A US law enacted in December endorses calls by the US Congress to deny visas to Cambodian

officials identified in a 2007 report by the environmental watchdog Global Witness

as being guilty of plundering Cambodia's forests. The law "sends a clear message

that the exploitation of Cambodia's natural resources by a small group of powerful

individuals at the expense of the country's poor is unacceptable," Global Witness

director Simon Taylor said in a statement. The legislation authorizes spending and

instructs the US State Department to identify foreign officials and their relatives

who are believed to have "been involved in corruption relating to the extraction

of natural resources in their countries." It also endorses a congressional subcommittee

recommendation to "prohibit corrupt Cambodian officials identified in the June

2007 Global Witness report-from entering the United States." (Source: AFP)