America Says It Did Not Propose Creating Special Advisory Post at Khmer Rouge Tribunal

19 January 2008
Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper
Translated from Khmer and posted online

Top US leader for the East Asian and Pacific affairs has denied news reports that the United States proposes creating a special advisory post at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal [KRT], which is currently facing funding shortage.

Scot Marciel, deputy assistant secretary for the East Asian and Pacific affairs, made the denial at a news conference held at the US Embassy on 18 January, during his visit three-day visit to Cambodia, from 16 to 18 January.

The denial was issued after Kao Kim Hourn, Cambodian state secretary of foreign affairs, told reporters at the Foreign Ministry on 17 January that the United States had raised a proposal that the Cambodian side create a position of special advisory post in the KRT, and that Cambodia was considering it.

At the 15-minute press conference, Marcel emphatically said, "We support the KRT because it is important to the Cambodian people," adding, "To my understanding, this affair about strengthening the KRT has been discussed by the United States and Cambodia.

"We just say it is an idea that it is better to have standardization. It makes us easy to offer funding, but it is not a requirement and a proposal by the United States." He also asserted that the United States was still considering whether funds should be given to the KRT. He added, "It is not an issue that concerns the government, but it depends on the Senate's decision, and we are holding discussion with the Senate." He also said, "We are determined to supply funds, but within the framework of that funding, the Senate is the comptroller."

The United States has witnessed the progress made by the KRT over last year and greeted the tribunal process. By the end of 2007, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia [ECCC], called KRT, detained five suspects who are former leaders of the KR regime. They include Nuon Chea, former national assembly chairman; Ieng Sary, former deputy prime minister and foreign minister, and his wife, Ieng Thirith, former minister of social and women's affairs minister; Koh Santepheap, former head of state, and Kaing Guek-iev, former head of Tuol Sleng prison.

The KRT announced recently that while the Cambodian side would run out of funds for the planned three-year KRT operations in March 2008, the UN side in December. Anyway, despite the three years projected, it is estimated that the KRT might need additional time for the process of seeking justice for the Cambodian people.

Lost in the translation: US Denies Seeking Advisory Role for Funding

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 January 2008

A US State Department official said Friday the US government has no desire to be an adviser to the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

The remarks, by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Scot Marciel, were an apparent reaction to government statements Thursday that the US was seeking an advisory role in the tribunal in exchange for helping fund it.

“It’s certainly not our proposal or our recommendations, and there was no discussion about an American role,” Marciel said Friday, referring to government talks during his three-day visit to Cambodia.

The US has so far provided no monetary support for the tribunal, and officials say they are evaluating whether the tribunal will meet international standards of justice.

“As I said, fundamentally, what we are looking for is the question of whether the tribunal can meet the international standards of justice,” Marciel said. “That would make it certainly much easier for us to look at funding.”