At a hotel inauguration, Hun Sen continued to defend his decision to travel to Myanmar next month to find a resolution to the February military takeover of the now-shunned Asean member state.
Nearly two years after the suspension of hearings, former CNRP president Kem Sokha will head to a Phnom Penh court in January to attend his treason trial.
Just one of 13 summoned defendants was present at the fifth hearing in a trial involving more than 40 former opposition members charged with plotting and incitement, as questioning again fell into a familiar pattern about links to the CNRP and overseas trainings.
An international rights group has criticized the local Australian Embassy for participating in an event involving the military’s Brigade 70, which has been accused of being part of a grenade attack in 1997 against Sam Rainsy, among other alleged rights violations.
Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the military to inventory all U.S.-origin weapons currently in use and to either store or destroy them, a quick reaction to the U.S. placing an arms embargo on Cambodia.
The United States was not against engagement with Myanmar’s junta, said a senior State Department official Friday evening, though it had to be a “purposeful” engagement.
Prime Minister Hun Sen added further intrigue over his plans to transfer power to his son by calling for a CPP congress in late December to select a “successor” and to approve future cabinet members.
The United States imposed an arms embargo on Cambodia for alleged rights violations and increasing Chinese military influence in the country, specifically targeting a military intelligence unit run by the prime minister’s son.
Prime Minister Hun Sen doubled down on plans to visit Myanmar in January, insisting that he wanted to return the Asean regional block to 10 members and for that he needed to deal with the junta-led government.
The funeral of Norodom Ranariddh, the first prime minister of Cambodia, passed smoothly Wednesday morning with pomp, circumstance and little participation from the public.
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