RFI Goes Khmer

Radio France Internationale is now broadcasting in Khmer for one hour every day.

Starting on April 15, RFI Khmer-language news is transmitted from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30

p.m. on 12025 MHz.

New TV Station

International Broadcasting Cambodia (IBC TV Cambodia), formed as a result of a 99-year

concession agreement with the State of Cambodia, plans to begin broadcasting in May.

It will be the first "international" TV station in Cambodia.

IBC TV Cambodia will be broadcast in Khmer on channel 5 in Phnom Penh and several

other provinces. Foreign language sound tracks will be available at a later date

on FM radio.

Programming will include local and international news, variety shows, soap operas,

game shows, Hollywood movies, cartoons and educational programs, as well as sporting

events and NBA basketball.

IBC TV Cambodia is owned by the Shinawatra Group of Thailand.

Walk for Reconciliation

A second Dhamma Yietra for Peace and Reconciliation will begin in Siem Reap on May

5, Vesak Puja Day, the highest holy day of Buddhism. The walk to be led by Maha Ghosananda

and other monks and nuns will end in Phnom Penh on May 22, the day before elections

are to be held.

One of the Cambodian monks organizing this year's walk explained "by walking

we will seek to spread metta (loving kindness) and compassion." Each day a Bodhi

tree will be planted as a symbol of seeding reconciliation and compassion in communities

along the walk route.

MIA Search Halted

(AP) - A 48-member U.S. military team came under fire in northeastern Cambodia and

has called off its search for Americans missing from the Indochinese war, an American

official said earlier this month.

The team was attacked while evacuating its base camp after a mortar shell exploded

just 100 meters away, said Lt. Col. Charles Clayton, leader of the pentagon's joint

task force-full accounting unit in Cambodia.

One of the team's helicopters was hit during the evacuation but was not badly damaged,

Clayton said. None of the team members was injured.

Fearing further attacks, the group called off the search just a week into the month

long mission. It planned to return to the United States this week until further notice.

Thais Propose Refuge

POIPET, (AP) - The U.N. mission should set up a refuge in Northwestern Cambodia to

prevent civilians from fleeing to Thailand if new fighting erupts after elections

in May, a Thai general said.

Lt. Gen. Sanan Kachorn-klam, of Thailand's Supreme Command, said a well-developed

"safe area" along the Thai border would attract settlers from all four

Cambodian factions. The factions could jointly administer the safe area, he said.