Searching for the victims (All Photos: Lin Na, Koh Santepheap)
The recovery of the body of a young woman
Another young woman's body was recovered
The recovered bodies of the victims
More recovered bodies
Recovered motorcycles
An interim report by the Kampong Thom provincial authority indicated that, counting from the start of flooding season in September 2009 until 11 October, a total of 17 people died in 7 of the province’s districts due to drowning or flood-related issues, such as transportation vessel capsizing, crushing and drowning, boat overturning, babies falling into water, etc… At the same time, 9 additional people died from drowning due to flood from Typhoon Ketsana at the end of September. Therefore, altogether, Kampong Thom province counts 26 victims of flood and Typhoon Ketsana. Furthermore, 30,000 hectares of rice crops were affected, 17,000 hectares of the rice crops were completely destroyed. Due to flooding, several thousands of children could not attend schools as 93 of these schools were flooded.
21 police generals forced into retirement
In application to the rule of the Cambodian police administration, and based on the request made by PM Hun Xen, recently, Chea Xim, acting in the name of King, signed a retirement order for 21 high-ranking police officers. Among the retired police officers, 4 are 4-golden-star police generals: Yem Phoeun, Prok Saroeun, Van Noy and King Samnang; 8 are 2-golden-star generals: Hul Sakda, Pot Kroch, Chan Rithy, Sam Sakun, Ou Hay, Chea Kim Ly, Yin Sovann and Nim Samut; 9 are 1-golden-star generals: Prom Than, Nou Noeun, Heng Sem, Thoeung Sem, Um Youran, Ek Chhom, Oak Thorn, Yin Chheangly and Sim Sambor. The royal decree is effective on the date of the king’s signature, i.e. 14 September 2009.
Hamish Hamilton Canada, $29
Kim Echlin will appear at the Ottawa International Writers Festival on May 1 at 6:30 p.m.
The first of the trials for genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s began this month, 13 years after the establishment of the UN-assisted tribunal, and fully 30 years after the end of the four-year period during which an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died.
The tribunal has been wracked by procedural delays and charges of corruption. Most recently, its chief judge warned that money is running out. Meanwhile, the first of the defendants, Kaing Guek Eav, who ran a secret torture facility and has confessed to being responsible for 15,000 killings, has expressed remorse for his deeds. It is entirely possible that is as much satisfaction as the world will get.
The impossibility of closure after great crimes, no matter how many tribunals and truth-and-reconciliation commissions we may launch, is the subject of Toronto author Kim Echlin's absorbing new novel, The Disappeared. Echlin, one of Canada's finest prose stylists, approaches her subject with the delicacy and solemnity it deserves. In the end, though, it begs the question: Is a beautiful work of art, which The Disappeared certainly is, the appropriate response to a holocaust?
Echlin's narrator is Anne Greeves, a middle-aged Montreal language instructor remembering her still raw-in-the-mind love affair with a Khmer exile 30 years before. She recalls Serey in the enraptured manner of the 16-year-old she was when she met him: besotted, helpless, aroused. The Disappeared takes its place with such other chronicles of female desire as Elizabeth Smart's By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept or Pauline Reage's The Story of O, here yoked to a history that makes it both larger and more keen.
When Serey returns to Cambodia, after the Vietnamese invasion and the fall of Pol Pot's regime, he disappears into a quagmire of political upheaval and continued killing, as the transitional government mimics democracy even while it suppresses dissent. Galvanized by what she is sure is a glimpse of her lover on TV, Anne forsakes "the liberties of the times, music and drugs and separatism," and travels to Phnom Penh to find him. She does, but, like a ghost darting around corners, he is soon gone again, among the missing after a grenade attack at an opposition rally.
"You cannot disappear," she laments, in the second-person voice that gives the novel the intimacy of whispered conversation. "Please do not disappear. No one can mend my sorrow. I love what I lost."
Echlin successfully links the void in Anne's heart with the void left in the lives of millions of mothers, widows and children, as well as with the erasure of cultural memory that was not only the intent of the Khmer Rouge but embraced by those who followed.
