( Cambodia's aid donors await new g

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Subject: ( Cambodia's aid donors await new government)

( Cambodia's aid donors await new government)-->

 PHNOM PENH, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Cambodia's main aid donors are awaiting the
formation  
of a new government before meeting to decide on assistance for the
impoverished country, officials  
said on Tuesday. 

 The Consultative Group, which includes various donors to Cambodia such as
lending agencies and  
countries such as Japan, were hoping to meet in Tokyo in the months
following Cambodia's  
July 26 election, possibly in November. 

 But no date for the gathering has yet been set as Cambodia's rival parties  
have yet to agree on a government, officials said. 

 "The consultative planning group is not being planned," said one official
at an international  
organisation who asked not to be identified. 

 The official said it would be wrong to say the donors' meeting had been  
postponed as no date for it was ever fixed. 

 "There was no such planning as such, but earlier in the year we all  
thought, if a government was in position, it would be good to have it in  
November or early December," he said. 

 Cambodia's rival parties have yet to agree on a new coalition government
almost three  
months after the July 26 election won by premier Hun Sen's ruling party. 

 An official in Hun Sen's office said there had been a suggestion that Hun  
Sen might go to Japan around the time of the donors' meeting but the absence  
of an agreement on a government meant nothing had been confirmed. 

 "Yes, there was something like that but now nothing is sure because the
government  
is not formed yet," said Prak Sokhonn, a top aide to the premier, when asked  
if Hun Sen had been planning a trip to Japan in November. 

 The Consultative Group meets annually but it last met in Paris in early
July  
last year, just before Hun Sen toppled his then senior co-premier and
coalition partner, Prince  
Norodom Ranariddh. 

 The group pledged Cambodia $450 million in aid at the July 1997 meeting, or  
around half the government's annual budget. 

 Some foreign aid was cut following Hun Sen's takeover in July last year
while  
many donors said they would await the outcome of the election in July this
year  
before making new commitments. 

 Hun Sen's ruling party won the election but failed to secure enough seats
to  
rule alone. The opposition, led by Ranariddh, is refusing to join a
coalition, thus blocking  
formation of a government, until various demands are met, including
complaints about alleged electoral irregularities.  

 An official at another international financial institution said donors
were becoming frustrated with the  
delay. 

 "All donor agencies are stuck, not knowing what to do, who to talk to.  
There's a lot of frustration among the donor community," said the official,
who asked not  
to be named. "That's an example of how this turmoil is effecting the
country," he  
said, referring to the lack of plans for the donor group meeting. 

 A senior U.N. economic official warned on Monday that Cambodia, one of the
world's  
poorest countries, was losing momentum in its fight against poverty and he
called on politicians  
to focus on the problem. 

 Cambodia's seat at the United Nations, left vacant after Ranariddh was
ousted, and its  
entry into the Association of South East Asian Nations, postponed at the
same time, also  
hinge on the formation of a government.