forests

the khmer rouge and the funding of the civil war

In January 1995 two Global Witness investigators carried out a field investigation along the Thai Cambodia border. Their findings were staggering. Although official Thai policy was of non-cooperation with the Khmer Rouge, Global Witness visited numerous logging companies who dealt directly with the guerrillas, paying between US$35-90 per m3 for the logs they felled. The Thai Government, in an attempt to 'legitimise' a trade they denied the existence of, demanded that the loggers obtain a certificate of origin for the logs, from the Phnom Penh government. Surprisingly these certificates were forthcoming. The Cambodian government charged the loggers a flat rate of US$35 per m3 for the provision of these certificates, thus enabling their battlefield enemy to raise the funds with which to pursue their war effort.

Khmer Rouge pass
Logging pass issued by the Khmer Rouge

Global Witness published its first report shortly after this investigation, and used it to alert the international community to the scale of the trade, and of Thailand's complicity in it. The report was taken to Washington and various European capitals to convince policy makers that the information was credible. The initial response was, generally, extremely cautious but the issue was raised in various bilateral meetings between the UK and US, and Thailand.

In May 1995 Global Witness followed up this investigation and unearthed documentary evidence of Thai complicity in the trade in the form of import documents for Khmer Rouge sourced timber, signed by the Thai Interior Minister. Global Witness was also able to estimate the value of the cross-border timber trade which was, at that time, between US$10-20 million per month. This information was used to lobby for a change in existing US legislation. A clause within the FY95 US Foreign Operations Act stated that US assistance would not be given to any country determined to be cooperating militarily with the Khmer Rouge. Global Witness visited Congress and the State Department in Washington, to present their evidence and demand that the act be invoked. Extensive media exposure had an immediate and lasting effect. On May 27th, five months after Global Witness' campaign had begun, the Thai Prime Minister ordered the border closed. Apart from a two week period in December 1996 the border has remained closed to the log trade, except for small-scale isolated incidents.

The 'Million Metre Deal'

In April 1996 Global Witness obtained documents authorising the export of 1.1 million m3 of logs from Cambodia to Thailand. What became known as the 'million metre deal' consisted of three letters, marked 'confidential', addressed to the Thai Prime Minister and signed by Cambodia's co-Prime Ministers. The repercussions following the exposure of this deal marked the beginning of serious forestry reform in Cambodia, and the demise of the Khmer Rouge.

The Thai loggers claimed that these logs, felled in the past and stranded by the timber export ban would rot if they were not utilised. Global Witness' investigations showed that that loggers were, in fact, cutting to order, and paying the Khmer Rouge between US$35-90 per m3. All along the Thai border log workers were arriving from elsewhere in Thailand, to take part in this bonanza that would earn the Khmer Rouge between US$35-90 million from a deal brokered by the leadership of the government with which they were at war.

The exposure of this deal resulted in massive press coverage and extreme concern within the international community, not only because of the benefits for the Khmer Rouge, but because none of the revenue from the deal was scheduled to reach the government's coffers. As a direct result the IMF froze the next (US$20 million) tranche of its Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) and threatened the lapsing of this support if the Cambodian government failed to implement forestry reforms. The IMF were true to their word and in November 1996 the ESAF lapsed. This strong action placed forestry at the top of the international agenda for Cambodia.

The Cambodian government undertook to ensure that only timber felled prior to 30th April 1995, the final date that any legal felling could have taken place, would be permitted for export. Global Witness monitored the imports into Thailand and noted that virtually all the timber was newly felled. Global Witness publicised this theft of vast quantities of timber and the Cambodian government ordered the border closed just two weeks after it opened. The Thai companies had insufficient time to export the timber they had felled and left over 50% behind. This remaining timber was to become a bargaining counter for peace, and indeed was pivotal in negotiations surrounding Khmer Rouge defections.