"What purpose to revisit the past?" asks an official charged with resisting Anne's effort at answers. Brian Fawcett covered similar territory 20 years ago in his odd duck of an essay/fiction collection, Cambodia: A Book For People Who Find Television Too Slow. "Most of the victims of the Khmer Rouge were killed merely because they could remember a different kind of world," he wrote.
Anne remembers a world in which she had love. Because of the circumstances of her childhood, raised by a maid and a distant father after the death of her mother, she is particularly desperate to have it back; love is, for her, a long, cool drink of which she can't have enough. And, unlike those around her on her journey of reclamation, she is not circumspect in the face of violence. Pure eros drives her, in a society that has largely lost its animating will.
The Disappeared is an expert novel which manages to penetrate to the aching core of the Cambodian tragedy. Eventually, though, its solemnity comes to seem more tragic pose than due regard for the dead, especially when it tips over into tendentiousness: "Get past the golden rule. Make the enemy inhuman. Call the enemy dog, snake, kraut, gook, kike, cockroach, slut, all that ugly talk." And there is something odd about a well-wrought treatment of chaos. Dark comedy or silence may be the only vehicles that can contain a genocide without reducing it.
Still, its heroine's sexuality is a force for life not only in the extinguished world in which she finds herself but in the novel itself. The Disappeared presents desire as an antidote to despair. We may need one, if those who committed the crimes that make memorials like this one necessary continue to, all these years later, elude karma.
Frank Moher is a playwright and the editor of backofthebook.ca.
Seventy-five people were confirmed dead with 36 still missing in Benguet province as landslides struck in five towns, said provincial police chief, Superintendent Loreto Espinili.
Officials said the death toll would likely rise.
"Our estimate is that more than 100 people were buried," warned provincial civil defence chief Olive Luces.
"The damage in the region is massive. We have several reports of landslides across the region, especially in Benguet. Bodies are being recovered," she said.
In the mountain resort city of Baguio, 17 people were killed as landslides buried whole houses in different parts of the city, said city administrator and civil defence official Peter Fianza.
A landslide also left five dead and 32 missing in Mountain Province, said provincial governor Maximo Dalog.
The northern Philippines has been pounded by heavy rain since Typhoon Parma hit the country on Saturday.
Parma weakened into a tropical depression but has lingered over the north of the Philippines' main island of Luzon.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council's death toll from Parma on Friday morning was 25, however council administrator Glen Rabonza said the latest fatalities from landslides in the north were not yet included in that tally.
THAILAND'S LONG STANDING plan to institutionalise the interface between Asean leaders and representatives of the more than 70 Asean civil society organisations (CSO) are crumbling. The noble objective of establishing a people-oriented Asean community will remain a pipe dream for the time being.
Last week, at the Asean Joint Coordinating Meeting in Bangkok, aa land locked member proposed any such meeting in the future, including the forthcoming Cha-Am summit (15th Asean summit), should be optional.
Asean senior officials quickly took up Vientiane's idea which reflected readily the high anxiety held by their leaders since the historic event last February during the 14th Asean summit.
With strong support from the majority of Asean members, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand decided to go with the flow. After all, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak would not be able to make it to the scheduled meeting with the CSO. Without them, the numbers of Asean leaders attending the event could further dwindle.
It is highly likely new Asean members (Laos, Cambodia, Burma) would be abstaining given unpleasant encounters in the past. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who almost boycotted the function, was much disturbed by the way the first interface was conducted including the selection process of CSO representatives, especially from his own country. Hun Sen wanted to have his hand-picked CSO representative, not a person chosen among the group.
So too did Burma object to the CSO representative from the Burmese in exile. In the wee hours, to save the interface, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya decided to hold a separate meeting with the Burmese group led by Khin Omar, a coordinator of the Burmese Partnership Network and Cambodian representatives, and Pen Somony, programme coordinator for the Cambodia Volunteers for Civil Society.
