More than 100 Cambodian-Americans gathered in Alexandria, Va., on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22 to commemorate the anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords, but participants said that two decades later, Cambodia still struggles with issues of human rights, democracy and the encroachment of neighboring Thailand and Vietnam
Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is calling for all political factions to unite as soldiers and workers struggle to shore up dikes protecting Bangkok against raging floodwaters.
Help is starting to pour into Thailand and other parts of Asia where rising floodwaters are swamping entire communities and threatening to overrun even more. United States Marines arrived in Bangkok Saturday with equipment, sandbags and other relief supplies. The U.S.
United Nations officials say the capitals of Thailand and Cambodia are at risk as the worst flooding in modern times sweeps through the Mekong Basin. Kirsten Mildren, spokeswoman for the U.N.’s humanitarian affairs agency, told VOA Tuesday that officials in Bangkok are taking urgent measures as the floodwaters bear down on the city. “We know that there is a lot of water coming down,” she said.
As Southeast Asia copes with some of the worst flooding in decades, there are also worries over the environmental impact of a series of new hydroelectric dams now under construction. One dam in particular in Laos has drawn attention because of its impact on millions of people living in the Mekong Basin. The Laos government’s proposed Xayaburi Dam, located in mountainous regions of Northern Laos, is just one of 11 dams planned for the lower Mekong River.
The relief organization Oxfam American on Tuesday called for increased efforts to help tens of thousands of families cope with severe flooding across the country.
The Cambodian Court of Appeals on Tuesday reduced by three years the prison sentence for exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy on criminal charges of disinformation. Sam Rainsy was facing a 10-year sentence for allegedly publishing a map of the border with Vietnam in 2009 that the government said was fraudulent. Sam Rainsy has said that Cambodia is losing land to Vietnamese encroachment, a politically sensitive claim the government denies