CAMBODIA SAYS YES TO GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO COMBAT

UNCLAS PHNOM PENH 000455 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, ISN/WMDT, AND T--TIM KATSAPIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER KNNP MCAP PINR PINS PARM PREL CB SUBJECT: CAMBODIA SAYS YES TO GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO COMBAT NUCLEAR TERRORISM REF: STATE 21284 ¶1. On March 21, Ambassador and Russian Ambassador Valery Tereshchenko jointly presented the demarche on the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (reftel) to Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong. The Foreign Minister reiterated Cambodia's commitment to fighting terrorism, describing terrorism not as a crime against an individual or a country but as a crime against humanity and noting that Cambodia had established a national committee to fight terrorism. Cambodia will join the Global Initiative, he indicated, and he will ask the Council of Ministers to draft a letter formally indicating their desire to join. Post will notify the Department when we receive this letter. ¶2. Speaking on other matters, the Foreign Minister attributed the relative calm in this pre-election period to the increasing "political maturity" of the Cambodian people. Hor Namhong reacted positively when both ambassadors noted that they would be sending staff to monitor the elections. The Foreign Minister expressed some dismay that the Cambodia Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights focused so exclusively on issuing reports, when their Memorandum of Understanding with the Cambodian government said that they would be engaged in efforts to educate people about human rights. Respect for human rights cannot be imposed, he added, and must be based on greater awareness. The Russian Ambassador offered that he had urged UN human rights envoy Yash Ghai to pay more attention to the positive developments in Cambodia. MUSSOMELI