The attitude of the incoming Asean chair, Vietnam, to the upcoming interface remained to be seen. Hanoi's absence would certainly spell a death knell to promotion of the nascent dialogue process. At first encounter, Vietnam was forthcoming.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made news headlines by welcoming the idea of listing the interface between the Asean leaders and civil society into the Asean framework. He pointed out there must be a guideline governing such relations as stated in the Asean Charter.
Both Brunei and Singapore are not enthusiastic about the interface as their authorities have constantly questioned the legitimacy of CSO representatives and their mandates as non-state actors. In the 13th Asean summit held in Singapore, there was no such interface, only the CSO reports sent to the leaders via chosen representatives. At earlier summits in Kuala Lumpur and Cebu, there were brief face-to-face meetings between the Asean leaders and CSO members.
At the first interface, the CSO called on the Asean leaders to treat them as partners and institutionalise the interface to ensure the full implementation of the Asean Charter and people-oriented community. They urged the leaders to view them as partners in the grouping's planned integration.
To prevent any possible embarrassment this time, all nominated CSO names must be submitted in advance for approval by Asean senior officials. Each country can only submit one delegate, not two as originally proposed by Thailand. The scheduled informal summits with representatives of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and the Asean Youth are less controversial and will proceed as planned.
The CSO, comprising more than 70 organisations based in Southeast Asia, will hold a two-day people's forum beginning Sunday in Bangkok to prepare its input for the Asean leaders during the interface. In past months, the CSO has been critical of the terms of reference of the Asean Inter-governmental Commission for Human Rights.
Asean-based human rights activists would like to see the Asean rights mechanism focus on protection as well as promotion and maintain the same universal standards. For instance, the Asean members rejected strongly the idea endorsed by the CSO for periodic review and reporting on the human rights situation in all member countries.
Some Asean senior officials have blamed the CSO for moving far too fast instead of taking an incremental step by step. After all, it would take a long lead time for the Asean leaders before they came to accept the CSO's regular presence and views. Quite a few criticised the host for failure to rein in the CSO during the first interface.
Leader of The Auckland Cambodian Youth and Recreation Trust
Join by the singers from Cambodia Mr. York Doung DAra and Miss Chea Channy
Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS
Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River from Svay Chrum village in Kamday province towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS
Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River from Svay Chrum village in Kamday province towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
THAILAND'S LONG STANDING plan to institutionalise the interface between Asean leaders and representatives of the more than 70 Asean civil society organisations (CSO) are crumbling. The noble objective of establishing a people-oriented Asean community will remain a pipe dream for the time being.
Last week, at the Asean Joint Coordinating Meeting in Bangkok, aa land locked member proposed any such meeting in the future, including the forthcoming Cha-Am summit (15th Asean summit), should be optional.
Asean senior officials quickly took up Vientiane's idea which reflected readily the high anxiety held by their leaders since the historic event last February during the 14th Asean summit.
With strong support from the majority of Asean members, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand decided to go with the flow. After all, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak would not be able to make it to the scheduled meeting with the CSO. Without them, the numbers of Asean leaders attending the event could further dwindle.
It is highly likely new Asean members (Laos, Cambodia, Burma) would be abstaining given unpleasant encounters in the past. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who almost boycotted the function, was much disturbed by the way the first interface was conducted including the selection process of CSO representatives, especially from his own country. Hun Sen wanted to have his hand-picked CSO representative, not a person chosen among the group.
So too did Burma object to the CSO representative from the Burmese in exile. In the wee hours, to save the interface, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya decided to hold a separate meeting with the Burmese group led by Khin Omar, a coordinator of the Burmese Partnership Network and Cambodian representatives, and Pen Somony, programme coordinator for the Cambodia Volunteers for Civil Society.
The attitude of the incoming Asean chair, Vietnam, to the upcoming interface remained to be seen. Hanoi's absence would certainly spell a death knell to promotion of the nascent dialogue process. At first encounter, Vietnam was forthcoming.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made news headlines by welcoming the idea of listing the interface between the Asean leaders and civil society into the Asean framework. He pointed out there must be a guideline governing such relations as stated in the Asean Charter.
