ABC Radio Australia
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has left Cambodia for Malaysia after a two day visit that took her from the temples of Angkor Wat to a shelter for trafficked women.
Mrs Clinton also travelled to Phnom Penh where she met with senior government officials and visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
Presenter: Robert Carmichael
Speakers: Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State; Hor Namhong, Cambodian Foreign Minister
CARMICHAEL: This was Hillary Clinton's first visit to Cambodia, and came as part of her two-week trip to a series of Asia-Pacific nations in a bid to boost US relations with this part of the world.
Secretary Clinton spent Sunday in the tourist town of Siem Reap, where she visited the temples of Angkor Wat and also went to a US-funded project to help victims of trafficking.
Early Monday she landed in Phnom Penh and visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, an experience that she said was very emotional.
HILLARY CLINTON: And I looked at the faces of the young Cambodians - both those who were killed at that terrible place of suffering, and those who did the killing. And what is most important is that Cambodians themselves are educating the young generation about a painful chapter in this country's past and honouring the memory of those who died by working hard to bring accountability and justice while seeking to stabilize and reconcile as well.
CARMICHAEL: The key mechanism for that is, of course, the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, which earlier this year jailed Comrade Duch for 30 years.
Duch was the commandant of the prison in Phnom Penh that is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
Four senior Khmer Rouge leaders are scheduled to stand trial in Case Two next year for their alleged roles in the deaths of some 2.2 million people between 1975 and 1979.
But the real controversy is how many more people the court should prosecute.
The international side of the court wants to investigate five more former Khmer Rouge.
But the government is utterly against that, something Foreign Minister Hor Namhong again stressed at Monday's press conference with Secretary Clinton.
HOR NAMHONG: Hor Namhong says if the court expands its remit beyond Case Two and indicts junior leaders of the Khmer Rouge movement, then that could jeopardise the country's peace and stability.
CARMICHAEL: It should be said that many observers believe the government's instability argument is an excuse rather than a genuine reason to avoid further prosecutions.
The court of course must be free of political interference in order to do its job properly.
But Secretary Clinton would not be drawn on where the US stood on Phnom Penh's desire to close the court after Case Two.
Instead she focused on arguably the more pressing issue of cash, or rather the lack of it. The tribunal has almost run out of money, and has nothing in the bank for next year.
Secretary Clinton said Case Two would likely cost up to $50 million dollars.
HILLARY CLINTON: I salute the tribunal's ongoing efforts to bring justice to the victims and promote the rule of law. And I will do what I can to work with the Cambodian government, with the United Nations and the international community to ensure that we have the resources needed to proceed with Case 002.
CARMICHAEL: On the other pressing issue of the week, the government's recent threat to shut the local UN human rights office, which it said operated as a mouthpiece for the opposition. Secretary Clinton was more explicit.
The office, she said, performed valuable work for the government and for NGOs based in Cambodia.
For its part, Phnom Penh wants Washington to discuss $445-million dollars of 1970s-era debt with a view to writing it off. The issue has festered between the two countries for years, and Secretary Clinton said a team of experts would head to Phnom Penh to find a solution.
Late on Monday, Hillary Clinton left for Malaysia, but not before congratulating Cambodia for using the lessons of its conflict-ridden past to help other nations.
In the past two years Phnom Penh has sent peacekeepers and demining experts abroad, an example, she said, of a country not only preserving its own peace, but helping others deal with their conflicts too.
Mrs Clinton also travelled to Phnom Penh where she met with senior government officials and visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
Presenter: Robert Carmichael
Speakers: Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State; Hor Namhong, Cambodian Foreign Minister
CARMICHAEL: This was Hillary Clinton's first visit to Cambodia, and came as part of her two-week trip to a series of Asia-Pacific nations in a bid to boost US relations with this part of the world.
Secretary Clinton spent Sunday in the tourist town of Siem Reap, where she visited the temples of Angkor Wat and also went to a US-funded project to help victims of trafficking.
Early Monday she landed in Phnom Penh and visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, an experience that she said was very emotional.
HILLARY CLINTON: And I looked at the faces of the young Cambodians - both those who were killed at that terrible place of suffering, and those who did the killing. And what is most important is that Cambodians themselves are educating the young generation about a painful chapter in this country's past and honouring the memory of those who died by working hard to bring accountability and justice while seeking to stabilize and reconcile as well.
CARMICHAEL: The key mechanism for that is, of course, the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, which earlier this year jailed Comrade Duch for 30 years.
Duch was the commandant of the prison in Phnom Penh that is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
Four senior Khmer Rouge leaders are scheduled to stand trial in Case Two next year for their alleged roles in the deaths of some 2.2 million people between 1975 and 1979.
But the real controversy is how many more people the court should prosecute.
