Samphan must denounce Pol Pot first: Ranariddh<\/p>\n
PHNOM PENH (Agencies): Nominal Khmer Rouge leader Khieu
\nSamphan will have to denounce Pol Pot before he can meet the
\npress at Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border, Prince
\nNorodom Ranariddh said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The royalist FUNCINPEC party chief and co-prime minister said
\nfellow premier Hun Sen was not willing to provide army
\nhelicopters to take journalists to the remote rebel base.<\/p>\n
As a result, the planned news conference will have to wait
\nuntil Khieu Samphan makes a unilateral declaration that he has
\nsplit from Pol Pot and supports the royal government and the
\nCambodian constitution, Prince Ranariddh said.<\/p>\n
\"I have asked Khieu Samphan to make his unilateral declaration
\nfirst (over clandestine Khmer Rouge radio),\" he told AFP.<\/p>\n
The prince said he would then once again ask Hun Sen, leader
\nof the formerly-communist Cambodian People's Party (CPP), to
\nagree to the use of military helicopters.<\/p>\n
If Hun Sen was still opposed, Prince Ranaraddh said: \"I will
\nsend journalists on a FUNCINPEC helicopter.\"<\/p>\n
Investigate<\/p>\n
In a separate development, the Washington Post reported that
\nU.S. agents investigating a March 30 grenade attack in Phnom Penh
\nwhich killed over 20 people are tentatively blaming personal
\nbodyguard forces of Second Prime Minister Hun Sen,<\/p>\n
The paper yesterday quoted four unidentified United States
\ngovernment sources as saying that conclusion was contained in a
\nclassified, preliminary report after agents conducted a two-month
\ninvestigation.<\/p>\n
The agents were sent to Cambodia under a U.S. law that gives
\nthe Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) jurisdiction whenever an
\nAmerican citizen is injured by terrorism.<\/p>\n
Ron Abney, 55, of Cochran, Georgia, who was with the
\nInternational Republican Institute, which promotes democracy, was
\namong more than 100 people wounded in the grenade attack.<\/p>\n
In the attack, four grenades were thrown into a crowd during a
\ndemonstration led by Khmer Nation Party president Sam Rainsy in
\nfront of the National Assembly building.<\/p>\n
Human rights supporters and many members of parliament blamed
\nHun Sen and his rival People's Party of being behind the attack.<\/p>\n
The Post said the tentative FBI report suggested that soldiers
\nacting as personal bodyguards to Hun Sen permitted the grenades
\nto be thrown and then interfered with ambulances and taxicabs
\nattempting to carry away the victims.<\/p>\n
The FBI presence in Cambodia ended prematurely after agents
\nreportedly told Sam Rainsy that witnesses had been intimidated.<\/p>\n
The Post said U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Quinn also told the
\nagents that they had been targeted for assassination and could
\nnot be protected adequately. The investigation is continuing.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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