Both Brunei and Singapore are not enthusiastic about the interface as their authorities have constantly questioned the legitimacy of CSO representatives and their mandates as non-state actors. In the 13th Asean summit held in Singapore, there was no such interface, only the CSO reports sent to the leaders via chosen representatives. At earlier summits in Kuala Lumpur and Cebu, there were brief face-to-face meetings between the Asean leaders and CSO members.
At the first interface, the CSO called on the Asean leaders to treat them as partners and institutionalise the interface to ensure the full implementation of the Asean Charter and people-oriented community. They urged the leaders to view them as partners in the grouping's planned integration.
To prevent any possible embarrassment this time, all nominated CSO names must be submitted in advance for approval by Asean senior officials. Each country can only submit one delegate, not two as originally proposed by Thailand. The scheduled informal summits with representatives of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and the Asean Youth are less controversial and will proceed as planned.
The CSO, comprising more than 70 organisations based in Southeast Asia, will hold a two-day people's forum beginning Sunday in Bangkok to prepare its input for the Asean leaders during the interface. In past months, the CSO has been critical of the terms of reference of the Asean Inter-governmental Commission for Human Rights.
Asean-based human rights activists would like to see the Asean rights mechanism focus on protection as well as promotion and maintain the same universal standards. For instance, the Asean members rejected strongly the idea endorsed by the CSO for periodic review and reporting on the human rights situation in all member countries.
Some Asean senior officials have blamed the CSO for moving far too fast instead of taking an incremental step by step. After all, it would take a long lead time for the Asean leaders before they came to accept the CSO's regular presence and views. Quite a few criticised the host for failure to rein in the CSO during the first interface.
Thai anti-government demonstrators gather near Democracy Monument Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Thousands of supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, all in red shirts, rallied to demand the government step down and call fresh elections. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
Supporters of exiled former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra hold candles during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa (CAAI News Media)
Supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra gather during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa
A woman sells masks bearing the likeness of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
Supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra carry his posters and banners during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
Supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra gather during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
A Thai anti-government demonstrator shouts to the crowd as he and others gather near Democracy Monument Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Thousands of supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, all in red shirts, rallied to demand the government step down and call fresh elections. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)
Exiled former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gives a live address via tele-conference to supporters during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa
Exiled former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gives a live address via tele-conference to supporters during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa
Kasit Piromya, the Thai minister for Foreign Affairs, told reporters that the Thai government will propose to ASEAN members to set up a mechanism to resolve the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand during the ASEAN meeting held at the end of October. If no change will occur, the ASEAN summit meeting will take place in Hua Hin, Thailand, on 22 October. Khieu Kanharith, Cambodia’s government spokesman, did not shown his reaction yet on this issue. He said: “We did not see this mechanism yet. How is this mechanism?” Nevertheless, the proposal made by Kasit Piropmya to put the border issue on the ASEAN discussion table came after Hun Xen warned that he would raise the border dispute problem at the ASEAN meeting if Bangkok still keeps on talking about the unilateral drawn map in which it showed that the 4.6 square km area surrounding Preah Vihear temple belongs to Thailand. Hun Xen rejected this unilateral map.
The Appeal Court issued a summons for Kampot SRP MP Mu Sochua, asking her to show up in court of 28 October 2009 for the hearing in the defamation lawsuit case. The summon involves the appeal made by Mrs. My Sochua against the decision made by the Phnom Penh municipal court to drop her lawsuit case against Hun Xen. The Phnom Penh municipal court claimed that there was no sufficient evidence in the lawsuit brought up by Mrs. Mu Sochua. Following this decision, Mrs. Mu Sochua appealed her case to the Appeal Court
Circus artistes from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia compete in the first Young Circus Talent Competition opened on Thursday in Hanoi
Sixty-four circus artistes from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam started competing in the first Young Circus Talent Competition that opened on Thursday (October 8) in Hanoi.
The four-day contest is held at the Experimental Theater of Vietnamese Intermediate School of Circus and Vaudeville Art in Mai Dich St., Cau Giay Dist.
