***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Cambodian
and Vietnamese Forces Behind Cambodian Timber Liquidation
***********************************************
Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/
2/28/98
OVERVIEW,
SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
Cambodia's
forest resources are being liquidated to fund various
warring
factions reports Global Witness, a British NGO.
g.b.
*******************************
RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Cambodia, Vietnam leaders said behind
logging
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 02:37 a.m. Feb 26, 1998 Eastern
PHNOM
PENH, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Political and military leaders from
Cambodia
and Vietnam are involved in large-scale illegal logging that
threatens
to destroy Cambodia's forests, a British environmental group
said on
Thursday.
Cambodian
government officials declined comment until they reviewed
the
report, although Agriculture Minister Tao Seng Huor said Cambodia
recently
asked neighbours Vietnam, Laos and Thailand to help combat
illegal
log exports.
Members
of the environmental group Global Witness said they had seen
large
stockpiles of illegally exported Cambodian logs in Vietnam worth
an
estimated $130 million and called on Vietnam to halt timber imports
from
Cambodia.
``This
trade is illegal, the logging is highly destructive and
wasteful,
none of the money will go to the Cambodian Treasury and most
dangerously
it will fund the military and political parties,
predominately
the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), in the lead-up to
the
election,'' Patrick Alley said in a statement.
The
CPP, led by Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, is Cambodia's de facto
ruling
party which hopes to win a July 26 election.
Cambodia
banned all log exports on December 31, 1996, and Vietnam has
a law
making the import of Cambodian logs illegal, the statement said.
Global
Witness has said military from all sides of Cambodia's
factional
conflict, including government forces under Hun Sen, were
logging
the country's dwindling forests to build up power bases ahead
of the
July election.
Forces
loyal to ousted co-Premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh have been
fighting
government troops since Hun Sen deposed the prince last July.
The
logs exported to Vietnam were stockpiled in Gia Lai and Song Be
provinces,
Qui Nhon Port and by the Saigon River near Ho Chi Minh
City,
Global Witness said.
``A trade
of this size, which is flouting the laws of the two
countries,
is a result of corruption and collusion at the
highest
level in both countries,'' Global Witness said.
The
group said it had information indicating top officials of both
countries,
as well as a senior Vietnamese provincial politician, were
involved
in illegal log exports.
Agriculture
Minister Tao Seng Huor and Forestry Department Director
Oar
Soeun said they could not comment without first reviewing the
Global
Witness report.
But Tao
Seng Huor said co-Premiers Hun Sen and Ung Huot earlier this
week
asked neighbouring nations to help Cambodia prevent illegal logs
from
entering their countries.
Hun
Sen's chief economic adviser, Suon Sitthy, said he was unaware of
the Global
Witness report but said some illegal logging was carried
out by
corrupt businessmen.
He said
he did not think government officials were also involved.
Environmental
groups, including Global Witness, have predicted
Cambodia's
forests will be logged out in three to five years unless
government
policies are changed.
Last
year the International Monetary Fund suspended loans to Cambodia
partly
because of wasteful logging practices.
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
This
document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-
commercial
use only. Recipients should seek
permission from the
source
for reprinting. All efforts are made to
provide accurate,
timely
pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information
rests with the reader. Check out our
Gaia Forest
Conservation
Archives at URL= http://forests.org/
Networked
by Ecological Enterprises, gbarry@forests.org