Nov 17: The first graduating class of the Certificate in Contract Law Program

were awarded certificates. The 42 graduates had received 400 hours of theoretical

and practical training in Free Market Contract Law, Cambodian Law and Contracts,

Modern Contract Forms, Drafting Contracts and International Contracts. The program

was developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice as a "Continuing Legal

Education" program funded by USAID and the Asia Foundation. Course materials

were developed from scratch by lawyers from the U.S., Australia and France. Graduates

included staff from 11 ministries and secretariats, three courts, three university

programs and private human rights organisations.

Nov 20: UNDP announced an agreement signed with the Council for the Development

of Cambodia (CDC) for a $1,782,000 cost-shared project to support the Phnom Penh

Squatter Communities and Municipality for Participatory Urban Dedvelopment. The objectives

of the project include: a) to build at the Municipality's policy-making and operational

levels the capacity to establish and sustain participatory decision-making processes

involving urban planning, development and management partners with reference to squatter

communities; b) to strengthen and expand the community development process being

developed through the work of NGOs and community based organisations among Phnom

Penh squatters; and, c) to generate a set of solutions to achieve secure land and

housing tenure and improve living conditions of the urban poor. Funding is being

provided by the United Kingdom's ODA and the UNDP.

Nov 22: Reuters reported: "China's Deputy Trade Minister Li Guo Hua

ended a five-day trip to Cambodia with local officials saying it could help boost

business links. 'It was a success,' said Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh,

adding that an economic cooperation agreement was signed and Bejing promised an aid

grant of about $10 million."

Nov 22: Japanese Ambassador Yukio Imagawa signed a series of grants totalling

$172,977 for various organizations to help meet Cambodia's "grass roots"

requirements. Grants included: $37,901 to the Khmer Foundation for Justice, Peace

& Development, $17,445 to Action International Contre la Faim, $17,481 to ADHOC,

$63,000 to the Education Office in Kompong Speu Province and $37,150 to Population

Sevice International.

Nov 22: Reuters reported from Canberra: "Cambodia will investigate

allegations its navy is involved in drug trafficking, its Foreign Minister Ung Huot

said. Ung Huot told Reuters the government took a serious view about the allegations,

contained in an article in the Far Eastern Economic Review. 'It brings awareness

to us, sometimes the government doesn't know,' the visiting minister said . 'It's

an opportunity for investigation, we will do it.'"

Nov 23: The World Food Programme (WFP) approved a US$19.4 million program

of food assistance for Cambodia to assist an estimated 1.56 million people during

l996. WFP estimates that total food needs in l996 will be 62,900 tons. The majority

of the food aid will be distributed through food for work projects in targeted communes

where food aid is required. The process of targeting communes for l996 has started

with a wet season crop assessment in cooperation with FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Nov 23: H.M. King Norodom Sihanouk issued a declaration protesting against

journalists who had written that "King Sihanouk (sic), Prince Norodom Ranariddh

(sic) and H.E. Hun Sen (sic) were waging a struggle for power (sic), of which Prince

Norodom Sirivudh (sic) is the victim." The King said that since taking the throne

he had never engaged in any political struggle and that he had never sought to exercise

power.

Nov 24: Reuters reported: "China Shipbuilding Trading Co Ltd has won

a contract to supply materials and equipment to upgrade Cambodian railways, the company

said. 'This is for emergency rehabilitation, it's for equipment and material such

as steel rails...it's not a full rehabilitation,' said Tom Kinson of EPAC Resources,

the state-owned company's Cambodia representative. The agreement, worth $870,000

under an Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan to Cambodia, was signed with the Ministry

of Public Works and Transport."

Nov 24: The first Franco-Cambodian Medical and Pharmaceutical Colloquiem

was held at the Faculty of Medicine under the direction of H.E. Dy Narong Rith, undersecretary

of state for health. The meeting enabled discussions to take place between French

and Cambodian doctors on regulating pharmaceuticals.

Nov 26: Reuters reported: "One of Europe's biggest freight forwarding

agents, Panalpina France, will soon open for business in Cambodia, a company official

said. Marie Pauwels, Panalpina's Cambodian representative, said the European company's

French operation was optimistic that Cambodia's cargo market had potential for the

development of a 'high quality service' operation.

'I think it's a good time for setting up business here, for the transport sector

I am sure there is a good opportunity. There will never be a big transport sector

here but there is a market.'"

Nov 27: Reuters reported: "Sixty Cambodian soldiers have completed

courses in Australia that will help them train colleagues in counter-insurgency techniques,

Australian Embassy staff said.

The Cambodians spent about one month at the Australian armed forces camp in Tully,

northern Queensland and returned to Phnom Penh on November 19.

'They will form the core of a counter-insurgency school,' that is to be built in

southern Cambodia with funding and equipment from the Australian government, said

an attache at the embassy."

Nov 27: Reuters reported: "King Norodom Sihanouk has called for an

independent group to investigate the August shooting of three foreigners outide the

house of co-Premier Hun Sen... 'I would like to assure you that yourself and the

other victims of this regrettable incident have all my sympathy and support,' Sihanouk

wrote in a November 24 letter to the British victim Greg James.

James had a bone in one arm shattered by bullets.

'I am requesting the Royal Cambodian Government to appoint a team of neutral and

independent investigators to make sure that justice is rendered to the victims,'

added the letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters on Nov 27."

Nov 28: The Cambodian Development Resource Institute began a two-day seminar

on dispute resolution in Cambodia.