about the warden of Phnom Penh's notorious Tuol Sleng torture facility under the Khmer Rouge, as well as "Enemies of the People", covering journalist Thet Sambath's decade-long odyssey to gain the trust of Khmer Rouge "Brother No 2", Nuon Chea. There's also "Who Killed Chea Vichea?", Bradley Cox's documentary on the death of a Cambodian labour leader. And "Golden Slumbers", Davy Chou's tribute to the lost films of the "golden age" of Cambodian cinema.

Five ink deal to form rice cartel [-Will farmers benefit from rice price increase?]

Yanyong: 10% price rise acceptable

Goal is to boost price by 10% annually

23/08/2012
Bangkok Post

Five Asean rice-producing countries are joining forces to form a regional alliance with the ambitious goal to boost rice prices by 10% annually.

Trade ministers from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos are scheduled to sign the agreement later this year to establish the Asean Rice Federation, said Yanyong Phuangrach, the commerce permanent secretary.

Mr Yanyong called the cooperation a first for a region that exports 20 million tonnes of rice a year.

The cooperation will help lift rice prices and the census is agreed among these members that rice is not only a staple but also a main source of revenue for them.

He said a 10% rise each year is acceptable and will not have significant effect on consumers.

"The cooperation can stabilise rice prices and ensure food security in the region," he told a press briefing yesterday.

Oldest Bones from Modern Humans in Asia Discovered [... in Laos]

A reconstruction of the human skull discovered in Tam Pa Ling.
CREDIT: F. Demeter

20 August 2012
Charles Choi, LiveScience Contributor

Newfound pieces of human skull from "the Cave of the Monkeys" in Laos are the earliest skeletal evidence yet that humans once had an ancient, rapid migration to Asia.

Anatomically modern humans first arose about 200,000 years ago in Africa. When and how our lineage then dispersed out of Africa has long proven controversial.

Archaeological evidence and genetic data suggest that modern humans rapidly migrated out of Africa and into Southeast Asia by at least 60,000 years ago. However, complicating this notion is the notable absence of fossil evidence for modern human occupation in mainland Southeast Asia, likely because those bones do not survive well in the warm, tropical region.

Now a partial skull from Tam Pa Ling, "the Cave of the Monkeys" in northern Laos helps fill in this mysterious gap in the fossil record.

Clinton urges Mekong nations to avoid US dam mistakes

AFP – July , 13 , 2012

The US on Friday urged Mekong nations to learn from its mistakes in river infrastructure projects, as Laos confirmed it has postponed a controversial multi-billion dollar dam project.

The $3.8 billion hydroelectric project at Xayaburi has sharply divided the four Mekong nations -- Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand -- who rely on the river system for fish and irrigation.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed for further environmental assessments before proceeding with the project during a meeting with Mekong countries in the Cambodian capital, echoing calls from Hanoi and Phnom Penh who worry the dam could decimate their fishing and farming industries.

Clinton, who called the Mekong river basin "a miracle", said Washington would help fund studies on the impact of proposed dams on the river, on which some 60 million people depend for transportation, food and economy.

China Urges Asean to Avoid Sea Spat

July 11, 2012
By PATRICK BARTA
The Wall Street Journal

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—China moved to block efforts to resolve long-running tensions over claims in the disputed South China Sea, warning participants in a regional summit attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here that it is "crucial" they leave the issue out of their discussions.

Mrs. Clinton, who arrived in the Cambodian capital late Wednesday after making a brief but historic trip to the Laotian capital of Vientiane, is the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the country since John Foster Dulles in 1955. Mrs. Clinton met with the communist nation's prime minister and discussed ways of unlocking more investment there as part of Washington's widening effort to build allies in Southeast Asia to match China's growing influence in the region.

Mrs. Clinton is also expected to announce new rules later this week clarifying procedures for U.S. companies wanting to invest in Myanmar, including energy companies looking to do business with the country's state oil firm—another part of Washington's effort to expand America's role in countries that border China. U.S. officials said earlier this year they would be suspending sanctions against Myanmar after its government launched overhauls to end decades of military rule, and U.S. companies have been waiting for more details before they go in.

Clinton Visit Puts Spotlight on South China Sea

July 10, 2012
By PATRICK BARTA
The Wall Street Journal

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Southeast Asia this week was expected to put a spotlight on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, as well as the growing significance of a relatively new actor in the region's power plays: tiny, landlocked Laos.

