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White paper sets out charges agains
Subject: White paper sets out charges against royalists
South China Morning Post July 10th
White paper sets out charges against royalists
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Phnom Penh
Updated at 8.55pm:
The government of Second Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday set out its
charges against rival First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh in a
20-plus page white paper alleging illegal actions.
The document, distributed by the foreign ministry press department to
diplomats and foreign journalists, accused Prince Ranariddh's royalists
of mounting a ''strategy of provocation'' against Hun Sen's Cambodian
People's Party (CPP).
The royalists entered into unauthorized talks with Khmer Rouge
guerrillas, illegally imported weapons and launched a ''campaign of
violence and intimidation,'' the white paper alleged.
''For the first time since the end of the Pol Pot era, Khmer Rouge
soldiers were deployed in the streets of the capital,'' the document
said in reference to former guerrillas brought in as bodyguards by
royalist security chief Serey Kosal.
It accused Prince Ranariddh of encouraging his exiled uncle, Prince
Norodom Sirivudh, to try and stir tensions by threatening to return to
Cambodia and thus provoke Mr Hun Sen into ''taking drastic action''.
Prince Sirivudh was tried in absentia and convicted of plotting to
murder Mr Hun Sen. He has denied the charges and earlier this year
attempted to return to Cambodia but was denied permission to board
flights for Phnom Penh.
The document said that Prince Ranariddh's creation of the National
United Front (NUF), an alliance formed by his royalists and others ahead
of next year's general elections, had inspired fears of a return to the
1980s when Cambodia was split by warring factions.
In an 11-page report and 12-page collection of appendices, the white
paper reproduced a series of original documents, including an order
signed by both premiers in February banning unauthorised troop
movements.
That document was followed by the copy of an allegedly illegal order
transferring royalist security forces from Banteay Meanchey in the
northwest to Kampong Speu and and Udong, nearer Phnom Penh.
"THERE WILL BE NO REAL DEMOCRACY IF WE CAN'T GURANTEE THE RIGHTS OF THE
MINORITY ETHNIC PEOPLE. ONLY UNDERSTANDING THEIR SUFFERING AND HELPING
THEM TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS WILL ASSIST PREVENTING FROM THE
DISINTEGRATION AND THE SESESSION." "WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THEIR
STRENGTH, WE CAN'T TOPPLE THE SLORC AND BURMA WILL NEVER BE IN PEACE."
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