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PHNOM PENH: Officials at Cambodia’s UN-backed genocide tribunal
said they were confident the cash-strapped court would be able to
gather the funds needed to stay on schedule and put surviving Khmer
Rouge leaders on trial.
Court officials last month warned that without a
cash infusion, those tribunal operations under Cambodian control
could face bankruptcy by May, while concerns were raised that staff
might not get paid after April.
Money troubles also threatened to further delay
the UN-managed operations, which face a budget shortfall later this
year, prompting officials to head to the United Nations in New York
last month to petition for more funds.
Helen Jarvis, spokeswoman for the Cambodian
side, said Wednesday that a pledge this month of $450,000 from
Australia and earnings on the exchange rate between the euro and the
dollar would keep the Cambodian half of the tribunal afloat for the
time being.
“The final picture now is that we expect to
have enough funds to the end of July for the Cambodian side,”
Jarvis told Agence France-Presse.
Originally budgeted at $56.3 million over three
years, the tribunal, which opened in 2006 after nearly a decade of
wrangling between the UN and Cambodia, raised its cost estimates to
$170 million in January.
International backers appear hesitant to pledge
more money to the process amid allegations of mismanagement and
political interference.
-- AFP
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