Ranariddh plans March 30 return to Cambodia: Aide

Ranariddh plans March 30 return to Cambodia: Aide

BANGKOK (Agencies): Ousted Cambodian first premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh plans to return to Cambodia on March 30 following his pardon by his father, an aide said yesterday.

"He will return on Monday the 30th," Kong Vibol told Reuters from Ranariddh's residence.

King Norodom Sihanouk last Saturday granted full amnesty to his son, who earlier this month was convicted in absentia of security crimes following his ouster in July by co-Premier Hun Sen.

Ranariddh left Phnom Penh before the coup and now is in Bangkok. The amnesty cleared the way for the prince to go home and contest the July 26 general elections.

Two military courts had sentenced Ranariddh to a total of 35 years in jail for smuggling weapons and plotting a coup and ordered him to pay more than $50 million in damages from the July fighting between his forces and government troops.

Kong Vibol, a close aide of the prince, said it had not been decided where Ranariddh would live when he returned to Phnom Penh. The prince's residence was ransacked last July and Kong Vibol said all his belongings were taken.

Ranariddh met several ambassadors yesterday including Japan's envoy. Japan brokered the peace deal between Hun Sen and Ranariddh that paved the way for the amnesty and the prince's return.

Hiroshi Ota, the Japanese ambassador to Thailand, said after meeting Ranariddh that Japan was concerned about the prince's safety when he returns to Phnom Penh.

"We have concern that the safe return of the prince to Cambodia and the safe conduct of political campaigns," he told reporters outside Ranariddh's residence.

Ranariddh narrowly won the last election in 1993 but agreed to a power-sharing coalition when Hun Sen contested the results. Ota said the Cambodian government needed to ensure Ranariddh's safe return and allow a political campaign before the elections scheduled for July.

"The primary responsibility rests with the Cambodian government and the United Nations will monitor such measures," he said. "So that is the framework of securing the safe return and the (safe) political campaign of the prince."

Ota said he was "cautiously optimistic" that free and fair elections could be held.

In Phnom Penh, the government said yesterday that it did not intend to provide any special treatment or protection for next week's planned return of Ranariddh.

"Prince Ranariddh's return is not the return of a prime minister, it is only the return of the head of one political party ... so we will not have the red carpet for him," said interior ministry spokesman Khieu Sohpeak.

"But of course, the royal government and the ministry of interior will take every possible measure to safeguard and protect Ranariddh as well as any other politician."

More than 40 of the prince's supporters were executed following his ouster, but the government has given assurances to the UN that the safety and security of the prince and other opposition politicians will be protected.

There was no immediate reaction to the announcement of the return from powerful Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, who effectively ousted the prince but cleared the way for his return by appealing to King Norodom Sihanouk to grant a pardon erasing Prince Ranariddh's convictions on two criminal counts.

"There is nothing to say," said Prak Sokhon, a senior advisor to Hun Sen. "Hun Sen himself asked the king for the pardon, so of course he is welcome."