"I have written to the Minister of Telecommunications to delay the use of certain mobile phones," Hun Sen told an assembly of Buddhist monks in Phnom Penh Friday. "We can wait 10 more years until we have managed to improve morality in society."

Hun Sen, a one-eyed former Khmer Rouge soldier who has been in charge for the past 20 years, said his wife had signed a petition asking him to act against the phones, which can send video as well as still images.

Sexual violence and abuse are common in the war-scarred Southeast Asian nation.

Cambodia's first 3G (third-generation) mobile network opened earlier this year, but few people can afford the phones.

(c) Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

In related news, Sokum is still trying to figure out where those photos went that he took with his new cellphone...Hrmmmm?