Combodia-Post

The mother of the jailed Thai engineer in Cambodia has asked the Phue Thai Party to assist in her son's case.

The government claims that it is not embarrassed and is fully sympathetic with the mother.

Simalak Na Nakhon Panom, the mother of the jailed Thai engineer in Cambodia, traveled to Pheu Thai Party headquarters to seek assistance from former Foreign Minister, Noppadol Pattama and a legal adviser.

Simalak said that she is concerned about the well-being of her son and is willing to resort to any mean to ensure her son's release.

She believes that the Foreign Affairs Ministry is slowly proceeding with the case and therefore she has contacted the Phue Thai Party for help.

Noppadol added that this is not about politics or an attempt to embarrass the government but rather a humanitarian effort.

Noppadol also said that when he was contacted by Simalak, he immediately called his contact in Cambodia.

According to the former foreign minister, the Cambodian government has agreed to let Simalak visit her son again within the next two or three days without going through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Noppadol insists that this has nothing to do with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinnawatra's appointment as an economic adviser to Cambodia and that the Pheu Thai Party is willing to fully assist a fellow Thai.

Secretary of Foreign Affairs Ministry, Chawanont Intarakomalsut claims that the government is doing its best in the case and is sympathetic with the Thai engineer's mother.

Many have criticized the government for proceeding with the case too slowly.

He said that the Foreign Affairs Ministry must follow legal protocol. The government is not embarrassed by this and will continue to assist the Thai engineer.

“They turned my patient away because she was HIV positive.” Discrimination of people living with HIV is found in every layer of society. Dr Vuthy King, from CAFOD partner Maryknoll, explains how he is working to stamp out stigma in the medical profession

“Some hospitals in Cambodia do not like to operate on people living with HIV. In Phnom Penh there are eight hospitals. In my experience, only two will operate on HIV-positive patients.

“This is not hospital policy, but a decision made by the surgeons. If medical professionals discriminate against HIV-positive people, you can imagine what kind of reactions they face from the public in general.

“A few years ago, I had a patient with appendicitis. I sent the patient to the nearest hospital at 9pm. But they said they wouldn’t operate on her because she had HIV. She would have to wait until 9am the next day so they could hold a meeting to discuss her case.

“When I went back at 10am, they rejected her from the hospital. By this time she was in a critical condition. I drove her to another hospital but they also refused to treat her. Finally the third hospital I went to accepted her.

“The Maryknoll hospice opened in 2000. We were the first non-governmental organisation in Cambodia to open a free hospice for poor people living with HIV.

“Almost 1,000 patients have used this hospice since it opened. Many would have died without the care they received here. Some poor people sell everything, their land, livestock, and home, to pay for medical bills because hospital fees are expensive.

“But when they recover they have no way to support themselves. It is a vicious trap for poor people. “We treat those with opportunistic infections like TB or meningitis. We also do complicated medical procedures like lumbar punctures but we’re not equipped to perform full operations.

“Recently, we opened a specialist HIV wing in Chey Chumneas hospital. We provide consultations with the patients and assess their needs. People travel from miles around to come and see us because they know they will receive the best staff. We are teaching hospital staff to treat HIV positive people with respect and care."

BANGKOK, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Vasin Teeravechyan, advisor to the Thai Foreign Ministry and co-chairman of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) Friday expressed his worries about the Thai-Cambodian border's situation.

His view was made after the Cambodian government on Thursday evening announced recall of its ambassador to Thailand in a move to respond to the Thai government's earlier recall of its Ambassador Prasas Prasavinitchai to Cambodia.

The diplomatic retaliation occurred after ousted former Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra was officially appointed as adviser of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Royal Government of Cambodia King Norodom Sihamoni.

As the tension between the two neighboring countries is going on, Vasin is concerned about the possible clash at the Thai-Cambodian borer to happen, Thai News Agency reported.

The event might also add difficulties to the mutual cooperation on the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) as actually it is already difficult to solve the border dispute, he said.

However, by this time the diplomatic retaliation has not yet directly affected the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission's working, he said.

