Cambodian oxen predict peace

The oxen were given seven bowls to choose from

Every year, at the beginning of Cambodia's ploughing season, the country's royal cows predict the year ahead.

This year, the six sacred oxen foretold a dry but peaceful 12 months.

The animals imparted their wisdom by choosing which food to eat from a range of dishes put before them.

This year, they ate a healthy diet of beans and rice, but declined the dish of alcohol - which signifies war and turmoil.

Observers hoped the prophecy boded well for July's general elections, which in the past have led to violent clashes.

"The prediction is that we will have a good crop for this year," royal astrologer Kong Ken told a crowd of several thousand at the ceremony in Phnom Penh.

"But we also pray for regular rain so it can feed the crops," he said.

Annual tradition

During Monday's ceremony, the cows ploughed three times round a field in front of the capital's National Museum, with their horns clothed in red and gold.

The ancient ceremony marks the beginning of the rice planting season, an important event for the millions of Cambodians dependent on small-scale farming for their livelihoods.

Neit Sarath, a 51-year-old villager from the eastern province of Prey Veng, said he was pleased with the cows' prediction.

"I'm very happy and I think the rice products for this year will be good because there has been a lot of rain," he told the French news agency AFP.

But the royal cows have not always been right.

Last year, they finished an entire bowl of rice, raising hopes for a huge harvest, but the late arrival of the wet season rains severely affected the annual crop.

And in 2001, they failed to predict the floods which claimed 56 lives.