Govt officials now in defactors' bases: Hun Sen
Govt officials now in defactors' bases: Hun Sen
KORN PISEY, Cambodia (Agencies): Government officials have entered the former Khmer Rouge strongholds of Pailin and Phnom Malai to make arrangements for their return to civil administration, Cambodian co-Premier Hun Sen said yesterday.
The arrival of the officials, thought to be from the ministries of defense, interior and finance, comes a day after three senior Khmer Rouge officials, including Ieng Sary, the former number two in the faction, defected to Phnom Penh with their men and turned their bases over to the government.
"I want to clarify that now people from the royal government are there," Hun Sen said, referring to Pailin in the northwest province of Battambang and Phnom Malai in the northwest province of Banteay Meanchey.
Speaking to reporters after inaugurating a new school in this town southeast of the capital, Hun Sen said negotiations with the former commanders had gone smoothly.
"I want to tell you that everything was prepared very well," Hun Sen said.
But military analysts and diplomats in Phnom Penh cautioned that perhaps not all the Khmer Rouge forces in the two areas had defected.
"I find it pretty hard to believe that the whole shooting match is over at Pailin and Malai," said one analyst, noting that Khmer Rouge radio, thought to broadcast from Phnom Malai, was still on the air and calling the three defectors "traitors" who had sold out the movement.
The clandestine radio station called for the arrest of division commanders Mit Chien and Sok Pheap yesterday morning. The radio also repeated allegations of treason against Ieng Sary.
In Phnom Penh, meanwhile, King Norodom Sihanouk has rejected a call to arbitrate in the row between the country's joint premiers, saying his poor health meant he should not become embroiled in politics, a palace statement said.
The call was made earlier this week by opposition Khmer Nation Party (KNP) leader Sam Rainsy, who said the war of words between First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Second Prime Minister Hun Sen was "a source of serious concern for the short- term evolution of the political situation".
"The KNP urges the two prime ministers to unanimously and respectfully seek the arbitration of His Majesty the king to settle their dispute in he interests of the country," Rainsy said in an Aug. 5 statement.
But the 73-year-old Sihanouk said Rainsy should be seeking the intervention of the country's leading monks rather than asking him to get involved in the problem.