Government

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott is remaining coy about a potential refugee resettlement deal with Cambodia. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison met with Cambodia’s Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Thursday. Mr Morrison is the second minister to travel to Phnom Penh for talks with the Cambodian government in the past ...

Political analysts at the US-based Heritage Foundation say relations with Cambodia are overdue for reform. In a recent analysis, “Promoting True Democratic Transition in Cambodia,” the Washington think tank says the 2013 elections, which the opposition claims were marred by widespread fraud, offer a chance to ...

The Areng Chorng ethnic minority group yesterday submitted five petitions – addressed to the UN office in Cambodia and four government institutions – seeking a halt to the Sinohydro dam project in Koh Kong province. After blocking Sinohydro from entering the dam site in the Areng ...

The government yesterday accused Licadho of producing wildly misleading figures on land grabs, following the rights group’s announcement earlier this week that land conflicts in Cambodia have affected more than half a million people since 2000. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Sar Sovan, secretary of ...

Opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua protested for her “right to freedom” for the third day running at Freedom Park yesterday and was once again forcibly ejected from the area by security forces. But the now-familiar encounter departed from the script when she left the area and went ...

Sixty-eight Khmer Krom families in Takeo province allege they are being forcibly evicted, charged by fishery authorities with illegally occupying a nature preserve. Yesterday, three representatives from the Borei Choslar district, Sangkum Meanchey village, were summonsed to court. ...

Preah Vihear provincial governor Oum Mara has sent a letter to inform Interior Minister Sar Kheng that he is ordering an NGO to close its local offices, on the grounds that the organization is inciting villagers to destroy sugarcane farmed by a Chinese company. In the ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has written to King Norodom Sihamoni responding to, and appearing to rebuke, a letter from the King that was read aloud at the National Assembly earlier this week. The National Assembly on Tuesday convened its second plenary session after a three-month break, ...

A draft law meant to improve the maintenance and construction of Cambodia’s dilapidating roads was passed yesterday in a one-sided session of the National Assembly that saw ruling party lawmakers lambast Public Works and Transport Minister Tram Iv Tek for his allegedly poor stewardship. ...

Toll Royal Railway, the private operator of Cambodia’s train service, has no system in place to regularly inspect the state of its tracks, and lacks qualified inspectors to check either tracks or bridges, according to a recent safety audit of the firm’s Phnom Penh operations. The ...

A villager involved in a dispute over 684 hectares of land with Pailin provincial governor Y Chhien claimed Thursday that in 1999 Mr. Chhien and a senior military officer distributed axes and farm tools to the families now on the land. Pailin Provincial Court on Wednesday ...

Political analysts at the US-based Heritage Foundation say relations with Cambodia are overdue for reform. In a recent analysis, “Promoting True Democratic Transition in Cambodia,” the Washington think tank says the 2013 elections, which the opposition claims were marred by widespread fraud, offer a chance to ...

Cambodian fishery exports rose slightly during the first three months of the year, according to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The report, which was released yesterday, says that fish exports reached 4,800 tonnes in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of ...

Talks between Cambodia’s ruling party and the opposition to resolve the impasse over last year’s election have been deadlocked for months. The two sides disagree on a number of issues, most significantly reform of the National Election Committee (NEC). But signs of a thaw have ...

The National Assembly of Cambodia on Thursday ratified a protocol on the investment promotion and protection agreement between the governments of Cambodia and Vietnam. All 64 lawmakers of the ruling party, who were present at the parliamentary session, unanimously approved the protocol as the opposition party’s ...

Ruling party members continued to meet at the National Assembly on Wednesday, discussing a draft law on roadways despite a boycott by the opposition. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has refused to participate in the new government, following 2013 elections it says were marred by ...

The United States on Thursday handed over underwater demining equipment to the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC)’s Underwater Demining Unit in northern Kampong Chhnang province, said a press statement from the US Embassy. US Ambassador William E. Todd delivered the equipment, including inflatable boats, air compressors, ...

The work of fourth Cambodia-China Friendship Bridge has almost been completed after a 16-month construction, a contractor said Thursday. He Luesa, head of Shanghai Construction (Group) General Company’ s construction team, said the construction of a 855 meters by 13.5 meters Takhmao Bridge across Tonle Bassac ...

More than 200 Cambodian garment workers have been hospitalized after episodes of mass fainting at three factories this week, highlighting problems within an industry that is critical to the kingdom’s fledgling economy. The plants all make clothes for brands such as sportswear giants Puma SE and Adidas. Both ...

Two major conservation groups yesterday said that the proposed Stung Cheay Areng dam in Koh Kong province should be scrapped, while protesters who have blocked developer Sinohydro Group from entering the site for several days headed to Phnom Penh to voice their concerns and discontent. Conservation ...

In anticipation of a regional summit this weekend, government officials and civil society have their sights locked on a controversial hydropower development just across the Cambodian border in Laos. NGO Forum submitted an open letter yesterday urging Prime Minister Hun Sen to confront Laos about its ...

Siem Reap Provincial Court on Wednesday charged four soldiers from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) with illegally logging rosewood and placed them in pre-trial detention, an official said. “We charged them under article 96 of the Forestry Law,” said Hok Pov, an investigating judge at ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday questioned three senior officials from the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (CCAWDU) who stand accused of embezzling $92,929. Speaking after questioning under the court’s deputy prosecutor Ek Chheng Huot, union president Ath Thorn denied siphoning off the ...

The number of road fatalities in Cambodia rose to 576 in the first three months of the year, up from three percent over the same period last year. Preap Chan Vibol, director of Transport Department at the Public Work and Transportation Ministry, attributed the high ...