Last year, a new sign went up on the Prey Veng Waterfront declaring that the province was officially mine-free. Prey Veng is the third most populous province in Cambodia but lacks an urban center with the population spread among rural villages. The fighting in Cambodia came to end twenty-five years ago when the final Khmer…
Category: Cambodia in the News
Protected: Kill the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys
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June 2022 Flooding in Phnom Penh
While we’ve been on home leave there’s been severe flooding in areas of Phnom Penh. This has not affected our house or the MCC office, but some staff and MCC partners are in the affected areas. Our Office Manager, Doungchann, shared that the water was up to her stomach on her commute home. The most…
2022 Commune Elections
This weekend Cambodia held commune elections as it does every five years. In 2017, the major opposition party gained significant ground in the commune elections and was then dissolved by the Cambodian supreme court. While there are, currently, registered 17 political parties there is no effective opposition and many popular opposition politicians have gone into…
Two stories about gunmen in today’s news
Today there are two stories about gunmen in the Phnom Penh newspapers. The local story is about a ‘Phantom Gunman’ who – twice this week – has driven through different neighborhoods at night and fired 3 to 4 shots into the air before driving off. The other story is the horrific and tragically familiar school…
Cambodian Prime Minster condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine
Historically, Cambodia has been the victim of proxy wars between nations such as Thailand, Viet Nam, France, Japan, China, U.S.S.R., and the United States. In the 1940s, King Norodom Sihanouk negotiated a bloodless end to the Japanese occupation of Cambodia and peaceful independence from France. In the decade that followed Cambodia emerged as a bright…
TADA! Electric Tuk Tuk made in Cambodia!
When I lived here from 2006 to 2009, it was easy to get a moto taxi or tuk-tuk…but you’d have to hope they knew where you wanted to go and negotiate a price beforehand to avoid paying a hefty foreigner increase. It was quite normal back then to get someone who answered “oh yes, I…
Voltra Electric Motos
Last August I shared that MCC Cambodia was planning to purchase locally manufactured electric motos in a budget neutral by selling our old gasoline motos. The new electric are more affordable than gas motos and, additionally, being made in Cambodia do not have an import tax pushing the cost higher. So we were able to…
A new normal for flooding in Cambodia
Seasonal flooding is a feature of traditional Cambodian life. For thousands of years the rising waters of the Mekong river have brought rich silt that replenished farmland, water to irrigate rice paddies, and an abundance of fish. In a few weeks Cambodia will celebrate Water Festival, the regional holiday that celebrates the high waters of…
30th Anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements
Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements. In 2019, the anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements was removed as a national holiday but the 30th anniversary is being commemorated with a 30,000 riel bill. Like most Cambodian currency, it features the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk. Notably, it is the first…