Obama urged to denounce rights abuses in Cambodia

BANGKOK (AP) - A human rights group is urging US President Barack Obama to address abuses in Cambodia during a visit this month to the South-east Asian country, the first by a US president.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report on Tuesday that more than 300 people have been killed in politically motivated attacks in the past two decades under the rule of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The report suggested that senior Cambodian government officials and security forces have been involved in a series of serious rights abuses since Cambodia signed peace agreements in 1991 to pave the way for democracy.

It said officials who were allegedly responsible for extrajudicial killings and other abuses against opposition politicians, security forces, activists and journalists have not been prosecuted, and instead were rewarded.