VZCZCXRO7759
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0131/01 0250735
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 250735Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7905
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000131 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP FO, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL CB
SUBJECT: PDAS STEPHENS MEETS CAMBODIA'S POLITICAL AND CIVIL 
SOCIETY ELITE 
 
REF: PHNOM PENH 109 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  EAP Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary 
of State Kathleen Stephens visited Cambodia January 20-24. 
Stephens spoke at EAP Management Conference, met with PM Hun 
Sen (reftel) and visited a number of USG-funded programs. 
She also met Interior Minister Sar Kheng, Foreign Minister 
Hor Namhong and various other political and civic leaders. 
During Stephens's meeting with Interior Minister Sar Kheng, 
she pressed the minister to ensure that the upcoming 
Cambodian elections would be transparent and urged continued 
cooperation on the issue of Trafficking-in-Persons (TIP). The 
Ambassador also used the opportunity to ask the Minister to 
help rectify problems with the draft anti-TIP law. The PDAS 
and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong shared views on North Korea 
and Burma.  During a lively exchange among Cambodia's civil 
society and opposition leaders at the Ambassador's residence, 
Stephens heard about the shortcomings, as well as successes, 
of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC).  At a breakfast 
hosted by the DCM with Cambodia's preeminent female political 
leaders, the PDAS heard of their efforts to lift the role of 
women in Cambodia.   End Summary. 
 
------------------------------ 
Meeting with Interior Minister 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Expressing his hope that relations between the US 
and Cambodia would "last forever," Interior Minister Sar 
Kheng thanked the US for assistance in political, human 
rights, security, and development issues.  He described 
Cambodia's trafficking in persons (TIP) ranking upgrade from 
Tier III to Tier II Watchlist as an encouraging step for 
which he and the Ambassador should both claim some credit. 
The Minister said that it was important that the US lift 
sanctions on military assistance to Cambodia, and expressed 
excitement about the upcoming visit of a US naval frigate. 
Preparations for April 1 local elections are coming along 
well, he noted, and the government expects elections to go 
smoothly.  He was "pleased and proud" that Cambodia had not 
experienced the terrorism and transnational crime problems 
that other countries in the region had. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  PDAS Stephens noted that Washington sees 
opportunities to move ahead even more strongly in areas where 
we cooperate together.  She emphasized that the US and other 
countries will be watching the local elections closely and 
would hope to see nonviolent elections with improvements in 
transparency and management.  Similarly, TIP is a 
high-profile issue that some people use to make judgements 
about countries, Stephens said.  Sar Kheng responded that 
Cambodia needed a democratic environment, multiple political 
parties, and elections; local elections, in particular, 
deepened the democratic process and culture in Cambodia. 
Cambodia's TIP cooperation would continue as the RGC 
implemented the recently signed anti-trafficking MOU with 
USAID. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The Ambassador encouraged the Minister to weigh in 
on an on-going debate between the Ministries of Women's 
Affairs and Justice about punishments provided for in the 
draft anti-TIP legislation, which some observers fear is too 
lenient.  The Minister agreed that he "saw the problem" but 
noted that, for now, the Ministry of Justice was in charge of 
looking at punishments in all laws. (Note: Based on the 
current Ministry of Justice-endorsed draft of the anti-TIP 
law, maximum sentences for child-sex offenders would be 
reduced from 10 to 20 years under current law to just two to 
five years.  In addition, the draft law allows judges to fine 
offenders between USD 1,000 and USD 2,500 in lieu of a prison 
sentence.  The Ministry of Women's Affairs has been 
attempting to amend the draft's language to ensure more 
stringent sentences. End Note.) 
 
