Kep (Cambodia). 02/01/2009: Under the sand, oil… Among the main topics discussed during Hun Sen’s visit to France: the oil resources off the coast of Cambodia
©John Vink/ Magnum (file picture) Khmer Rouge Tribunal, oil, Cambodia-Thailand conflict, adoptions, human rights… There was a wealth of issues for discussion between French high officials and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, welcomed in Paris for five days, from July 10th to 14th 2009. Yet, the visit went nearly unnoticed, as very little information filtered from both sides about what was actually discussed in those French-Cambodian meetings, the last of which took place in the wake of the military parade of July 14th and the garden-party of the Elysee between Hun Sen and French president Nicolas Sarkozy. While the organisation Human Rights Watch denounced, on the very day of the French national day, the increasing pressure against any criticism of the Cambodian government, French and Cambodian diplomats appeared to prefer to go for “total” discretion… [updated version 23-07-2009 - new link to a text and pictures on the website of the French Embassy in Cambodia]
The event was significant: the Cambodian Prime Minister, whose mandate was renewed following the legislative elections of July 2008, went to France for the first time in the last four years. In addition to spending five days – against only two in September 2005 –, the head of the Cambodian government was granted the honour to attend the parade of the French national day from the presidential platform, alongside Nicolas Sarkozy, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and German president Horst Köhler. Yet, only very few official pictures remain of the memorable moment. On the slideshows published by the main French news websites, the “strongman” of Cambodia and his glasses were nowhere to be seen. Only photographs, widely reproduced, showing Bun Rany – Hun Sen’s wife – somewhat dazed next to the French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, prove the presence of Cambodia’s almighty couple in France.
The French media were more interested in the presence of the Indian military, guests of honour of the July 14th celebrations, and on the relative decrease of the Elysee’s catering expenses, than in the visit of the leader of a small Asian country of 13.4 million people – though twice as populated as the Libya of Colonel Khadafi, whose visit to France in 2007 had generated a stir.
Hun Sen is not Muammar Khadafi: whilst the Libyan demanded to set up his tent in the Elysee gardens, the Cambodian is moving discreetly, far from the cameras, accompanied by his Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Hor Namhong. The latter’s visit to France was denounced by only a few associations of Cambodians in France, who pointed at the former Khmer Rouge he allegedly was according to them – accusations that have always been denied so far.
Since the start of this visit, the Cambodian authorities have not issued a signle statement, to this day. The website of the Cambodian government remains frozen on the meeting between Hun Sen and the president of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) Roh Moo-Hyun on November 29th 2006, while the previous item recounts the meeting between the head of the Cambodian executive and French president… Jacques Chirac on September 19th and 20th 2005!
On the French side, the only official information is found in the statements announcing the program for the five-day visit, on the websites of the Elysee and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The press conference intended to inform, on July 13th, journalists about the ins and outs of the meetings with Prime Minister François Fillon and Minister for Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner was simply cancelled. On the eve of a national holiday, in the middle of summer, journalists are a hard crowd to gather.
Information regarding these high-level meetings did not seem to have reached the offices of the French Embassy in Cambodia, which offers as “news” a text on the history of the French national day and the passionate debates that occupied French lawmakers on this issue in… 1880. Not one line, not one word on the visit to France of the man who has governed Cambodia since 1985. [update 23-07-2009: text and photos of the visit of Hun Sen to France are now available on the website of the French Embassy in Cambodia]
Were the multiple meetings between French and Cambodian diplomats and political high officials that devoid of stakes? One must look at the Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China) to get a glimpse, in four lines, of the key issue: oil. “During his meetings with the French leaders, Hun Sen indicated that Cambodia has accepted to allow French oil company Total to proceed to oil exploration in block III, one of Cambodia’s potential oil and gas resources in the Gulf of Thailand, which was welcomed by France.” The information could not fail to be spotted by the Chinese, who are also competing with Americans (Chevron has already been granted exploration rights for block A) and South Koreans, among others, to drill and exploit what is already presented as an “oil windfall” and could bring the Cambodian State between 500 million and 1.7 billion dollars per year (for an annual GDP of 8.7 billion dollars in 2007), according to the International Monetary Fund.
The news, echoed by other agencies, was not made high-profile: the area allocated by the Cambodian authorities to the French oil company is part of a maritime territory claimed by Thailand. The Cambodian-Thai border conflict promises long discussions or exchanges even more heated than those going on in the disputed area of the Preah Vihear temple, where Thai and Cambodian military have experienced clashes and remain stuck in a deadlock.
Beyond those territorial disputes, in which the oil companies may come out as the winners, the exploitation of Cambodia’s natural resources stirs deep questions in a country plagued by corruption and lack of transparency. The Cambodian government thus refuses to adhere to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, as recently stressed by organisation Global Witness in a recent report entitled “Country for sale”.
The result of several years of negotiations, the allocation of this concession to Total was unsurprisingly not mentioned in the statements of the French diplomacy, which mentioned instead the discussions on the “Khmer Rouge Tribunal,” as France is the second donor country to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) after Japan. It is true that in France, Cambodia never fails to be referred to, with good reasons, as a country profoundly marked by the genocide perpetrated by the Pol Pot regime. But never as a future oil nation coveted by foreign countries.
(translated from French by Ji-Sook Lee)
Human Rights Watch denounces pressure against critics
Following several human rights organisations in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced in a statement published Tuesday July 14th, on the last day of the visit to France of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, “his campaign of harassment, threats, and unwarranted legal action aimed at consolidating its rule by silencing the political opposition and peaceful critics.” The New-York based organisation recalled that in the last months, no less than nine “politically motivated” cases of defamation and disinformation were filed by Cambodian government officials against journalists, opposition lawmakers, lawyers and critics of the government. According to the Asia Director of HRW, Brad Adams, it is the “most serious crackdown on freedom of expression in recent years." The HRW was alarmed that “[O]nce again, Hun Sen is showing his true stripes by harassing and threatening to imprison peaceful critics of his increasingly authoritarian government." The statement detailed several cases, from the charges against Mu Sochua, lawmaker of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party deprived of her parliamentary immunity, to the two-year prison sentence for “disinformation” of the president of the Khmer Civilisation Foundation, Moeung Sonn. The latter, as stressed in another statement of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee and Licadho, published on July 15th, had simply dared to criticise the setting up of lighting systems on monuments of Angkor’s architectural compound. Similarly, HRW regretted the sentences against journalists working in opposition newspapers, several of which were forced to close down in the last months.
Also on Ka-set
 Natural resources “for sale” in Cambodia: Global Witness strikes again (10-02-2009)
- Is Cambodia the future shelter for Vietnamese climate exiles? (22-06-2009) - 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights: stream of complaints in the Cambodian capital (10-12-2008)
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