PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The United States has agreed to give $1.8 million to Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal, its first contribution to the long-awaited trial of Pol Pot's top surviving henchmen for the atrocities of the "Killing Fields".U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Tuesday concerns about corruption at the court were now outweighed by the need for Washington to participate in the closing pages of one of the 20th century's darkest chapters.

An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, starvation or disease during Pol Pot's disastrous four-year agrarian revolution in the late 1970s.

"There have been some issues about the management of the court but these are not reasons to the level where we felt that justifies withholding any contribution to the court any further," Negroponte said during a visit to the southeast Asian country.

As well as meeting Prime Minister Hun Sen -- a former Khmer Rouge soldier who lost an eye in the final assault on Phnom Penh in 1975 -- Negroponte visited S-21, the high school that became the ultra-Maoist regime's main interrogation and torture centre.

The tribunal, a complicated mix of Cambodian and international law, is trying to secure an extra $87 million in funding on top of an initial budget of $56 million to allow it to run to 2010.

Five top Khmer Rouge cadres have been charged with war crimes or crimes against humanity and are now in custody, awaiting trial. Pol Pot himself died in 1998 in the final Khmer Rouge redoubt of Anlong Veng on the Thai border.

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The United States has agreed to give $1.8 million to Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal, its first contribution to the long-awaited trial of Pol Pot's top surviving henchmen for the atrocities of the "Killing Fields".U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Tuesday concerns about corruption at the court were now outweighed by the need for Washington to participate in the closing pages of one of the 20th century's darkest chapters.

An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, starvation or disease during Pol Pot's disastrous four-year agrarian revolution in the late 1970s.

"There have been some issues about the management of the court but these are not reasons to the level where we felt that justifies withholding any contribution to the court any further," Negroponte said during a visit to the southeast Asian country.

As well as meeting Prime Minister Hun Sen -- a former Khmer Rouge soldier who lost an eye in the final assault on Phnom Penh in 1975 -- Negroponte visited S-21, the high school that became the ultra-Maoist regime's main interrogation and torture centre.

The tribunal, a complicated mix of Cambodian and international law, is trying to secure an extra $87 million in funding on top of an initial budget of $56 million to allow it to run to 2010.

Five top Khmer Rouge cadres have been charged with war crimes or crimes against humanity and are now in custody, awaiting trial. Pol Pot himself died in 1998 in the final Khmer Rouge redoubt of Anlong Veng on the Thai border.

Sunday’s general election fell short of international standards, EU election observers said Tuesday, questioning the impartiality of the National Election Committee amid accusations that names were intentionally deleted from voter rolls.

“We cannot give a definite answer as to whether the election was really free and fair,” Martin Callanan, chief observer of the EU mission, told reporters.

“There were both good aspects and bad aspects to the electoral process. The overall process was peaceful and well-administered. However, there has been some questioning of the NEC’s impartiality. The NEC was seen to delegate tasks to groups known to be aligned to political parties and organisations.”

“We regret the erosion of public confidence in the electoral process caused by these errors with the voter lists,” said Hang Puthea, president of election monitor Nicfec.

Some 50,000 names appear to have been erased from voter registration lists, Callanan had said, disenfranchising many voters.

But the number of missing names would not likely affect the outcome of the polls, he added, saying deletions “would have had to be on a very large scale order to nullify the election results.”

Callanan said that EU observers saw no evidence of “serious political malpractice”, saying,
“Ultimately it is up to the Cambodian people to accept or reject the results. If there is evidence of serious political malpractice, we haven’t seen it yet."

Other monitors also said the vote was not up to Western standards, even in the absence of the serious violence that has marred past polls.

“If we do say this election was ‘free and fair’, we cannot say it was up to Western standards,” said Thun Saray, a board member of the Cambodian election watchdog Comfrel.

Sunday’s general election fell short of international standards, EU election observers said Tuesday, questioning the impartiality of the National Election Committee amid accusations that names were intentionally deleted from voter rolls.

“We cannot give a definite answer as to whether the election was really free and fair,” Martin Callanan, chief observer of the EU mission, told reporters.

“There were both good aspects and bad aspects to the electoral process. The overall process was peaceful and well-administered. However, there has been some questioning of the NEC’s impartiality. The NEC was seen to delegate tasks to groups known to be aligned to political parties and organisations.”

“We regret the erosion of public confidence in the electoral process caused by these errors with the voter lists,” said Hang Puthea, president of election monitor Nicfec.

Some 50,000 names appear to have been erased from voter registration lists, Callanan had said, disenfranchising many voters.

But the number of missing names would not likely affect the outcome of the polls, he added, saying deletions “would have had to be on a very large scale order to nullify the election results.”

Callanan said that EU observers saw no evidence of “serious political malpractice”, saying,
“Ultimately it is up to the Cambodian people to accept or reject the results. If there is evidence of serious political malpractice, we haven’t seen it yet."

Other monitors also said the vote was not up to Western standards, even in the absence of the serious violence that has marred past polls.

“If we do say this election was ‘free and fair’, we cannot say it was up to Western standards,” said Thun Saray, a board member of the Cambodian election watchdog Comfrel.