Ranging in age from 16 to 25, the athletes have been competing for prizes in 21 different acts including acrobatics, sleight of hand and balancing. Each act is presented twice, with the higher score being picked.
The Vietnamese delegation has 35 professional artists from Vietnam Circus Federation, Intermediate School of Circus and Vaudeville Art in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and the Long An Circus.
The contest is organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the departments of Performing Art and International Cooperation and the Association of Vietnamese Performing Artists.
Residents navigate by boat on a flooded street following the passage of Typhoon. (Photo courtesy: AFP PHOTO/HOANG DINH Nam) Ketsana in the tourist town of Hoi An in Viet Nam on September 30. (Photo courtesy: AFP PHOTO/HOANG DINH Nam)
Two months before the Copenhagen climate change conference, there are no concrete actions yet on how developed countries will compensate developing countries for their greenhouse gas emissions.
It was a week of disasters. Two days after typhoon Ketsana submerged 80 per cent of the Philippine capital Manila—hitting Taiwan, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos along the way—a tsunami struck the Pacific island of Samoa and an earthquake flattened houses and buildings in West Sumatra, Indonesia.
Scores of people died and thousands lost their homes. The scene from the Philippines to Indonesia up to Samoa was of hopelessness. As many disasters in history have shown, governments and people were caught unaware of the extent of the damage and disaster preparedness was lacking if not missing.
While these recent disasters were unfolding, experts, lobbyists, environmentalists, activists and government negotiators had just started their two-week talks on climate change in Bangkok.
Amid pronouncements by scientists that the world should keep global warming well below 2?C and that this can only be achieved if we cut gas emissions that cause climate change by more than 45 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, by 95 per cent by 2050; and global emissions must peak by 2015, the Bangkok talks have so far not translated into concrete actions.
With two months to go before the talks resume in Copenhagen, the Bangkok talks ending October 9 provide an opportunity to enhance action on mitigation and adaptation, including on how to integrate disaster risk reduction in adaptation measures. Recent climatic events in the Philippines, Viet Nam and Cambodia serve as chilling reminders about the urgency of such action to eliminate or reduce the negative impacts of climate change.
These recent events just show that disaster risk reduction and enhanced adaptation cannot be pushed aside during climate change talks.
During a side event at the Bangkok talks, Zenaida Delica-Willison, disaster risk reduction advisor at the United Nations Development Programme, said there is a need to harmonise adaptation and disaster risk reduction. In order to promote resilient communities, adaptation alone is not enough.
Negotiators from Indonesia and Bangladesh were present during the side event. Coming from two disaster-prone countries, they have experienced climatic changes as evidenced by increased flooding in Jakarta and stronger typhoons that hit Bangladesh in recent months. They claimed that their respective governments have improved systems, disaster response and provided education to the public.
Developing countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia are adapting measures to combat the negative effects of climate change through domestic measures. Now, the matter of negotiation at the climate talks is for developed nations to also undertake drastic cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions through domestic measures and to give full reparations for the ecological debts they owe the developing nations.
Disaster risk reduction
A cooperation framework is supposed to have emerged when all the participating countries agreed to integrate disaster risk reduction in adaptation measures within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). All countries acknowledged historical responsibilities, committed to take deep cuts in emission levels (mitigation) and provide adequate structures for finance and technology (adaptation). But, according to Martin Khor of the South Centre, an inter-governmental organisation of developing countries, “we are far from operationalising this framework” because of the stonewalling by developed countries.
In a press conference convened by the South Centre at the Unescap building where the UNFCCC meetings were being held, Ambassador Lumumba Di Aping, head of delegation of Sudan and chairman of the G77 plus China, stressed that developed countries have very “low ambitions in meeting their emission targets” and gave “no positive response at the establishment of financing and technology structures within the Convention.” This only shows that the ground is being prepared (by developed countries) for commitments not to be honoured, he added.
The G-77 is the largest intergovernmental organisation of developing states in the United Nations, which provides the means for the of the South (developing countries) to articulate and promote their collective economic interests and enhance their joint negotiating capacity on all major economic issues within the UN system.