"If Cambodia cancels the appointment of Thaksin, it will be understandable and no need to say any thing, Thailand will send the ambassador back to Cambodia," Vasin said.

The two neighbors have also been engaged in a conflict about a 4.6-square kilometers border area claimed by both sides adjacent to the ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Both countries have historically laid claim to the temple, which now sits on Cambodian soil following the action of the International Court of Justice which awarded the ancient temple to Cambodia in 1962.

However, the temple can practicably only be accessed from Thailand.

BANGKOK, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodians at the Thai-Cambodian border Tuesday have been stockpiling goods from the Thai side due to continued rumors of the border closure because of the diplomatic standoff of the two countries.

Though the border trade has still continued, it is discovered Cambodians bought a number of Thai goods to stockpile in Cambodia, Thai television Channel 9 reported.

Sales of instant noodles have already risen sharply for a few days, said Sombat Jeung-tra-kul, a Thai nationality, who is the president of the Thai-Cambodian traders club in Chan-ta-bu-ri province bordering Cambodia.

However, the trade situation at the Thai-Cambodian border in Si-sa-ged province of Thailand is quiet despite of the rumors.

The Thai army at this border has suggested the peoples of the two countries not be panic over the rumors.

Thailand and Cambodia have downgraded their diplomatic relations due to conflict over an appointment of ousted former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic advisor to Cambodia's government on Nov. 4.

A day after the appointment of Thaksin, the Cambodian government announced the recall of its ambassador to Thailand in a move to respond to the Thai government's recall of its ambassador to Cambodia.

Thaksin was ousted by the military coup in September 2006, in accusation of corruption, and is living in exile since then.

He returned to Thailand in February 2008 to face corruption charges, but he later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia.

Mr Hun Sen (left) said that his country would 'have no happiness' while Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his foreign Minister Kasit Piromya were still in power. -- PHOTO: AP
PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen criticised Thailand's leaders on Monday, saying they had insulted his country after Phnom Penh refused to extradite fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Mr Hun Sen said that his country would 'have no happiness' while Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his foreign Minister Kasit Piromya were still in power.

'I'm not the enemy of the Thai people... But the prime minister and the foreign minister, these two people look down on Cambodia extremely,' Mr Hun Sen said in a speech at a provincial ceremony. 'Cambodia will have no happiness as long as this group is in power in Thailand,' he added.

The two countries have fought clashes near a temple on their disputed border since last year and were embroiled in a row this month when Thaksin visited Cambodia in his new role as an economic adviser to Phnom Penh.

Mr Hun Sen said he would not extradite Thaksin, who was toppled in a coup in 2006 and is living abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption, because his conviction was politically motivated.

The two countries withdrew their respective ambassadors and Thailand halted a series of aid programmes to Cambodia. The Cambodian leader slammed a further Thai threat to close the border between the two countries, saying: 'If you are (an) idiot, if you want the loss, please do it.'

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday described Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva as the most difficult Thai premier he has worked with. The mutual ties which has been sour for months would be normalised only if Thailand has a new government, Hun Sen told reporters in Phnom Penh.

He claimed that Abhisit phoned him during the weekend after Phnom Penh government sent a note to inform Bangkok last week that it decided to cancel its request to receive a loan of US$41 million for a road construction from a Thai border province.

"Abhisit called me, for the first time, on the weekend, asking me to withdraw the note. He said Thailand is still willing to give the loans to Cambodia," Hun Sen said.

Abhisit was informed that Cambodia needed an official letter from him. The Thai premier agreed but later failed to sign and send the letter by 10am as promised on Saturday.

"Abhisit as the most difficult person to work with among the Thai PMs I have worked with," Hun Sen said.

Hun Sen further criticised Abhisit government for looking down on Cambodia by threatening to withdraw its aids for Cambodia following fugitive ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra's visit to Phnom Penh in early November.

Hun Sen told reporters that from now on Cambodia would not accept any aid from Thailand.

"We decided to stop receiving any aid and assistance from Thailand. Cambodia can not allow itself to be humiliated," said Prime Minister Hun Sen.

