Sept 4: Reuters reported: Police in the Belgian port of Anvers seized more
than 13 tonnes of cannabis in a textiles shipment from Cambodia, according to the
French language Cambodge Soir newspaper. The newspaper quoted an Interior Ministry
official as saying Cambodian police had launched a local investigation after news
of the discovery on August 17 of 13,320 kilograms of cannabis. The newspaper noted
that police in the Maurtanian capital Nouakchott had on August 11 seized almost seven
tonnes of drugs on a container believed to have originated in Cambodia and carried
on the ship Maersk Douala.
Sept 5: Reuters reported: China will help Cambodia restore war-damaged relics
from the Angkor era, according to the Chinese State Bureau of Cultural Relics. China
would restore stone carvings among ruins of the Angkor civilization erected between
AD802 and AD1219, the official said. "China has many similar relics and we will
offer our restoration expertise... for the sake of building a better relationship
with Cambodia," one official said. Restoration work would start in 1997 but
the details of the project could only be decided after Chinese experts have studied
the area, he said.
Sept 9: Reuters reported: A key witness who identified the three suspected
killers of Oscar-winning Cambodian actor Haing Ngor in the Chinatown section of Los
Angeles Feb 25, recanted his testimony saying police told him which of the suspects
to identify and what to say. Earlier in the preliminary hearing, Sarik Vireak had
told the judge he was afraid while giving testimony against the three alleged members
of the "Oriental Lazy Boys" street gang accused of killing the Cambodian
film star. Speaking through a Cambodian interpreter, Vireak told prosecutors... that
he heard what sounded like firecrackers and then saw the three running down an alleyway
near where Ngor was shot. Attorney Steven Schoenfield, who represents one of the
three accused, confronted Vireak with a statement he made to defense investigators
in which he said the police had pressured him to identify the three suspects.
Sept 12: Reuters reported: A bill extending Most Favored Nation trade status
to Cambodia cleared Congress and went to US President Bill Clinton for signature.
The House voted to approve the measure after accepting Senate language noting that
Cambodia had made progress toward democracy and the expansion of its economy and
that extension of Most Favored Nation status would assist in further democratic progress
and adherence to world trade principles. Under Most Favored Nation status, Cambodia's
exports to the United States would receive the same tariff treatment given to exports
from most of America's trading partners.
Sept 12: Reuters reported: The South Korean foreign ministry said that the
country will open its representative office in Cambodia on Sept 16. The two countries
agreed on the office in May as a step towards resuming full diplomatic relations,
which were severed in 1975. The office was expected to serve 200 South Korean residents
in Cambodia and promote South Korean businesses, the ministry said.
Sept 12: Agence Khmere de Presse reported: A delegation led by Chea Sim, chairman
of Cambodia's National Assembly, arrived in the Australian capital, Canberra. A press
release from the General Secretariat of the Assembly said the delegation met on the
same day with Cambodian Ambassador to Australia, embassy staff and Cambodians living
in the Australian capital. Chea Sim is to meet with Australian members of parliament
and the Australian Electoral Committee during the official visit, according to the
AKP report.
Sept 13: Voice of Khmer Youth reported: Fifty people traveled from Prey Veng
province and gathered outside the National Assembly in Phnom Penh where they asked
for food. Villagers said their rice fields and crops had been destroyed by floods
and that many of their neighbors were dying in poverty, the report said.