The international side of the court wants to investigate five more former Khmer Rouge.
But the government is utterly against that, something Foreign Minister Hor Namhong again stressed at Monday's press conference with Secretary Clinton.
HOR NAMHONG: Hor Namhong says if the court expands its remit beyond Case Two and indicts junior leaders of the Khmer Rouge movement, then that could jeopardise the country's peace and stability.
CARMICHAEL: It should be said that many observers believe the government's instability argument is an excuse rather than a genuine reason to avoid further prosecutions.
The court of course must be free of political interference in order to do its job properly.
But Secretary Clinton would not be drawn on where the US stood on Phnom Penh's desire to close the court after Case Two.
Instead she focused on arguably the more pressing issue of cash, or rather the lack of it. The tribunal has almost run out of money, and has nothing in the bank for next year.
Secretary Clinton said Case Two would likely cost up to $50 million dollars.
HILLARY CLINTON: I salute the tribunal's ongoing efforts to bring justice to the victims and promote the rule of law. And I will do what I can to work with the Cambodian government, with the United Nations and the international community to ensure that we have the resources needed to proceed with Case 002.
CARMICHAEL: On the other pressing issue of the week, the government's recent threat to shut the local UN human rights office, which it said operated as a mouthpiece for the opposition. Secretary Clinton was more explicit.
The office, she said, performed valuable work for the government and for NGOs based in Cambodia.
For its part, Phnom Penh wants Washington to discuss $445-million dollars of 1970s-era debt with a view to writing it off. The issue has festered between the two countries for years, and Secretary Clinton said a team of experts would head to Phnom Penh to find a solution.
Late on Monday, Hillary Clinton left for Malaysia, but not before congratulating Cambodia for using the lessons of its conflict-ridden past to help other nations.
In the past two years Phnom Penh has sent peacekeepers and demining experts abroad, an example, she said, of a country not only preserving its own peace, but helping others deal with their conflicts too.
5 comments:
what a loser king go beg viet nam for staying as king and can not beg by himself he even bring his mother which we oun her thru hun sen and cpp and then his father...
you all khmer are a loser race and soon will be erase from this earth...
long live viet nam.. soon we will have nuclear power we will kill all of you so we dont have to waste our resources..
Today we signed 2 nuclear with Japan, 8 with Russia and soon USA will transfer the know how and also technology to make uranium .. then we will erase you all useless khmer from this earth...
now we will use you -- hun sen -cpp is our greaest slave to get more money from china and world for us..
your loser race can not even make toothpick..
LONG LIVE VIET NAM
My name is Moha Suriya, Cambodian, female... I want to be just like Mrs. Hillary Clinton. She has inspired me in many ways.
To all my Khmer ladies out there if you have the same dream like me - I urge you to joint me to help empower woman through education. joint me, talk with me, walk with me, see my vision with me:
TO all my young Khmer Ladies, you are potential, smart, intelligent, and good heart. I would like to see my young Khmer lady running for public and help shape our beloved country for our young generation to come.
my direct email: khamarak007@Gmail.com.
sincerely yours.....Moha Suriya
USA.
SHORT LIVE VIET NAM... We wish that we would not have been born as Vietnamese …
bạn là đồ ngu người má ăn thịt chó.
We are Vietnamese and proud to be dog eaters who live and die like dogs….
Ah đồ má con chó,
HE. Sam rainsy graduated in 1978, he live wealthy rice left over by His Father (Sam Sary coruption), he had the most happiness living standard in Paris, and he know every things about Khmer being killed by Polpot, did any one heard anything from Sam rainsy go to UN, or EU parliament, Or USA to claim or cry to help Khmer?. do we clearly see what the cheater Rainsy is?. Can you see Khmer years Zero was? visualize the picture of crying hunger, wounded, walking bar foot, losing son, father deeply depress devastate can you see that, where is Rainsy? in Paris,.....!. Now you claim yourself a Khmer compatriot.
Sam Rainsy you are looking down on Khmer too much. You could cheat your wife you could cheat your Activist, but not all Khmer People. You are master in Criticizing, in tell EU, UN, USA to stop funding Those Hunger Khmer, you close many Garment factories, you kick out $ billions of investor, now you support enemy, is that you are clearly see yourself Rainsy being a Khmer Compatriot? Your are a spoiled Street wild kids. you completely lose your mind you are insane you are insane absolutely insane Sam rainsy. go to bed tonight and imagine yourself your are the next loser in every election. your are a real Chines vendor fool.
The Human Rights must stay,keep open the office in Cambodia and also the NGO.Ah Hun Xen is dreaming to close these offices because he wants to be a full dictatorand he will do what he wants to do.Hun Xen,your dream will be failed.All Khmer innocent people know who you are.Don't be so glad because tomorrow you'll be dead by the Khmer compatriots.
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