He referred what he called threats by Thailand to withdraw its aids to Cambodia in a diplomatic spat between the two neighboring countries.

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attacked Thailand again yesterday, saying the Thai government was derisive about his country and that Abhisit Vejjajiva was the most difficult Thai PM he had ever worked with.

Hun Sen told reporters in Phnom Penh that bilateral relations, which have been sour for months now, would only be normalised if Thailand had a new government. He added that his country would "have no happiness" while Abhisit and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya were still in power.

"I'm not an enemy of the Thai people ... But, these two people look down on Cambodia," Hun Sen said.

"Cambodia will have no happiness as long as this group is in power."

Hun Sen claimed that Abhisit called him over the weekend after Phnom Penh sent a note last week telling Bangkok that it was cancelling its request for a Bt1.4-billion loan to construct a road from the Thai border to Siem Reap.

"Abhisit called me, for the first time, asking me to withdraw the note. He said Thailand is still willing to give the loan," Hun Sen said.

However, Abhisit was told that Cambodia needed an official letter from him, but though the Thai premier agreed he failed to send the letter at the time it was promised.

"Abhisit is the most difficult person to work with when compared to other Thai PMs," Hun Sen said, adding that from now on Cambodia would not accept any aid from Thailand.

"We have decided to stop receiving any assistance from Thailand. Cambodia cannot allow itself to be humiliated," he added. "I told Abhisit that my people and I were hurt when we heard you talk about halting aid and loans. Now stop talking like this - it is cheap and childish."

The Cambodian leader also hit back about Thailand's threat to close the border between the two countries, saying: "If you are [an] idiot, if you want losses, please go ahead."

Bilateral relations between the two countries soured when Hun Sen appointed fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser and refused to extradite him to Thailand.

Khmer Rouge lawyers demand probe

Lawyers for a former Khmer Rouge leader have demanded that investigators at Cambodia's war crimes court question premier Hun Sen and government officials over alleged interference.

The defence for former Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea cited a September statement by Hun Sen - who himself defected from the communist regime in 1977 - that witnesses do not have to testify to the UN-backed tribunal.

If Hun Sen has indeed told witnesses that they do not have to cooperate, then he has committed a criminal offence and is seriously affecting the judicial investigation, defence lawyer Michiel Pestman told AFP on Monday.

A copy of the request obtained by AFP also cited a government spokesman's remark in October that six senior government and legislative officials summoned by the court should not testify.

(Hun Sen's) conduct is affecting the fair trial of our client because some of these were witnesses we asked for, Pestman said.

Ultimately it could undermine the whole legitimacy of the court, he added.

The process has often been hit by allegations that Hun Sen's administration has attempted to interfere in the tribunal to protect former regime members who are now in government.

The troubled tribunal, which has also been hit by accusations local staff were forced to pay kickbacks for their jobs, was created in 2006 to try leading members of the regime on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

As the court has sought to investigate other suspects, Hun Sen has made fiery speeches warning further prosecutions could plunge Cambodia back into civil war.

The court plans to try Nuon Chea, former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith sometime in 2011.

The court's first trial, of former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, completed its final arguments last week.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.

Realization of the railway threatened - along six kilometres - which crosses the border between the two countries. The line should unite in Kunming in southern China to Singapore, along a path of 5300 km. End of work planned for 2015, for a total cost of 15 billion dollars.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The diplomatic crisis between Phnom Penh and Bangkok is seriously jeopardizing the completion of the Trans-Asian Railway in the area which will connect Kunming in southern China, to Singapore, along a path of 5300 km. The project of 15 billion dollars could vanish over just six kilometers: those needed to join Sisophon, Cambodia, to Aranyaprathet, Thailand.

Cambodian government sources, on condition of anonymity, told the South China Morning Post (SCMP) they understand the reasons why Thailand "does not to continue the project while there are ongoing hostilities." A manager of the Thai State Railways confirmed that "negotiations are ongoing," but the situation is deadlocked.

