Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defense blasted into cyberspace over the weekend with the launch of a new Web site showcasing the reform plans for the country’s Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, a senior military official said on Monday.
The site, www.mond.gov.kh, contains a chart of the defense ministry’s command structure, a list of all the top RCAF brass and English and Khmer editions of the Defense White Paper 2000 and Strategic Review 2002.
It is aimed at increasing transparency around Cambodian military reform.
“No doubt this Web site is for everyone; it can be for our security partners and members of RCAF who have not received the Defense Strategic Review,” said Brigadier General Suon Samnang, the ministry’s deputy director of international relations.
“But our main purpose is to explain to outsiders about RCAF’s reform activities,” Suon Samnang said.
Cambodia’s cash-strapped, troop-heavy military is in dire need of new equipment and a revamped command structure.
However, efforts to demobilize the first 15,000 soldiers from RCAF ranks have stumbled.
The demobilization process was seen as a test of the government’s commitment to stand-down its burgeoning military and build a reformed, peace-time army.
The Ministry of Defense next week will discuss plans to regularly update the site with new information related to the role of the country’s armed forces, particularly their involvement in humanitarian efforts, Suon Samnang said.
