Co-premiers return from Jakarta<\/p>\n
PHNOM PENH (AFP): Cambodia's bickering co-premiers returned
\nhome from a summit of leaders from the Association of Southeast
\nAsian Nations (ASEAN) yesterday to reports of factional violence
\nin the country's northwest.<\/p>\n
Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen smiled as they alighted
\nfrom a government jet from Jakarta but stepped into their waiting
\ncars with only cursory comments to reporters.<\/p>\n
The prince said the ASEAN meeting was \"very successful\".
\nLeaders of the regional economic grouping decided that Myanmar,
\nCambodia and Laos would be admitted as full members at a yet-to-
\nbe decided date,<\/p>\n
\"They have said the three countries... will be admitted
\nsimultaneously,\" he said as he got into his car.<\/p>\n
Hun Sen brushed aside questions saying only \"Good\" when asked
\nabout the meeting which was the co-premiers' first public
\nappearance together in weeks, following a sharp rise in political
\ntension between their two parties.<\/p>\n
The prince said that he and Hun Sen had spoken about the
\npolitical situation and that they had agreed to try to end the
\ntension.<\/p>\n
\"We are all together,\" he said. \"We hope that from now on
\nthere will be political stability.\"<\/p>\n
However, in the premiers' absence, the tension flared into
\nviolence in the northwest town of Sisophon where at least five
\ncivilians were wounded in a Saturday shooting incident between
\nsoldiers and police.<\/p>\n
The civilians were wounded when police affiliated with Hun
\nSen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) opened fire to stop a
\nvehicle carrying soldiers backing the prince's royalist FUNCINPEC
\nparty, said Serey Kosal, the deputy governor of Battambang
\nprovince, just south of Sisophon.<\/p>\n
Details were sketchy but a senior Defense Ministry official,
\nconfirming the incident had occurred, said it was \"very minor.\"
\nSerey Kosal, a FUNCINPEC member, however, said the situation
\nthreatened to get out of control when police attempted to go
\nafter the soldiers in an armored personnel carrier.<\/p>\n
The soldiers, who had stopped near the central market in
\nSisophon, then radioed for assistance and the tension was eased
\nby the arrival of several senior military commanders from the
\narea, he said.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 22, Serey Kosal wrote to the two prime ministers
\ntelling them that he would use all necessary force to stop
\nalleged efforts by CPP officials in Battambang province to
\ndestroy FUNCINPEC and the coalition government.<\/p>\n
That matter was thought to have been settled when senior
\ndelegations from the defense and interior ministries were sent to
\nBattambang to calm things down.<\/p>\n
Serey Kosal's letter followed Nov. 16 accusations from alleged
\nKhmer Rouge defectors in Phnom Penh that the royalists had
\nconspired to cover up links between the guerrilla movement and an
\nopposition party.<\/p>\n
Three days after the allegations were made, Hun Sen's brother-
\nin-law, a senior interior ministry official, was gunned down in a
\ndaylight assassination -- an act which Hun Sen said was an
\nattempt to intimidate other Khmer Rouge from defecting and
\nrevealing incriminating information.<\/p>\n
Prince Ranariddh vehemently denied the accusations, but the
\ndefectors who made their claims at a press conference at Hun
\nSen's home, have since repeated them and said the prince's
\ndenials constituted treason as they interfered with attempts to
\nlure more of their colleagues to the government side.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/co-premiers-return-from-jakarta-1447893297",
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