Though the United States' training of Cambodia’s “abusive armed forces” has come under fire this year, a visiting senior US military official said yesterday such training would continue, noting that “great progress” was being made on rights violations.
General Vincent Brooks, commanding general of the US Army Pacific, said he expected the “same kind of partnership we have now” to continue, with potential for increased cooperation.
Brooks made the comments following a meeting in Phnom Penh with Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) Commander-in-Chief Pol Saroeun.
In May, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement hitting out at US forces for providing “training that would assist Cambodia’s military in government crackdowns on the political opposition and civil society activists” in its annual Angkor Sentinel exercise.
The group also suggested that Angkor Sentinel 2014 may have been in violation of US law, something the US Embassy strongly denied. HRW made the allegations based on allegedly incriminating photographs and videos on the joint training exercise’s official Facebook page, which the embassy said is managed by US Army Pacific.
One photograph showed a Cambodian soldier stopping a vehicle by standing in front of it with his assault rifle aimed at the windshield.
Less than two weeks after the statement was released, the images were removed.
But Brooks maintained yesterday the “prime parts” of Angkor Sentinel were training in peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance.
Addressing allegations that the US military is training armed forces connected with rights violations, Brooks said this is “something that is being worked through”.
“[We] see great progress being made by Cambodia [on human rights] and as a result, our relationship continues to improve,” he said.
With numerous violent crackdowns since last year’s election, Phil Robertson, deputy director of HRW’s Asia Division, said this was a “pipe dream”. RCAF is “rife with human rights abuses.… The people they are training … have checkered pasts on human rights,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA
Cambodian, U.S. senior military officials pledge to enhance ties
PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- Cambodian and the U.S. senior military officials met here Wednesday and vowed to strengthen and expand bilateral ties and cooperation for mutual benefits.
The commitment was made between Gen. Pol Saroeun, commander-in- Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), and visiting Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific. "U.S. aid is essential to build capacity for Cambodian armed forces,"Saroeun said, expressing gratitude to the U.S. Army for providing trainings to Cambodian armed forces on anti-terrorism and through peacekeeping and humanitarian exercises.
Brooks said it was his first visit to Cambodia with an aim to further bolster relations and cooperation between the two armies and pledged to continue working with Cambodia for military human resource development. "We look forward to increasing military ties with Cambodia ranging from the infantry to the marine and the air force,"he said.
Meanwhile, Brooks also hailed Cambodia for making"great progress" in the field of human rights.
Earlier in the day, Brooks had met with Gen. Meas Sophea, commander of the RCAF Infantry, and Gen. Tea Banh, deputy prime minister and minister of defense.
He arrived in Cambodia Tuesday night for a three-day visit after visiting Indonesia, where he attended THE OPENING
ceremony of a multinational peacekeeping exercise at the Indonesia Peace and Security Center in Sentul, Indonesia. - See more at: http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=NDQ1YWNmMmI2NzA#sthash.CzrDHgRk.dpuf
ceremony of a multinational peacekeeping exercise at the Indonesia 
4 comments:
លីឌៀបពូកែខាងឣួត រៀនបានត្រឹម diplôme នៅស្រុកខ្មែរហើយ
មកដល់ US ឣត់មានរៀនថែមទៀតទេ។
ឣាមនុស្សរស់ដោយ ការឣួតឣាង វាមិនខ្មោចទេ។
លីឌៀប ខឹងខ្លាំង ឣោយ ទាក់ទង ឣាផៃស៊ីផាន ឣោយរកប្រពន្ធក្មេងមួយ។
លិង្គ លីឌៀប នៅប្រើការបានឬទេ?
i agree with the title... mind you there is a big difference between the american people and the american gov which is controlled by special interests groups which only care about plundering the world's wealth ; according to researches done only 1 % of them control all the wealth produced by the people .. research the Rothchilds , the rockerfeller ... also find out who are the members of the Bilderberg group which hold special meeting every year to decide how to run the world and control the gov of the western countries... also find what american talk about when they talk about the Illuminati ...the common americans are just as screwed as every other denizens of this planet.[ live to serve them while they hipnotized them with hollywood movies , porn , sports and alcohol and drugs-- CIA is well- known drug lord but any one who speak it out loud in the press will get visited before nightfall]
American are not that gullible. They didn't became only world Super Power for been gullible. They knew Cambodia is one of the most corrupted armed forces. They knew Cambodia government is engaged in corruptions. They knew Cambodia still under Hanoi grips. They even knew Khmer Rough were systematically killing it's own populations but they ignored it after experiencing Vietnam war. The reason they engage Cambodia armed forces because they wanted to prevent another Khmer Rough. American also wanted to steer Cambodia from been fully under China sphere. U.S do not need a small Cambodia armed forces or small 15 million populations to help contain People Republic of China. It's like using Cambodia ants to attack herds of elephants. Come on be realistic. U.S just wanted to influence Cambodia military. They would like to a more lawful, neutral, professional armed forces so uncle Sam don't have hear all the injustices done to its peoples. Our braved, experienced, ill equipped, ill trained army couldn't even repel invading Thai forces from a small patches of land around Preah Vihear, Ta Moan,Ta Krabey. America wanted Vietnam to counter rising China and this is not even a match. China will just crushed Vietnam if fighting broke out. Unle Sam will just abandon Viets because America will have to regroup to help out Japan, S. Korea. Cambodia military is not an army each regiments are been sponsored by the rich and powerful Cambodian or foreigners. It's like a drug cartels lord with body guards having heavy equipments. Lol. We all knew this military are all CPP body guards. Good Luck who ever can pride them away from CPP/Youn.
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