To undermine the project, the diplomatic crisis flared up between Phnom Penh and Bangkok after the decision of Prime Minister Hun Sen to take as Cambodian economic adviser former exiled Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra sentenced to two years at home for corruption. The two countries withdrew their respective ambassadors. Following this a Thai citizen was arrested in Cambodia on charges of espionage.

The track that crosses the border between the two countries is reserved for freight traffic. The line along Cambodia and Vietnam is the most important part of the project, the completion of which is forecast for 2015. It represents the crossroads between the different rail lines and will serve to improve the Cambodian railway, in a strategic point for the entire region.

Paul Power, one of the engineers on the project, confirms that "it is difficult to imagine the completion of the work" if there is no stretch "along the border" between the two countries. "All this has implications at regional level" he adds, because "there is no point in the link between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh, without connection with Thailand."

The Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) is a project aimed at creating an integrated rail network for Europe and Asia, sponsored by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific United Nations (UNESCAP). The work got under way in the 60s of last century, with the aim of establishing a rail link - a 14 thousand km track- which could unite Istanbul with Singapore, that follows on to China.

A memorial at the Choeung Ek mass-grave site in Cambodia is composed of victims' skulls. A flag is reflected in the glass panel (Sarah Caron / Polaris)
When the Khmer Rouge emptied the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh of human inhabitants in 1975, one of Pol Pot's soldiers murdered 4-year-old Theary Seng's father. Later, Theary Seng, her mother and siblings ended up in a prison in southeast Cambodia. One day, Theary Seng awoke to an empty cell — the prison population had been massacred overnight. In a rare act of mercy, the Khmer Rouge soldiers allowed the handful of children to survive. Theary Seng eventually escaped to a Thai refugee camp and then to the U.S. Her story is by no means unique in Cambodia. In just this one prison in Svay Rieng province, between 20,000 and 30,000 people were executed, and during the Pol Pot era, about 1.7 million Cambodians died — more than 20% of the country's population.

Still traumatized by those years and subsequent decades of political instability, many Cambodians had hoped that the U.N.-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, a hybrid Cambodian–international court, would help push the country toward reconciliation. In November 2007, Theary Seng, now a human-rights lawyer in Phnom Penh, applied to become the first civil party at the Khmer Rouge tribunal — whereby she and other Khmer Rouge victims are participating in the criminal proceedings with their own set of lawyers. On Friday, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) — the official name of the tribunal — finished hearing its first case. Prosecutors sought a 40-year jail sentence for Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, (pronounced Doik) who ran the notorious S-21 prison, a Phnom Penh high school transformed into an interrogation center where Duch is accused of overseeing the grisly deaths of approximately 15,000 people. Over the last six months of hearings, the court heard accounts of interrogators who ripped off toenails, suffocated prisoners with plastic bags, forced people to eat feces, electrocuted prisoners and drained blood to extract confessions. During the trial, Duch, 67, said that Cambodians should hold him to the "highest level of punishment." But he also begged for forgiveness, saying he was only "a cog in a running machine." Duch's defense team painted the former math instructor as a mid-level bureaucrat who didn't personally torture anyone and was only following orders, and on Friday, Duch pleaded for the tribunal to release him.

(See pictures chronicling the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge.)

Such has been the topsy-turvy nature of the tribunal. Indeed, just getting to the end of the first case was an ordeal. There have been allegations of a kickback scheme where Cambodian employees at the tribunal are forced to pay back a part of their salaries to the government officials who gave them their jobs. On two different occasions, only last-minute donations from Japan allowed the Cambodian side of the court to pay its staff. Then, in a fiasco dubbed Waterlilygate, one of the international lawyers said documents found in a moat filled with lilies had been stolen from his office. And last week the New York–based Open Society Justice Initiative, an international law monitor, accused the Cambodian government of meddling with the tribunal, claiming "political interference at the ECCC poses a serious challenge to both the credibility of the court and its ability to meet international fair trial standards."