----------------------------- 
Meeting with Foreign Minister 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Foreign Minister Hor Namhong spoke of the 
improving relationship between the U.S. and Cambodia by 
highlighting the close cooperation on counterterrorism as 
well as thanking the U.S. for aid in fighting HIV and bird 
flu.  The FM then addressed the ASEAN-U.S. enhanced 
partnership, hinting that Asian countries were working 
together in an increasingly coordinated bloc.  Turning to 
North Korea, he reiterated Cambodia's condemnation of the 
missile test but asked that the U.S. show flexibility in the 
six-party talks.  The FM told Stephens that South Korea had 
asked Cambodia to pass a message to the DPRK encouraging 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000131  002 OF 002 
 
 
peaceful dialogue which Cambodia had done in 2006.  The FM 
also asked the U.S. to support Cambodia's membership in APEC. 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  The PDAS said 2006 was a good year for bilateral 
relations.  She emphasized that a "nuclear" North Korea is 
unacceptable.  Raising the issue of Burma, she stated that 
ASEAN had a responsibility to highlight Burma's behavior. 
Turning to Cambodian domestic issues, the PDAS reiterated USG 
hopes that the upcoming commune elections would be conducted 
in a free and transparent manner. Concerning the ongoing 
problems with the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, she stated that it 
would be embarrassing for Cambodia if the effort fell apart. 
The FM responded to the issue of Burma by saying that it was 
better to engage Burma than to contain it and asserted that 
ASEAN leaders were privately pushing for reform.  He also 
asked that PDAS re-convey his invitation( first issued during 
their pull-aside in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 2006) to 
Secretary Rice to visit Cambodia and see Angkor Wat. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Dinner with Civil Society and Opposition leaders 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  During a dinner hosted by the Ambassador, the PDAS 
heard from opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) MP and Party 
Whip Son Chhay that Cambodian democracy is regressing to a 
highly centralized one-party-controlled state similar to that 
which governed Cambodia in the 1980s.  Roland Eng, Cambodia's 
ambassador-at-large and former Ambassador to the U.S., argued 
that democracy is in transition, not in decline.  Suwanna 
Gauntlet, the country director of environmental NGO WildAid, 
noted her group's relationship with the government has been 
excellent and the Prime Minister has personally helped her 
aims in forest and wildlife conservation.  In contrast, Margo 
Pickens, Country Director for the Cambodia Office of the 
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Kek 
Galabru, president of the human rights organization LICADHO, 
discussed the inhumane way victims of land disputes are being 
treated and described how little the RGC has done to help 
them.  When asked by the PDAS why people still vote for the 
ruling party, Ly Korm, president of the Cambodian Tourism and 
Service Workers, mentioned that the CPP has provided 
stability after a long civil war.  Former political prisoner 
and president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights Kem 
Sokha thought that divisions in the opposition explained the 
CPP's hold on power.  The PDAS also heard about the role of 
the younger generation in fostering development and the 
weakness of provincial and local governments in Cambodia. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Breakfast with Cambodia's Female Political Leaders 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  At breakfast hosted by the DCM, the PDAS met four 
of Cambodia's preeminent female political leaders. 
Interestingly, Mu Sochua, the opposition SRP Secretary 
General, described as "mentors" both Princess Norodom Marie 
Ranariddh, head of Cambodia's HIV/AIDS Authority, and Kim 
Sathavy, Cambodia's first female Supreme Court judge. She 
also characterized as a protg Ing Kantha Phavi, the 
Minister for Women's Affairs.  Phavi added that as women's 
affairs minister she promoted passage of the domestic 
violence law that Sochua helped draft when she was in charge 
of the same ministry.  Sochua displayed clear discomfort with 
her decision to leave the FUNCINPEC party to which Phavi and 
Ranariddh still belong, but she argued a certain "kinship" 
still bound the women together.  Turning to Cambodia's 
justice system, Sathavy, who is not a member of any political 
party, admitted the court system is not credible.  However, 
it is improving, she added, arguing that the concept of a 
professional judiciary is young in Cambodia.  Particularly 
troublesome for the courts, she noted were the many land 
disputes that the courts had to adjudicate.  Princess 
Ranariddh and Phavi both mentioned that they were facing 
problems with land that they owned. 
 
¶9.  (U)  PDAS Stephens did not have the chance to clear this 
message. 
MUSSOMELI