Cambodia genocide court will not go bust: officials
2 hours, 3 minutes ago
PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Officials at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal
said they were confident the cash-strapped court would be able to
gather the funds needed to stay on schedule and try surviving Khmer
Rouge leaders.
Court officials last month warned that without a cash infusion, those
tribunal operations under Cambodian control could face bankruptcy by
May, while concerns were raised that staff might not get paid after
April.
Money troubles also threatened to further delay the UN-managed
operations, which face a budget shortfall later this year, prompting
officials to head to the United Nations in New York last month to
petition for more funds.
Helen Jarvis, spokeswoman for the Cambodian side, said Wednesday that
a pledge this month of 450,000 dollars from Australia and earnings on
the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar would keep the
Cambodian half of the tribunal afloat for the time being.
"The final picture now is that we expect to have enough funds to the
end of July for the Cambodian side," Jarvis told AFP.
Originally budgeted at 56.3 million dollars over three years, the
tribunal, which opened in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling
between the UN and Cambodia, raised its cost estimates to 170 million
dollars in January.
International backers appear hesitant to pledge more money to the
process amid allegations of mismanagement and political interference.
So far, Australia has been the only country to publicly announce more
funds, but Jarvis said court officials were discussing details of the
finances with the donors, and were expecting a finalised budget next
month.
Other key donors to the tribunal are Japan, France, Britain and
Germany.
"We know that the people of Cambodia, the people of the world, and
donor countries all have recognised the im****tance of the court, and
have expressed strong political sup****t for the court," she said.
"Now that political sup****t could be translated into financial terms,"
Jarvis added.
Peter Foster, the UN's tribunal spokesman, said officials had no
concern about the future of the court, and the UN side had enough
funds until the end of 2008.
"I am extremely confident that we will get all the funding that we
will require," he said.
Five former regime leaders have been detained by the tribunal for
their alleged role in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities, and
public trials are expected to begin later this year.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were
executed as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian
society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-1979
rule.
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