US spending bill ties aid to end of government ‘violence’
According to a Senate report accompanying the bill, the vast majority of the recommended budget for Cambodia, $69.9 million of it, would go toward health programs and development assistance. Most of the rest would go to military education and training, demining, anti-terrorism and related programs. The remaining $1.5 million is earmarked for the Khmer Rouge tribunal, and comes with its own proposed conditions. A spending bill approved by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee last week proposes to make U.S. aid to Cambodia in 2017 contingent on an end to the government’s harassment of the opposition and civil society. It would also suspend aid to the Khmer Rouge tribunal unless the government agrees to “consider” Case 003, which Prime Minister Hun Sen has personally—and repeatedly—vowed to block.
