Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Angkor Sentinel 2

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

Why would the US Marines help train Cambodian soldiers who could be involved in forced evictions in Cambodia?

Seabees build small-arms training range in Cambodia

March 8, 2012
Asia News Network
Stripes.com (US)

Phnom Penh - A United States Naval Mobile Construction Battalion is working with American Marines clearing debris to build a small-arms training range near the Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville, the Lighthouse News reported Tuesday.

The newspaper of the Ventura County naval community in southern California said the area would be used by US and Cambodian military personnel for training including an annual exercise by the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

As part of the project, 5,000 square meters of rocks, trees, dirt and other debris are being cleared and leveled to create a suitable flat surface for the range.

Cambodia, U.S. boost military ties with joint exercise [-Yet the Cambodian military cops are mainly used to beat innocent and peaceful protesters...]

Cambodian military police are only good at beating women and the weak. Is this the kind of humanitarian assistance the US want to train?

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's military police and the United States marines on Wednesday began a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise here, aimed at strengthening the two countries' military ties.

Speaking at the opening of the exercise, Jeff Daigle, Charg d 'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy to Cambodia, said some 23 U.S. marines from the III Marine Expeditionary Force have joined the exercise.

"It focuses on sharing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief response techniques to enhance professional relationships and coordination between Cambodia and U.S.," he said.

Marines, Sailors conclude training in Cambodia

PEACE KEEPING OPERATION TRAINING BASE, Kingdom of Cambodia-Marines with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit dance to music played during a closing ceremony at the Cambodian Maritime Exercise, March 1. The ceremony concluded the bilateral training exercise involving forces of the Cambodia and the U.S. militaries. The 31st MEU visited and conducted bilateral training as part of the U.S. Pacific Command’s Theater Security Cooperation program with the Kingdom of Cambodia. The program provides a unique and dynamic opportunity for cooperation between the U.S. and Cambodian military, while also promoting relationship-building between militaries and local communities., Lance Cpl. Garry J. Welch, 

3/3/2011
By Lance Cpl. Garry J. Welch, 31st MEU
US Marines

Marines, Sailors conclude training in Cambodia — Marines and Sailors with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit successfully ended training exercises with the Cambodian military during a ceremony held March 1.

The ceremony, run by Cambodian service members, included traditional Cambodian music, food, and a gift for every Marine and Sailor present.

While the time spent in Cambodia training was short, the Marines accomplished their mission of sharing knowledge with Cambodian service members.

U.S. to help train Cambodia's peacekeeping forces

March 15, 2010
Xinhua

Visiting U.S. high-ranking military officer Gen. William Crowe has accepted a request by Cambodia's National Center for Peacekeeping Forces and ERW Clearance (NPMEC) to train Cambodian forces on peacekeeping mission, official news agency AKP reported on Monday.

The request was made by Gen. Sem Sovanny, general director of the NPMEC, during a visit to the Oudong military training school on Mar. 11 by Gen. William Crowe who is in charge of South Asia and ASEAN affairs office under the U.S. Department of Defense, AKP said.

The visit to Cambodia is made according to the advice by leaders of the U.S. Department of Defense after a meeting in Washington between a Cambodian military delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Gen. Tea Banh and the U.S. Secretary of Defense Gen. Robert Gate, said Gen. William Crowe.

He said that the U.S. Secretary of Defense fully supported the activities of mine-clearance by the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces ( RCAF).

Visiting to several activities of mine-marking in the artificial minefields along with the slide show of the past mine- clearance activities made by the RCAF in Sudan and the RCAF joining the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) held in many countries such as in Mongolia, Bangladesh, Indonesia .., Gen. William Crowe highly valued the RCAF's potentiality and remarkable achievements.

He said that he will attend the GPOI-2010, which is due to be held in Cambodia in July this year, as a member of the U.N. high- ranking delegation.

U.S. to train Cambodian military to fight terrorism

August 22, 2007

The United State will help Cambodia train small amount of soldiers to fight terrorism, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Tea Banh said here Tuesday.

The military cooperation to combat terrorism between Cambodia and the U.S. will help to make a stable situation in this region and the world, Tea Banh told reporters after a meeting with Admiral Timothy J. Keating, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, who is paying a visit here from Aug. 20 to 22.

We have always had good cooperation with other countries too to fight terrorism, he added.

Meanwhile, Keating said that the U.S. is ready to assist Cambodia in military training and exercises in order to improve the country's capabilities to fight terrorism.

The assistance could also involve information sharing, training in surveillance techniques and tracking the flow of terrorist finances around the world, he added.

Admiral Keating commands all U.S. military forces in the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas, a press release from the U.S. embassy said.

The U.S. Pacific Command is a unified command, which includes approximately 300,000 military personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, about 20 percent of all active-duty U.S. military forces, it said.

Source: Xinhua

Cambodian troops take UN peacekeeping training courses

6/15/2007

Scores of Cambodian troops are taking United Nations (UN) peacekeeping training courses here on June 4-17, which aim to improve their peace support operations.

Ninety-nine members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and eight U.S. military personnel are participating in the program named Cambodia Peace Support Operations (PSO) 2007, at the Training and Mine Unexploded Ordnance Clearance Center (TMCC), the proposed site for Cambodia's future peacekeeping training center, said a press release issued by the U.S. embassy during a press visit on Friday.

The training program will enable RCAF instructors and participants to gain UN "Training Recognition", allowing them to conduct possible peacekeeping missions worldwide under the Global Peace Operation Initiative (GPOI), a five-year peace operation capacity building program managed by the U.S. Department of State to address gaps in international peace support operations, the press release said.

The peacekeeping training is based on UN guidelines and procedures and incorporates what every peacekeeper needs to know about UN peacekeeping tactics, techniques, and procedures, it added.

There are over 215 UN Peacekeeping tasks. Of these, 33 of the most common tasks were selected through coordination with the UN's Department of Peacekeeping and incorporated into six "lanes" or situations: checkpoint operations, patrolling, humanitarian aid distribution, guarding fixed sites, convoy operations, and cordon and search, according to the press release.

Each lane has a primary task objective and several sub tasks and is designed to improve speed of response, mission effectiveness, interoperability, and unity of effort, it said.

The exercise is sponsored by the RCAF and the U.S. Pacific Command with the support of the U.S. Department of State, it added.

Source: Xinhua