Despite these issues, Theary Seng says the tribunal has ultimately helped the healing process by encouraging people to talk openly about the Khmer Rouge era. She says that though most Cambodians assume there is some degree of corruption at the tribunal, "we are not to the point where it should shut down." She says that the Khmer Rouge tribunal is more than a court of law — "it's also a court of public opinion."

(Read about malaria prevention in Cambodia.)

About 28,000 people attended Duch's trial at the ECCC on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, and millions more Cambodians followed the tribunal on television and the radio. With about 70% of the Cambodia's 14 million people born after the Khmer Rouge regime, the trial enabled an entire generation to learn about their country's terrible past. Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, says that the fact that the tribunal was held in Cambodia was key to sparking interest in the trial and knowledge about the period. In January, the University of California Berkeley's Human Rights Center released a report saying that 85% of Cambodians had little or no knowledge of the trial. Now, with the distribution of a new textbook on the Khmer Rouge coinciding with the trial, Youk Chhang says "the whole country is aware."

The tribunal has also helped Cambodians in unexpected ways. A counselor sits next to every survivor who testifies — at one point during the Duch trial, a judge even ordered a witness to see a psychiatrist, according to Sotheara Chhim, a Cambodian psychiatrist and director of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO). An estimated 14% of the population suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder, and Sotheara Chhim says the number of people who suffer from depression or anxiety is likely much higher than that. Though information about mental health is still limited in rural Cambodia, "the trial brought out a lot," Sotheara says.

Now comes the waiting. A verdict for Duch isn't expected until March. For Theary Seng, the Duch case "is sort of a test trial" for the more important Case Two when four high-ranking Khmer Rouge leaders will be in the dock: Nuon Chea, 83, who was second in command to Pol Pot; former head of state Khieu Samphan, 78; former Foreign Affairs Minister Ieng Sary, 84; and Ieng Thirith, 77, the former Social Affairs Minister. They are expected to face the tribunal in 2011 in a case that could last years. Case Two, says Theary Seng, will make Duch's case look like "a cakewalk." Unlike Duch, the four defendants held high-level positions in the Khmer Rouge, have denied complicity in war crimes and refused to apologize. Time is also running out. With the youngest defendant aged 77, some or all of the defendants may not live long enough to face the tribunal.

If the past year is any indication, the tribunal will face many more hurdles, but Theary Seng says it has benefited Cambodia. The trial, she argues, has generated much needed discussions about history as well as mercy across the country. Says Theary Seng: "The Khmer Rouge tribunal has triggered a process of forgiveness." And perhaps a process leading finally to closure.

However, Theary Seng -- an author, lawyer and human rights activist -- argued that Duch should be sentenced to two or three life sentences, even after taking into consideration his cooperation with the court. "There are too many counts on which he could be found guilty and each one carries a life sentence," she said.

PHNOM PENH -- The trial of a Khmer Rouge prison commandant who oversaw the deaths of at least 12,000 people has wrapped up. But in his final statement, Kang Guek Eav, also known as Duch, stunned the court by asking for an acquittal.

It was a complete about-face from a desperate man who had acknowledged he was guilty of crimes against humanity and breaches of the Geneva Conventions, although claiming he acted under orders and amid fear of retribution.

The three Cambodian and two international judges declined the request and ended the trial. Sentencing is expected early next year.

In summing up, Duch's lawyers attempted to downplay the role of S-21, an extermination camp converted out of a Phnom Penh school at Toul Sleng during the Khmer Rouge's rule, from April 1975 to January 1979.

Helen Jarvis, head of the court's victims unit, said many of the victims will be relieved that the court had wrapped up the trial, which began in February. "For the last seven months they have been here almost every single day, and have been following the ups and downs," she said. "They've been on the edge of their seats, crying, angry, upset, worried. Their emotions have been absolutely high-pitched for seven months."

About 1.7 million people died under the Khmer Rouge's rule -- from murder, starvation and illness caused by forced migration around the country -- as the ultra-Maoists attempted to establish their vision of an agrarian utopia.

At S-21, the court heard, prisoners were routinely beaten and whipped, had their toenails torn out, and faced electric shocks and water-boarding. Surgery was performed on prisoners without anesthesia, and blood was extracted from them until they lay dying. Westerners were burnt alive.

