SELMA MILOVANOVIC
February 2, 2010The Age, Melbourne, Australia
David Wilson was kidnapped and murdered in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge.
A FORMER Australian peacekeeper warned the United Nations mission in Cambodia of the dangers of travelling by rail a year before Victorian tourist David Wilson was snatched off a train and murdered by the Khmer Rouge.
But the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade only issued a warning against travelling by train a week after Mr Wilson was murdered. At the time, the Australian embassy was in weekly contact with the UN mission's security adviser, who relayed information from peacekeepers in the field.
Mr Wilson, 29, along with an American and a Briton, was kidnapped in Kampot province by the Khmer Rouge in July 1994. The three were forced to work as slaves and murdered two months later.
Mr Wilson's death came three months after the Khmer Rouge kidnapped and murdered Queensland woman Kellie Wilkinson, 25, and two others travelling in a car in the evening on the road between Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.
The former peacekeeper said he witnessed a train ambush in Kampot in May 1993, where Mr Wilson was kidnapped a year later. Thirty Cambodians were kidnapped in the ambush the former soldier saw.
He said locals told him and two superiors that, once a month, the Khmer Rouge ambushed the train and killed government soldiers. The guerillas would take hostages and force them to work the fields.
''At that time, there was a bounty on foreigners. It was about $10,000 for basically anyone except Australians and Americans. For them, the price was $50,000 dead, $100,000 alive.''
The man said he sent an urgent message to UN headquarters in Phnom Penh saying foreigners should be advised against taking that train route as they would be killed if ambushed.
Documents seen by The Age confirm his description of the ambush, while a press release issued by Cambodian Tourism Minister Veng Sereyvuth in August 1994 said there had been 18 attacks on the train over the preceding 20 months.
But the ex-soldier said his superiors, military observers, sent their own advice to the UN, saying the ambush was ''a one-off''. The man said he felt guilty after learning of the deaths of Ms Wilkinson, whom he had met in Cambodia, and Mr Wilson. ''People just didn't listen to me because I was a junior soldier,'' he said.
The standard procedure for travel warnings at the time was for embassy staff to post the latest information on the embassy wall after weekly meetings with UN security advisers.
Documents seen by The Age show that travel advice specifically warning against train travel was only issued a week after Mr Wilson's murder.
A former Australian ambassador to Cambodia, Tony Kevin, told a Senate inquiry into consular services that a month after Ms Wilkinson was kidnapped, Australia updated its consular advice, warning of dangers of road travel in Cambodia.
Mr Wilson's brother Tim criticised the advice for not mentioning rail travel.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the inquiry that had Mr Wilson approached the Australian embassy, he would have been told of hazards of train travel.
The Senate committee said in 1997 that travellers were personally responsible for protecting themselves from danger. ''The fact that backpackers do not want to contact an Australian post for travel advice is not a valid criticism of DFAT's consular services,'' it said.
The Age revealed yesterday that the inquest into Mr Wilson's death, which last sat in 2000, is set to resume after DFAT handed over a top-secret file on the case to the Victorian Coroner's Court.
But the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade only issued a warning against travelling by train a week after Mr Wilson was murdered. At the time, the Australian embassy was in weekly contact with the UN mission's security adviser, who relayed information from peacekeepers in the field.
Mr Wilson, 29, along with an American and a Briton, was kidnapped in Kampot province by the Khmer Rouge in July 1994. The three were forced to work as slaves and murdered two months later.
Mr Wilson's death came three months after the Khmer Rouge kidnapped and murdered Queensland woman Kellie Wilkinson, 25, and two others travelling in a car in the evening on the road between Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.
The former peacekeeper said he witnessed a train ambush in Kampot in May 1993, where Mr Wilson was kidnapped a year later. Thirty Cambodians were kidnapped in the ambush the former soldier saw.
He said locals told him and two superiors that, once a month, the Khmer Rouge ambushed the train and killed government soldiers. The guerillas would take hostages and force them to work the fields.
''At that time, there was a bounty on foreigners. It was about $10,000 for basically anyone except Australians and Americans. For them, the price was $50,000 dead, $100,000 alive.''
The man said he sent an urgent message to UN headquarters in Phnom Penh saying foreigners should be advised against taking that train route as they would be killed if ambushed.
Documents seen by The Age confirm his description of the ambush, while a press release issued by Cambodian Tourism Minister Veng Sereyvuth in August 1994 said there had been 18 attacks on the train over the preceding 20 months.
But the ex-soldier said his superiors, military observers, sent their own advice to the UN, saying the ambush was ''a one-off''. The man said he felt guilty after learning of the deaths of Ms Wilkinson, whom he had met in Cambodia, and Mr Wilson. ''People just didn't listen to me because I was a junior soldier,'' he said.
The standard procedure for travel warnings at the time was for embassy staff to post the latest information on the embassy wall after weekly meetings with UN security advisers.
Documents seen by The Age show that travel advice specifically warning against train travel was only issued a week after Mr Wilson's murder.
A former Australian ambassador to Cambodia, Tony Kevin, told a Senate inquiry into consular services that a month after Ms Wilkinson was kidnapped, Australia updated its consular advice, warning of dangers of road travel in Cambodia.
Mr Wilson's brother Tim criticised the advice for not mentioning rail travel.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the inquiry that had Mr Wilson approached the Australian embassy, he would have been told of hazards of train travel.
The Senate committee said in 1997 that travellers were personally responsible for protecting themselves from danger. ''The fact that backpackers do not want to contact an Australian post for travel advice is not a valid criticism of DFAT's consular services,'' it said.
The Age revealed yesterday that the inquest into Mr Wilson's death, which last sat in 2000, is set to resume after DFAT handed over a top-secret file on the case to the Victorian Coroner's Court.
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