Mrs. Clinton was scheduled to spend Tuesday in Hanoi after stops in Tokyo and Mongolia, with plans to discuss the growing commercial and political ties between the U.S. and Vietnam. Washington and Hanoi have grown especially close over the past few years as Vietnam has grown more wary of efforts by China, its northern neighbor, to project influence across Southeast Asia, especially in the resource-rich South China Sea, parts of which are jointly claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries.

Mrs. Clinton is scheduled to arrive Wednesday in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, the first such trip by a U.S. Secretary of State in 57 years. Laos's political profile has risen as it has moved deeper into China's orbit. Her trip to Laos will be followed by a visit to Cambodia, where she will attend a regional forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and meet with U.S. businesses.

Laos denies pushing ahead with controversial dam

Jul 6, 2012

REUTERS – Laos is not pushing ahead with the construction of a controversial $3.5 billion hydropower dam on the Mekong River in defiance of an agreement with neighbouring countries, official media reported on Friday.

In recent weeks, environmental activists have said Ch Karnchang Pcl CK.BK, the main developer of the 1,260 megawatt Xayaburi dam on the river Mekong, was carrying on with work on the project, which Laos agreed to suspend last December.

Campaigners say the dam would harm migratory fish and the livelihood of fishermen, and last week Cambodian villagers demonstrated against it.

Laos vows to address Mekong dam fears

AFP

BANGKOK (July 6, 2012): Laos has pledged to stall construction of a controversial multi-billion dollar dam on the Mekong river until all its neighbours' environmental concerns have been answered, state media said Friday.

The $3.8 billion hydroelectric project at Xayaburi, led by Thai group CH Karnchang, has sharply divided the four Mekong nations -- Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand -- who rely on the river system for fish and irrigation.

"The Xayaburi project will develop one of the most transparent and modern dams in the world," Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines Viraphonh Viravong told state-run Vientiane Times.

Laos denies pushing ahead with controversial dam

Friday, 6 Jul 2012

(Reuters) - Laos is not pushing ahead with the construction of a controversial $3.5 billion hydropower dam on the Mekong River in defiance of an agreement with neighboring countries, official media reported on Friday.

In recent weeks, environmental activists have said Ch Karnchang Pcl, the main developer of the 1,260 megawatt Xayaburi dam on the river Mekong, was carrying on with work on the project, which Laos agreed to suspend last December.

Campaigners say the dam would harm migratory fish and the livelihood of fishermen, and last week Cambodian villagers demonstrated against it.

Viraphonh Viravong, Laos' deputy energy minister, said the government had kept its promise, though geological sub-surface surveying was being carried out in the Mekong valley.

Clinton to make landmark visit to Laos

Hillary Clinton, seen here in June 2012, will become the first US Secretary of State to visit Laos in 57 years as part of an eight-nation tour of the Middle East and Asia

05 July 2012
By Jo Biddle | AFP

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to become the first top US diplomat to visit communist-run Laos in 57 years, as part of an eight-nation tour that will also take her to Egypt and Israel.

"Clinton will travel to France, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Egypt and Israel departing Washington, DC on July 5," said a statement from State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland released on her departure.

The landmark Laos visit comes after she was officially invited by counterpart Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith in 2010 when he made the first visit by a top Laotian official to Washington since Soviet-backed communist rebels swept to power and replaced the monarchy in 1975.

Xayaburi Dam Constructors Defy Moratorium

A Mekong Giant Catfish was caught by local residents on the Mekong River near the point where the Xayaburi proposed dam will be built. (PHOTO: www.camboguide.com)

July 2, 2012
By ASIA SENTINEL

Despite the opposition of three governments and an array of environmentalists and public service groups from across the planet, the Xayaburi Dam, deep inside the mountains of northern Laos on the lower Mekong River, appears to be almost unstoppable.

The Thai energy company Ch. Karnchang is said to be pressing ahead with the dam, to be built to supply electricity to the Energy Generating Authority of Thailand despite the fact that the Mekong River Commission, comprising water and environmental ministers from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam agreed to a ban on further construction in December while a more comprehensive environmental study of the dam is completed.

