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."