LUFFOI.COM

PHNOM PENH: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday Cambodia is already prepared itself for the Asean- proposed meetings on March 24 on Cambodia-Thailand border conflict near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Cambodia has already prepared to depart for Cambodia-Thai General Border Committee and Joint Border Committee on Demarcation for Land Boundary in Bogor, Indonesia on March 24-25 under the presence of Asean chair,” he said during a graduation ceremony for students at the Royal University of Law and Economics.

“Now we are waiting Thai side’s confirmation of participation.”

Hun Sen repeated that Asean chair has to join in the opening ceremony of the meetings, and after Cambodia and Thailand discuss, the two sides have to report to Asean chair about the results.

“And if any agreement needs to be signed between Cambodia and Thailand during the meetings, Cambodia will ask the third party ( Asean chair) to sign together,” he said.

Cambodia’s General Border Committee will be lead by Defense Minister Tea Banh and the Joint Border Committee will be lead by Var Kimhong, it’s the president.

Meanwhile, the premier said that so far, the tension between Cambodian and Thai troops over the border dispute is rather calm and troops from the two sides even played volleyballs together over the weekend.

“However, it’s still fragile, I hope that both sides will continue to exercise their most restraints,” he said.

The premier announced that Cambodia will no longer allow Thai troops to come to worship at Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak pagoda next to Preah Vihear temple.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Temple of Preah Vihear belonged to Cambodia; however, the row over the 4.6-square-km territory around the temple has never been resolved.

Conflict occurred just a week after Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, since then both sides have built up military forces along the border, and periodic clashes happened, resulted in deaths of troops on both sides.

The latest clashes on Feb 4-7, unleashed a barrage of artillery shells on both sides of the border, had killed and wounded many soldiers and citizens of both sides, and caused tens of thousands of the two countries’ villagers nearby the disputed areas fleeing for safe shelters.

- Bernama

• Washington Post: Reforms Announced by Moroccan King Can Serve As Example
• Experts: ‘Fats’ Regulation A Must
• Iran, China to Ink World Largest Dam Finance Deal
• Spelling Out Success: Bangalore Man Clinches Guinness Record
• Vietnam to Lure More Organ Donors

Article source: http://www.malaysiandigest.com/world/18889-cambodia-ready-to-join-asean-proposed-meetings-on-border-conflict-with-thailand.html

March 14, 2011 15:00 PM

Cambodia Ready To Join Asean-Proposed Meetings On Border Conflict With Thailand

<!–

By: Ramjit

–>

PHNOM PENH, March 14 (Bernama) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday Cambodia is already prepared itself for the Asean- proposed meetings on March 24 on Cambodia-Thailand border conflict near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Cambodia has already prepared to depart for Cambodia-Thai General Border Committee and Joint Border Committee on Demarcation for Land Boundary in Bogor, Indonesia on March 24-25 under the presence of Asean chair,” he said during a graduation ceremony for students at the Royal University of Law and Economics. “Now we are waiting Thai side’s confirmation of participation.”

Hun Sen repeated that Asean chair has to join in the opening ceremony of the meetings, and after Cambodia and Thailand discuss, the two sides have to report to Asean chair about the results.

“And if any agreement needs to be signed between Cambodia and Thailand during the meetings, Cambodia will ask the third party ( Asean chair) to sign together,” he said.

Cambodia’s General Border Committee will be lead by Defence Minister Tea Banh and the Joint Border Committee will be lead by Var Kimhong, its the president.

Meanwhile, the premier said that so far, the tension between Cambodian and Thai troops over the border dispute is rather calm and troops from the two sides even played volleyballs together over the weekend.

“However, it’s still fragile, I hope that both sides will continue to exercise their most restraints,” he said.

The premier announced that Cambodia will no longer allow Thai troops to come to worship at Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak pagoda next to Preah Vihear temple.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Temple of Preah Vihear belonged to Cambodia; however, the row over the 4.6-square-km territory around the temple has never been resolved.

Conflict occurred just a week after Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, since then both sides have built up military forces along the border, and periodic clashes happened, resulted in deaths of troops on both sides.

The latest clashes on Feb 4-7, unleashed a barrage of artillery shells on both sides of the border, had killed and wounded many soldiers and citizens of both sides, and caused tens of thousands of the two countries’ villagers nearby the disputed areas fleeing for safe shelters.

— BERNAMA

We provide
(subscription-based) 
news coverage in our Newswire service.

<!–

–>

<!–addthis_pub = ‘setokin’;
–>

Back Top

Article source: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=570838

CAIRO (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday began the highest-level visit to Egypt by a U.S. official since an uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak, for decades a close ally of Washington.

She is expected to urge the military rulers to whom Mubarak handed power on February 11 to lay the ground for a genuine transition to democracy and offer support to the Egyptians whose mass uprising swept him from office.

One coalition of pro-democracy activists said it had turned down an invitation to meet Clinton in protest at U.S. policy toward Egypt and the U.S. position on the anti-Mubarak revolt. Mubarak crushed opposition during his three decades in power.

U.S. President Barack Obama lavished praise on the protesters the day Mubarak stepped down but it was too little too late for the Egyptian activists, who felt his administration gave Mubarak too much support during the uprising.

The January 25 coalition, made up of six youth groups, said in a statement that Clinton was not welcome “because the U.S. administration long supported Mubarak’s corrupt, dictatorial regime financially, politically and morally.”