However, according to the Berkeley, California- based environmental organization International Rivers, their investigation of the site reveals work is still moving forward. Significant resettlement of villagers in the area has already been undertaken, International Rivers said, despite promises by the energy company that it would comply with the Laotian government’s commitment to postpone construction until there is regional agreement.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Xayaburi

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Cambodian villagers protest controversial Laos dam

Fri Jun 29, 2012
By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian villagers demonstrated on Friday against a controversial Lao hydropower dam that activists say is being built in defiance of an agreement to assess its potentially damaging impact on millions of people first.

About 200 villagers whose livelihoods depend on the Mekong River urged a halt to the Thai-led construction of the $3.5 billion Xayaburi dam, which has angered Cambodia's government and triggered a rare rebuke by Laos's biggest ally, Vietnam.

"This dam won't just affect the people in our country but will also affect many parts of Laos," said Buddhist monk So Pra, organizer of the protest in Kompong Cham province, 124 km (77 miles) from the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

Demonstration in Paris on Saturday 16 June against the Viet invasion of Laos and Cambodia

Dear All,

I just got the invitation below, so I wish to forward it to you all.

For those who can participate, please go to Paris in a very large number for the very common cause of Lao and Khmer people against the Vietnamse colonization of Cambodia and Laos.

K. C.

----

Original appeal message:

Chers compatriotes,

Vous êtes cordialement invités au Rassemblement , le Samedi 16 juin à 15 H , devant le Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Quai d'Orsay Paris, en face Air France, Métro Invalides, contre l'invasion des communistes Viêts au Cambodge et au Laos.

----

English translation of the original appeal:

Dear Compatriots,

You are cordially invited to a Rally on Saturday 16 June at 3PM in front of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Quai d'Orsay Paris (located in front of Air France, Metro station: Invalides), to protest against the communist Viet invasion of Cambodia and Laos.

Limited Resources Hamper Victims’ Rescue

RFA, May 14, 2012

Three young Laotian girls carry water in a village in Khammouane province,
Nov. 27, 2002. AFP

Hundreds of girls in Laos have been trafficked in China over the last two years.

Hundreds of girls have been trafficked into China from the northern provinces of Laos, according to a Lao anti-human trafficking official, but efforts to rescue them have been largely unsuccessful due to limited resources.

The official, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity from the capital Vientiane, said that over the past two years, hundreds of families from provinces bordering China had approached officials requesting help in locating their missing daughters.

They said they believed the girls had been smuggled to China, lured with the prospect of work, or married to Chinese nationals, from their homes in Louang Namtha, Oudomxay, Bokeo, and Phongsaly provinces.

Most of the girls trafficked across the border are from the ethnic Khmu minority.

“The anti-human trafficking unit, with help from Chinese authorities, has been able to bring some of the trafficking victims home, but less than the number reported by families,” the official said.

“If there are cases brought up by families, usually there is a follow-up. In one case, a girl from Bokeo was located in China after a discussion [with Chinese officials] to bring her back home.”

The official said that the search for missing girls in China is largely unsuccessful.

“One reason is because of the bureaucracy, and the second is because China is such a large country,” he said.

While Laos and China cooperate on fighting crime and deterring human trafficking, China maintains no anti-human trafficking office in Laos to assist in finding victims.

Every province in Laos operates an anti-human trafficking unit, but many officials complain that a lack of budget and personnel prevents them from effectively carrying out their jobs.

Trafficking to China

According to the U.S. State Department’s 2011 Trafficking in Persons report, Laos is a source … for women and girls subjected to sex trafficking, and men, women, and children in conditions of forced labor in factory work, domestic labor, agriculture, and the fishing industry.

Lao men, women, and children are found in conditions of forced labor in Thailand, Malaysia, and China, the report said, adding that “Lao women and girls reportedly are subjected to conditions of trafficking in China, where some are forced to marry Chinese men.”

According to the report, Laos does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, though it said the government has been making “significant efforts” to do so.

It said the Lao government continued to rely almost completely on nongovernmental organizations and international organizations to provide victim assistance in 2010.

Lao authorities reported investigating 20 trafficking cases involving 47 alleged offenders, and convicting 33 trafficking offenders in 2010, compared with zero convictions during the previous year.

Reported by Apichart Supapong for RFA’s Lao service. Translated by Somnet Inthapannha. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.