Friday, April 2, 2010

US Assist. Sec. Philip J. Crowley's press briefing on the suspension of US military aid to Cambodia

Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
April 1, 2010

Source: US Department of State
TRANSCRIPT:

1:14 p.m. EST

MR. CROWLEY: Good afternoon and welcome to the Department of State. A couple of you were with us in New York yesterday when the international community came together in a significant way to support Haiti’s short- and long-term recovery. There was $5.3 billion pledged for 2010 and 2011 to cover the immediate needs of Haiti, and then a total of $9.8 billion pledged towards reconstruction and the support of essential social services, governance, and broad-based sustainable development. Donors, of course, will be guided by the principles agreed upon earlier this year in Montreal. The recovery effort will be Haitian-led, inclusive, accountable and transparent, and this started yesterday as pledges were announced in real time, coordinated, results-oriented and sustainable.
The United States pledged $1.15 billion, and this will go towards reconstruction and multilateral debt relief. And we look forward to the establishment of the multi-donor trust fund at the World Bank and the formation of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission that will be co-chaired by Prime Minister Bellerive and former President Clinton.
We mentioned back in December our concern about the Cambodian Government returning 20 Uighur asylum-seekers to China, which contradicted earlier statements by the government that they would honor their international obligations by working with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees regarding – to determine whether these individuals qualified as refugees. And we expressed our concern at the time. We have recently – on March 19th – informed the Cambodian Government that, as a consequence, we are suspending the provision of excess defense articles, including new shipments of trucks and trailers as a consequence of the government’s action.

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