Hun Sen rejects rivals' dmands to hold talks outside Cambodia

Hun Sen rejects rivals' dmands to hold talks outside Cambodia

PHNOM PENH (AP): Cambodian leader Hun Sen on Friday rejected
opposition parties' demands for talks outside the country,
accusing them of trying to "internationalize" the political
crisis.

Government and opposition parties have asked King Norodom
Sihanouk to host a summit meeting after a series of post-election
negotiations between the two opposition groups and Hun Sen's
party to form a new government failed.

Opposition leaders Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy,
citing Hun Sen's threats to arrest opposition figures after two
alleged attempts on his life, said they could not negotiate
freely in Cambodia and called for talks at Sihanouk's residence
in Beijing.

Hun Sen, however, rejected that. "I would like to make it
clear that all meetings related to Cambodian affairs must be
conducted in the Kingdom of Cambodia," Hun Sen told reporters
after a Cabinet meeting on Friday.

"No-one should internationalize Cambodian affairs. It is
detrimental to the sovereignty of Cambodia," he said.

Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won 64 of the 122
parliamentary seats in July's elections, short of the two-thirds
majority needed to form a government on its own.

Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy have charged that Hun Sen's victory
in the elections was achieved through widespread fraud.

They have demanded a thorough investigation into their
election complaints as a precondition for their cooperation in
getting the national assembly moving and a new government formed.

Hun Sen said on Friday that the opposition concerns over their
safety in the country was "just an excuse for them to stay
abroad."

Both Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy have been outside the country
since parliament was ceremonially opened on Sept. 24.

Sam Rainsy and a number of opposition figures have been under
court investigation for a grenade attack on Hun Sen's Phnom Penh
residence on Sept. 7.