Prosecutors asked for 40 years in prison, instead of a life sentence, because Duch had admitted running the prison, apologized for his role and provided evidence against other senior leaders slated for trial.

However, Theary Seng -- an author, lawyer and human rights activist -- argued that Duch should be sentenced to two or three life sentences, even after taking into consideration his cooperation with the court. "There are too many counts on which he could be found guilty and each one carries a life sentence," she said.

Defense lawyer François Roux told the court that Duch was full of remorse, drawing comparisons with Albert Spear, Adolf Hitler's defense minister in World War II, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail at the Nuremberg war crimes trials.

Roux said Duch had shed tears over the graves of the children who, after being processed at S-21, were subsequently transported to the Killing Fields on the outskirts of town, where, like their parents, they were bludgeoned to death.

The Khmer Rouge established 196 such camps around the country, all based on a prototype developed by Duch in 1971.

S-21 remained the principal camp among them, and Duch was central to the Khmer Rouge's policy of purging potential enemies of the state. "S" was derived from Santabel, the name of the Khmer Rouge secret police. "Twenty-one" was Duch's secret personnel number.

Prosecutors said Duch's crimes were comparable with those of Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia. But Greg Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, said that footage shot by a Vietnamese cameraman who entered Toul Sleng along with invading Vietnamese troops in late 1978 indicated that the brutality under Pol Pot may have been much worse.

The film was ruled inadmissible by judges after it was challenged by the defense for its authenticity, and the footage remains unseen. But Stanton described the 10-minute, black-and-white, silent film as showing bodies chained to beds and burnt alive. "Bodies were shackled at the ankles and disemboweled. It's the most horrible thing on earth," he said. "You could tell the film was shot just after those people were burned alive."

But in comparing the evidence offered before the court with the information Duch surrendered a decade ago, photographer and author Nic Dunlop said the truth had been told -- if in varying degrees.

"He's been truthful up to a point, there is a measure of sincerity. There is consistency in what he says, but he's had 10 years to script it," Dunlop said. "The prosecution asserts he lacks sincerity and lacks empathy for the victims, perhaps, but 10 years ago he wasn't reading an apology from a piece of paper."

Dunlop is credited with tracking down Duch, who he found working at his old profession as a teacher in the countryside in 1999. As a consequence, Duch surrendered to the authorities. Dunlop later published a book about him, titled, "The Lost Executioner."

"It's like we are taking down a brick wall, brick by brick," Dunlop said, "a wall that separates his emotional life and reality. . . . He always seemed disconnected."

That lack of empathy and disconnection perhaps explains why Duch ignored seven months' worth of his own defense in asking for an acquittal.

International politics and three decades of war in Cambodia prevented a tribunal until now, with Duch the first Khmer Rouge leader to face trial. Trials of former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, his wife Ieng Thirith, former head of state Khieu Samphan and Brother Number Two Nuon Chea, are not expected to begin until late next year.

Other Khmer Rouge leaders -- including Brother No. 1 Pol Pot -- have died.

Luke Hunt is a Hong Kong-based correspondent and a World Politics Review contributing editor.

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- The United States said on Monday that it will continue to help Cambodia in fighting against HIV/AIDS.

"The United States looks forward to continuing our support of successes like these and we are committed to furthering efforts that curb the spread of HIV in Cambodia," it said in a statement released here on Monday by its Embassy.

The U.S is considered as the largest bilateral HIV/AIDS donor in Cambodia, committing 18 million U.S. dollars in 2009 as part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The U.S helped Cambodia cut its HIV/AIDS prevalence rate by half among the general population and by two thirds among brothel-based sex workers, a remarkable success story in the global fight against the disease.

The U.S. assistance is also helping to provide life-saving antiretroviral medication to more than 31,000 Cambodians living with HIV/AIDS, reaching over 90 percent of those in need, the statement said.

Over the next five years, the United States will place a renewed emphasis on partnering with Cambodia to build the country's national HIV/AIDS response, it added.