Guest guest Posted January 30, 2003 Report Share Posted January 30, 2003 British group fired by Cambodia Jan 29 2003 Cambodia has decided to fire a British group it hired to monitor its forestry industry, accusing the watchdog of being hostile and unfair in its reports about illegal logging. Prime Minister Hun Sen said the work of London-based Global Witness will be finished in three months. He said a "suitable replacement" would be found, and that Global Witness could stay in the country as an independent advocacy group. International donors, who pay more than 60% of the Cambodian government's annual expenses, should not force it "to continue living with a partner it does not love and has lost complete faith and trust in," he said. Global Witness began working in Cambodia in 1995. It has been at odds with Hun Sen since it documented several cases of connivance by government officials in illegal logging. Hun Sen last night accused Global Witness of damaging the government's reputation with "repeated mistakes" and a "hostile, untruthful, unjust and destructive attitude". But Global Witness country director Eva Galabru rejected Hun Sen's complaints. "It would be nice if someone would elaborate and tell me what these Ôrepeated mistakes' are," Galabru said today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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