Salon.com > Cambodia

America’s fixer in Cambodia

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

PHNOM PENH -- Bretton Sciaroni, an American expatriate and former ideologue of Ronald Reagan's White House, makes a most unusual power broker in contemporary Cambodia. The portly Sciaroni is an official advisor to the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, a one-time Khmer Rouge cadre. The Cambodian government has bestowed on Sciaroni the titles Minister Without Portfolio and His Excellency. From his office in an exclusive section of the city -- neighbors include the president of the ruling party -- he runs a consulting firm that brokers business deals on behalf of foreign investors -- deals that often benefit well-connected companies and individuals like Sciaroni himself.

Sciaroni also appears to be a chief intermediary between the U.S. government and Cambodia, which has emerged in recent years as an unlikely American ally. The U.S. cut most assistance to Cambodia in 1997 after Hun Sen staged a coup but resumed aid a decade later. Competition with China for influence in the region and growing trade ties -- the United States buys more than half of Cambodia’s apparel production, its primary export -- are the primary factors behind the political warming. It probably didn’t hurt that Cambodia struck oil and Chevron got a stake in the most promising field. Today Cambodia is the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia and the Philippines. And Brett Sciaroni is, at least politically, the biggest American in the country.

Over 330 die in stampede at Cambodian festival

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 20:37:00 +0000

Thousands of Cambodians celebrating a water festival on an island in a river in the capital stampeded Monday night, leaving more than 330 people dead and hundreds injured. Some in the panicky crowd who tried to flee over a bridge were crushed underfoot or fell over its sides into the water.

Ambulances raced back and forth between the river and the hospitals for several hours after the stampede. Calmette Hospital, the capital's main medical facility, was filled to capacity with bodies as well as patients, some of whom had to be treated in hallways. Many of the injured appeared to be badly hurt, raising the prospect that the death toll could rise as local hospitals became overwhelmed.

Hours after the chaos, the dead and injured were still being taken away from the scene, while searchers looked for bodies of anyone who might have drowned. An Associated Press reporter saw one body floating in the river, and hundreds of shoes left behind on and around the bridge.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, in the third of three post-midnight live television broadcasts, said that 339 people had been killed and 329 injured. He described the chaos as the "biggest tragedy" to strike his country since the communist Khmer Rouge ruled in a reign of terror in the 1970s, and ordered an investigation.

At least 190 die in stampede at Cambodian festival

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:19:00 +0000

Thousands of Cambodians celebrating a water festival on an island in a river in the capital stampeded Monday night, leaving at least 190 people dead and the area littered with hundreds of injured. As the panic grew, the crowd tried to flee over a bridge, and many fell over its sides into the water.

Ambulances raced back and forth between the river and the hospitals for several hours after the stampede, while onlookers and relatives waited outside the medical facilities. Many of the injured appeared to be badly hurt, raising the prospect that the death toll could rise sharply as local hospitals could easily become overwhelmed.

Hours after the chaos, hundreds of shoes still lay on the bridge over the Tonle Sap river and the area underneath. Searchers looked for bodies of anyone who might have drowned, and an AP reporter saw one body floating in the river.

Prime Minister Hun Sen made two live television broadcasts after midnight, giving a preliminary death toll of 181 that he later increased to 190. The website of the newspaper Kampuchea Thmey cited Gen. Sao Sokha, chief of the military police, as saying the death toll could be close to 300, according to information from four hospitals to which bodies were taken.