VZCZCXRO0568
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #2209/01 3550119
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210119Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7730
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 002209 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, and S/CT--Rhonda Shore 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PREL CB
SUBJECT:  CAMBODIA: 2006 Country Report on Terrorism 
 
REF: SECSTATE 175925 
 
¶1.  (U)  Cambodia's ability to investigate potential terrorist 
activities is limited by a lack of training and resources.  An 
absence of comprehensive domestic legislation to combat terrorism 
also hinders the ability to arrest and prosecute terrorists. 
However, Cambodia's political leadership demonstrated a strong 
commitment to take aggressive legal action against terrorists.  The 
government also has made effective use of its existing one-page law 
on terrorism, as evidenced by the conviction in late December 2004 
of three persons for aiding Jemaah Islamiya (JI) terrorists who 
planned to detonate a car bomb at a Western embassy in Phnom Penh, 
each of whom was sentenced to life in prison. 
 
¶2.  (U)  To help bolster its counterterrorism capabilities, the 
Cambodian Government in 2005 established the National 
Counterterrorism Committee (NCTC), a policy-level decision-making 
body chaired by the Prime Minister that directly addresses the 
government domestic and international counterterrorism 
responsibilities.  The NCTC held its first session in August 2005. 
In 2006, various officials were identified to take positions in the 
NCTC and an office is now in place.  The Cambodian government is 
working on a budget for the group.  The Australian military 
conducted a conference with the NCTC in August 2006 and intends to 
do a tabletop exercise with the NCTC at an unspecified date in the 
future. 
 
¶3.  (U)  Conditions in Cambodia, such as massive poverty, high 
unemployment, a poor education system, and disaffected elements 
within the Cham Muslim population, which make up between 3% and 5% 
of the population, could make the country vulnerable to terrorists 
and terrorist influence in the future.  In 2006, Post has received 
reports of the growing influence of Wahhabis in Cambodia.  Though 
the majority of Wahhabi practitioners is located in Takeo province, 
reports indicate that it is spreading from its base.  There are no 
indications that specific terrorist groups currently operate in 
Cambodia; however, porous borders and endemic corruption could make 
the country vulnerable to a terrorist presence. 
 
¶4.  (U)  The Cambodian Government has fully cooperated with U.S. 
counterterrorism efforts on many levels, despite its limited 
resources.  In April 2005, the government participated in the 
first-ever U.S. Pacific Command-led multinational interagency 
counterterrorism survey.  The survey was conducted to develop 
methods to assist the Cambodian authorities in improving their 
overall counterterrorism capacity.  The team made recommendations to 
various elements responsible for counterterrorism at the tactical, 
operational, and national levels.  The U.S. Department of Defense 
has been conducting training in Cambodia of a military unit since 
¶2006. 
 
¶5.  (U)  The Cambodian Government also cooperates with a number of 
other governments on counterterrorism issues.  The Singaporean 
government has conducted short counterterrorism courses in Cambodia. 
 In addition to assistance on the NCTC, the Australian government is 
helping Cambodia draft a new counterterrorism law; the draft law is 
being reviewed by the relevant legislative committee and is expected 
to be adopted by the national legislature in April 2007.  The 
Australian and U.K. governments jointly sponsored a National Seminar 
on Counter-Terrorism in April 2006 to help train the Cambodian 
military and police.  The Malaysian government cooperates with the 
Cambodian government on Malaysia-specific cases.  The Cambodian 
government has signed a bilateral agreement with India that came 
into force in December 2005 providing cooperation in fighting 
terrorism, exchanging information and intelligence on the activities 
of any terrorist group and its associates, and identifying and 
exchanging information on terrorist financing sources.  As ASEAN 
Chair from July 2002 to June 2003, Cambodia took the lead in 
coordinating ASEAN statements on terrorism, such as the Joint 
ASEAN-EU Declaration on Cooperation to Combat Terrorism and the 
relevant text in the Chairman's Statement of the Tenth ASEAN 
Regional Forum. 
 
¶6.  (U)  In December 2006, following the visit of the Sri Lankan 
Prime Minister, the Cambodian government announced that a Sri Lankan 
military intelligence official will work with police and defense 
officials on intelligence matters.  This announcement follows Prime 
Minister Hun Sen's assurance to his Sri Lankan counterpart that the 
Tamil Tiger rebels will not receive arms smuggled from Cambodia, 
though the RGC has acknowledged this likely happened in the past. 
Post believes that the Cambodian government is better able to 
control suspect arms shipments and that fewer weapons exist in 
Cambodia that could be exported abroad.  Cambodia has destroyed 
200,000 small arms over the last several years with E.U. assistance, 
and with U.S. assistance destroyed its stockpile of man-portable 
anti-aircraft missiles (MANPADS). 
 
¶7.  (U)  In December 2006, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced 
 
PHNOM PENH 00002209  002 OF 002 
 
 
four men to 18 months in prison for possession and transportation of 
two Armbrust rocket launchers by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. 
Three of the four men are in custody but the whereabouts of the 
fourth individual, who is a colonel in the Cambodian military, are 
unknown. 
 
¶8.  (U)  The government installed, with U.S. assistance, 
computerized border control systems at Phnom Penh and Siem Riep 
airports and the land border crossing of Poipet and Koh Kong.  The 
Cambodian government cooperated fully with U.S. requests to monitor 
terrorists and terrorist entities listed as supporters of terrorist 
financing. 
 
¶9.  (U)  No known foreign terrorist groups or organizations 
currently operate in Cambodia.  In October 2006, Cambodian 
authorities arrested six Cambodian nationals for plotting to plant 
explosives during Phnom Penh's annual Water Festival.  The Cambodian 
government does not believe that they are linked to any 
international terrorist group.  The men are currently in pre-trial 
detention charged with attempted terrorism. 
 
¶10.  (U)  The Cambodian government believes that the Cambodian 
Freedom Fighters (CFF), which carried out an armed attack in 
November 2000 that killed eight people, are still capable of 
carrying out attacks in Cambodia.  The leader of this group was 
arrested in California in 2005. The Cambodian government is working 
with the FBI to bring the leader of the CFF to trial in the U.S. 
 
¶11. (U) The Point of contact for this report is Political/Economic 
officer Gaurav Bansal. Email: bansalg@state.gov.  Phone number: 
855-23-728-118. 
 
 
MUSSOMELI