Friday, 29 January 2010

DAP News ; Breaking News by Soy Sopheap


via CAAI News Media

No Corruption, Illegal Land Clearance is Allowed Within Cambodian Military

Thursday, 28 January 2010 12:07 DAP-NEWS/ Ek Madra

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned on Thursday that Cambodian military officials must stay away from corruption and land grabbing, but they rather improve controlling of military hardware stockpiles.

Speaking at the closing militarily seminar of reviewing the last five years of military activities, Hun Sen said that some military officials have been involved with criminal acts of either ripping off payment of soldiers or selling the lands of military bases.

“The selling land of the military bases and the unlawful protecting of businesses are to be blamed for weakening the defense field,” said Hun Sen, who himself was a military commander in 1970s during the country’s civil war.

Other officers were reported of involving with unlawful land clearances as well as sending soldiers to keep security at the commanders’ residences, he said.

“They must not use their powerful positions as military to protect businesses.”

“All the military commanders must stop their support any forms of illegal businesses,” Hun Sen warned.

Prime Minister Hun Sen also said that there has been reported about the corruption of Cambodian military, which cannot be tolerated by the government.

“Any corrupt military commanders must be removed.”

He also said his Southeast Asian nation will never allow any foreign forces to use this kingdom as battlefield to fight back their own country overseas. He did not elaborate this.

He also said the last week clashed between Cambodia and Thailand armed forces was regarded as a small incident.

At least six soldiers were killed from both sides since the two Asian neighbors' military armed clashed which have been locked in a standoff since July, 2008, near at the Cambodian Temple of Preah Vihear.

Asian Ideas Sought as Small-Scale Farmers Face Challenges of Globalization

Thursday, 28 January 2010 12:08 DAP-NEWS/ Ek Madra

Small scale producers, agribusiness entrepreneurs, researchers, nongovernmental organisations and others from across Asia, will gather in India next week to suggest solutions to the challenges confronting smallholders in global, regional and national markets, said the London UK-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) on Thursday.

The meeting on 4-6 February at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore follows similar events in African and Latin America, and will be attended by people from Cambodia , India , Indonesia and Vietnam, said the release was seen by DAP.

The meeting has been called to seek input into a new network that will be led by Bolivian development expert Diego Muñoz with support from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in the UK and the Humanist Institute for Cooperation (Hivos) in the Netherlands.

Bolivian Diego Muñoz, Director Mainumby Nakurutu, said “the agenda on smallholders and globalisation has been largely driven from outside of the worlds of food production and trade.”

“Policies are not informed by small-scale producers and the people who want to trade with them. This means their concerns are not considered, their experiences are not compared and research is not answering their questions and therefore is not helping them to make good choices,” said the release.

“The network is a response to new challenges that globalised markets for agricultural produce are bringing to small-scale agriculture, challenges that are often common to different actors involved across the global South,” said Muñoz.

It aims to develop new knowledge to help farmers and traders to cope with issues like market volatility and barriers to entering and staying in international and domestic markets.

“The network will commission new studies to produce knowledge that will enable small-scale producers to make good choices about how to navigate increasingly complex global markets as well as to inform better policies,” he said.

“It will address questions such as whether governments should be regulating markets, whether international companies can create fair trading relationships with small-scale farmers and whether new flows of climate finance will bring opportunities for these producers,” said the release..

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