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SV PAN to Ministry of Foreign Affairs building
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SV Thomas Enders and Chhan Sokhum prepare to sign agreement. Zoom in to Enders signing
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The United States signed an agreement in the besieged city of Phnom Penh on Saturday (September 29) giving the Khmer Government another three million dollars.

The money will be used to import essential commodities including spare parts, industrial equipment, lorries and chemicals.

The total economic aid from the United States to the Khmer government since July amounts to 23.5 million dollars (GBP 9 million).

Charge d'Affaires Thomas Enders signed the agreement with his excellency Chhan Sokhum, Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The day after the signing the Communist insurgents surrounding Phnom Penh forced a Government retreat from Dei Kraham, a village 12 miles (20 km) south of the capital. The High Command said government troops had dropped back a mile to positions on the Prek Thnot River, but the situation was not critical.

SYNOPSIS: The United States gave the Khmer Republic another three million dollars in the besieged capital Phnom Penh on Saturday. American Charge d'Affaires Thomas Enders signed the agreement with His Excellency Chhan Sokhum, the Khmer Republic's Foreign Affairs Minister. The money will be used to import essential commodities, spare parts, industrial equipment, lorries and chemicals. The Khmer Government has now had twenty-three-and-a-half million dollars American aid since July.

But the day after the signing the Communist insurgents surrounding the city forced government troops to retreat from the village of Dei Kraham to positions on the Prek Thnot river, eleven miles south of Phnom Penh. A High Command spokesman said reinforcements had been moved in but the situation was not critical.