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Tuesday June 19, 9:15 PM Cambodia's donors open talks focused on corruption Photo: AFP Click to enlarge PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia's donors opened their annual aid talks Tuesday concerned that rampant corruption remains a huge problem as they decide how much to pledge this year to the impoverished country. International aid makes up about half of the country's national budget, and donors last year offered just over 600 million dollars but said they remained deeply frustrated at the government's failure to enact key reforms. "The fight against corruption remains the number one concern of the donor community, as it underpins our efforts in every other sector," US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli told AFP in an interview before this week's meeting. At the core of concern is the government's failure to pass anti-corruption legislation to tackle graft that plagues all levels of governance. Cambodia was ranked 151 out of 163 countries in Transparency International's 2006 corruption index, which compares graft levels in governments around the world. Prime Minister Hun Sen said in his opening address that the government was acutely aware that "corruption is a dangerous cancer" which needed to be tackled "without compromise." But opposition politicians say Hun Sen's administration has been unreasonably slow to act on donor demands for reform. "Non-transparent land reforms and the creeping pace of judicial reforms lead us to believe that what is lacking is not a plan, but rather political will," the Sam Rainsy Party said in a statement. International groups have also come down hard on both the government and donors, who were taken to task this year for allowing Cambodia to slide along with little progress on reform. "Cambodia's donors have been staggeringly complacent," said Simon Taylor, director of the London-based Global Witness group, whose blistering report on illegal logging by Cambodia's elite was banned by the government. "The five billion (dollars) in aid ploughed into Cambodia in the past decade has yielded little in return for the donors or the Cambodian people," said Brad Adams, Asia director for the group Human Rights Watch. "It is time for a clear and unambiguous signal to be sent to the government ... Hun Sen continues to run circles around the donors, making the same empty promises every year and laughing all the way to the bank," he added. Donors acknowledged that reforms have not gone ahead as quickly as hoped, but said this should not overshadow the progress made by Cambodia. The country has achieved double-digit economic growth for the past several years while financial reforms have also been put in place, donors said. "In conjunction with rising economic fortunes are higher hopes and expectations for tackling some of the more difficult reforms," the donors said. The meeting got off to a rocky start after eight foreign protesters were detained outside the venue. The protesters were demanding the release of two men who many observers feel were wrongly jailed in 2004 for killing labour leader Chea Vichea. "They are calling for justice, they wanted these two men released," said Kek Galabru, president of the Cambodian rights group Licadho. She said the detentions could hurt Cambodia's image as donors sit down to discuss the country's reform progress. "The donors will see freedom in Cambodia is decreasing," she told AFP. Cambodia remains one of the world's poorest countries after decades of civil war and government mismanagement. About 35 percent of the county's 14 million people live on less than 50 US cents a day.