Subject: Dozens of foreign children held hostage in Cambodia - Reuters
My apologies if this is a repeated story.
Dozens of foreign children held hostage in Cambodia
Thu Jun 16, 2005 02:40 AM ET
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Gunmen stormed into a school in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap near Angkor Wat on Thursday and took 29 kindergarten pupils hostage, many of them the sons and daughters of expatriate hotel workers, a resident said.
The resident, who said she had seen a list of the children held, told Reuters the hostages were American, Irish, British, Australian, Singaporean, Canadian, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, Swiss, Indonesian, Indian, Italian and Filipino. "The gunmen let one class go, but they are holding the kindergarten class," the resident said. Soldiers and police sealed off the area around the Siem Reap International School, while officials negotiated with five or six hostage-takers thought to be demanding up to $30,000 and a 12-seater van to make their escape. "The hostage-takers are demanding money, cars and weapons. We are still negotiating with them but no solution has been reached," Siem Reap provincial deputy police chief Ung Oeung told Reuters. Hostage-taking, normally for money, is not uncommon in the war-scarred southeast Asian nation, which is still awash with weapons after decades of civil war, including the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s. More than 1 million tourists went to Cambodia last year, most of them visiting the famed 800-year-old Angkor Wat temple complex on the outskirts of Siem Reap. The international school in the sleepy town served the growing number of expatriate workers drawn by the tourist industry boom, one of the few drivers of the deeply impoverished nation's economy. (Additional reporting by Ek Madra)
Message: 3 Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 00:28:05 -0700 (PDT) From: M Preuk <mpreuk@sbcglobal.net> Subject: Hun Sen Opposes Empowering Border Council - Cambodia Daily
Hun Sen Opposes Empowering Border Council
BY PHANN ANA
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
The government will not delegate power to retired King Norodom Sihanouk's Supreme National Council on border issues, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday.
Comparing the formation of the council to an attempt to establish a second government, Hun Sen added that neighboring countries will not cooperate with Norodom Sihanouk on the matter either.
"There will be no one working with [Norodom Sihanouk], including Thailand, Vietnam and Laos," the premier said, adding that the council "is not a government."
"If [the council] became a government, what would Hun Sen's government do at this moment?" Hun Sen asked at a graduation ceremony at the University of Law and Economic Sciences "What is the basis to give power to [the council]?"
Hun Sen also noted that Norodom Sihanouk has retired.
"If power is given to the former King, then where will the new King live?" he asked.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy and Princess Vacheara, a Funcinpec lawmaker, have been pushing for the empowerment of the border council, Hun Sen said. Both are members of the council which is chaired by the retired King.
In a letter posted on his Website Wednesday, Norodom Sihanouk said he will be in Cambodia in less than 10 days but will remain tight-lipped on politics during his stay, which he said will last a little longer than a month.
"During my stay ... I will not be able to answer questions that some of you would like to ask me because one should not forget that I am retired, very old and sick, and have already promised not to involve myself in politics, nor to write or speak of the situation or problems in Cambodia today," Norodom Sihanouk wrote.
However, he added: "As a Cambodian citizen, of course I have the right to express myself. In this regard, if I have something to say, I will tell you – inevitably (as you know very well) – in my text that one can read at my Website."
Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay said Wednesday that a fully empowered border council would not be a threat to Hun Sen's authority.
"Hun Sen should not worry about this power," Son Chhay said, adding that the council is needed to address encroachment on Cambodia's borders by neighboring countries.
Suth Dina, president of the ultranationalist Khmer Front Party, accused the prime minister of trying to "block the former King from solving border problems." (Additional reporting by William Shaw)
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