They also called for a more balanced relationship between Cairo and Washington, whose influence they blame for shaping Egyptian policies including their country’s role in enforcing the blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

“We Egyptians, after regaining authority over our land, will only settle for mutual equitable relations based on autonomy, friendship and respect that is reciprocated between both the American and Egyptian nations,” it said.

A cautious approach during the uprising put the U.S. administration out of step with protesters and Washington was criticised for being slow to grasp the scale of the upheaval.

Cairo has been a close U.S. ally since the 1970s, when Washington brokered Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.

CORNERSTONE OF U.S. POLICY

Washington’s alliance with Egypt has been a cornerstone of its policy in the region and the country is a recipient of some $1.3 billion in U.S. aid per year. Washington has said it will spend a further $150 million to assist the move to democracy.

Clinton will meet Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, on Wednesday, Egyptian officials said.

She will also see Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby, who took office as part of a recent cabinet reshuffle that purged remnants of Mubarak’s administration.

The military has promised to cede power to an elected government as soon as possible. Diplomats, analysts and Egyptian politicians believe the army does not want to stay in power.

In speeches in recent weeks, Clinton has stressed the difficulties of nurturing the institutions that support democracy, including robust political parties, a free media and the rule of law.

Asked to summarize Clinton’s message, a U.S. official said: “What happens next is as important as what came before. Transitions to democracy are difficult and they don’t produce results overnight or end with the first successful election.”

The army dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution and has mapped an initial path to elections within six months, with a March 19 vote on constitutional amendments, parliamentary elections in June and a presidential vote six weeks later.

There are calls for the timetable to be changed.

Some Egyptian activists are concerned it is too tight and will give an advantage to the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group, and the remnants of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party.

U.S. concerns in the new Egypt include the role the Muslim Brotherhood might play in the government and how that could affect Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Essam al-Erian, a spokesman for the Brotherhood, said the organization had not been invited to meet Clinton. “We have not been invited and if we are we will reject (the invitation),” he said. “Any American intervention will be to halt the revolution and obstruct it and not to support it.”

(Writing and additional reporting by Tom Perry; editing by Angus MacSwan)

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110315/wl_nm/us_egypt_usa_3

The announcement represented another milestone for protesters demanding that the most dreaded aspects of the former government be dismantled.

“We are now on the right path, moving from one victory to another,” Essam el-Erian, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, declared to widespread applause after sharing the news at a diverse political forum.

In the same statement in which the military government said it had disbanded the organization, officials also said that a new national security agency would replace the old one. This led to some suspicion that this was an exercise in creative rebranding rather than wholesale change.

“This has to happen within a comprehensive plan to reform the Interior Ministry,” said Hossam Bahgat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. “If all the other desks, besides those that specialize in counterterrorism and espionage, have been abolished, then this will be a huge first step.”

The announcement came less than two weeks after the widespread public firing of state security offices across the country. Pictures of the narrow cells and torture instruments found inside shocked Egyptians, while the discovery of files detailing private lives of media figures and political activists confirmed suspicions that the agency had eyes and ears everywhere.

The official announcement carried by the state news agency said that the new security organization would be guided by the principles of human rights, serving “the nation without interfering in the lives of citizens or their right to exercise their political rights.” Its main tasks will be safeguarding domestic security and fighting terrorism, according to the statement, with officers to be announced in the coming days.

The former head of the organization has already been arrested on suspicion of unleashing violence against peaceful protesters, killing about 300 during the 18 days that led to Mr. Mubarak’s fall on Feb. 11. In addition, 47 agents were detained on charges of destroying documents.

In perhaps the most high-profile trial involving state security, two officers are accused of murdering Khalid Sayid, an online activist whose brutal beating death last year fueled an initial burst of outrage among citizens.

The military government plans to hold a referendum on Saturday about constitutional changes that will speed legislative and presidential elections this year. Most political groups, with the notable exception of the Muslim Brotherhood, object to the calendar as too fast.

As a result there was some suspicion that the government made the announcement about disbanding the agency now to feed the impression that change is happening, so the public will support the referendum.

“This is one of the main demands of the revolution, and it will help to sell the rest of the package,” said Hani Shukrallah, the editor of Ahram Online. “The army is determined to hold this referendum on a timetable which practically everyone except the Muslim Brotherhood opposes.”

The United States is widely believed to have engaged with Egyptian state security in the process of rendition, subcontracting the torture of terrorism suspects to countries where there were fewer restrictions on torture. Washington also has a checkered reputation among democracy advocates here both for its long support for Mr. Mubarak’s autocratic rule and for the Obama administration’s initial lukewarm response to the uprising.

Asked about the disbanding of the secret police during her two-day visit to Cairo, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that she welcomed the news.

“I applaud the announcement today of the dismantling of the existing state security apparatus and the rebuilding of one that will be responsive to the needs of Egyptians,” Mrs. Clinton said at a news conference.

She announced an expanded package of American aid and loans for private investment aimed at reviving the country’s economy. Mrs. Clinton said that it was up to the Egyptians to decide on the form of political change here, but that the aid should help.

“We know that political reforms must be matched by economic reforms,” she said. “There must be jobs and rising opportunity for all.”

Liam Stack and Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world/middleeast/16egypt.html