“G-77 is absolutely committed to a successful completion of talks in Copenhagen... for the survival of humanity. And for Copenhagen to succeed, we must all work for an equitable and just deal. We cannot duplicate the inequity and imbalances which have been the hallmark of 200 years of human development,” Lumumba said.
The negotiations challenge
The G77 countries and China had proposed the establishment of a financial mechanism under the UNFCCC ratified in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the 1992 Earth Summit that “shall enable, enhance and support mitigation and adaptation actions by developing countries”.
Under the UNFCCC, developed nations should provide financial resources to developing countries for climate change adaptation and mitigation. However, developing countries pointed out that the former is shifting the burden towards markets and to poorer countries by adopting protectionist attitudes like imposing tariffs.
However, developed countries have noted what they called alarming statements by developed nations, especially the European Union and the United States, suggesting the termination of the Kyoto Protocol.
Developed countries, known as Annex I Parties under the Protocol, are bound to agree to subsequent commitment periods for greenhouse gas emission reductions beginning in 2013. Annex 1 Parties have consistently stalled talks to agree on the figures.
Lumumba called this the “climatological” totalitarianism of rich countries which “impose their own interests to advance their economic superiority to support their lavish lifestyles at the expense of the rest of the world”.
“These commitments should be free from conditionalities and is the right thing to do. It is what global leaders must do. So the question that must be asked of developed countries is why (they have) such a disgraceful low level of commitment,” he told the press.
The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) said in a paper that climate change is an additional burden to developing countries already striving to achieve poverty reduction and urgently needed development.
This was highlighted by the clash in the talks between G77 and the United States when the latter proposed to have a formal process to consider textual proposals on “mitigation elements common to all Parties”, which developing countries emphasised were not consistent with the UNFCCC and even went beyond the mandate of the Bali Action Plan. The Plan was a result of the 2007 Bali Climate Conference.
To say that the Bangkok climate change negotiations are crucial is an understatement.
Ambassador Lumumba aptly summed up the crucial nature of both the Bangkok intersessional meeting leading to Copenhagen when he said during the September 30 press conference, “there can’t be any successful conclusion of Copenhagen unless there is economic development to address climate change.”
He noted that if politicians around the world, especially those from the developed countries, were able to pump in US$1.1 trillion to address the global economic crisis should “it be considered more important than (financing) climate change?”
That question takes on added urgency as negotiations shift to higher gear in preparation for Copenhagen in December. (By Jofelle Tesorio and Red Batario in Bangkok/ Asia News Network)
The northern Philippines has been pounded by heavy rain since Typhoon Parma hit the country on Saturday Photo: EPA
Parma hit the Philippines exactly one week after tropical storm Ketsana pounded Manila to the south on Luzon, killing at least 337 people Photo: EPA
More than 100 people have been killed in a series of landslides brought about by heavy rain in mountainous provinces of the northern Philippines.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
09 Oct 2009
(Post by CAAI News Media)
Seventy-five people were confirmed dead with 36 still missing in Benguet province as landslides struck in five towns, said provincial police chief, Superintendent Loreto Espinili.
Officials said the death toll would likely rise.
"Our estimate is that more than 100 people were buried," warned provincial civil defence chief Olive Luces.
"The damage in the region is massive. We have several reports of landslides across the region, especially in Benguet. Bodies are being recovered," she said.
In the mountain resort city of Baguio, 17 people were killed as landslides buried whole houses in different parts of the city, said city administrator and civil defence official Peter Fianza.
A landslide also left five dead and 32 missing in Mountain Province, said provincial governor Maximo Dalog.
The northern Philippines has been pounded by heavy rain since Typhoon Parma hit the country on Saturday.
Parma weakened into a tropical depression but has lingered over the north of the Philippines' main island of Luzon.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council's death toll from Parma on Friday morning was 25, however council administrator Glen Rabonza said the latest fatalities from landslides in the north were not yet included in that tally.
Leader of The Auckland Cambodian Youth and Recreation Trust
Join by the singers from Cambodia Mr. York Doung DAra and Miss Chea Channy