7 October 2010 Maneuvers to choose a new prime minister for Cambodia (3) With the support of Vietnam, a faction in the leadership of the Cambodian People’s Party is maneuvering for the appointment of a new prime minister to replace Hun Sen who has been in office since 1985, By contrast, Vietnam’s leadership has gone through a noticeable turnover over the same period of time. The deteriorating economic and social situation worryingly beyond repair, the much-decried cronyism and corruption, the growing popular discontent, the mishandling of border issues, Hun Sen’s involvement in exposed crimes and the growing influence of China are among the reasons cited as behind the push for a leadership change. Men Sam An, an able female member of the CPP Standing Committee, very close to Hanoi, seems to be the favorite candidate for premiership. Hun Sen is reportedly getting more and more paranoid, fearing the same fate as Pen Sovan’s, Chan Si’s or Hok Lundi’s. Newly-acquired tanks to prevent anti-Hun Sen coup (2) At a high cost for its poor national budget Cambodia has recently bought from Eastern Europe nearly 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers to allegedly boost its defense capacity against a foreign aggression. In fact, prime minister Hun Sen decided to acquire those thanks to equip those military units which, he thinks, are mot loyal to him. In effect, most of the tanks are not deployed along the border line to defend Cambodia’s territorial integrity; they are instead stationed in and around Phnom Penh to defend Hun Sen’s personal power against a more and more feared internal coup. Campaign to revive Paris Agreements on Cambodia (1) Cambodian communities all over the world are organizing an unprecedented campaign to revive the 1991 Paris Agreements on Cambodia. In their view, the eighteen signatory countries including all the western powers have not only the right, but the obligation to intervene in Cambodia to stop a totalitarian drift, human rights violations and the derailment of the democratization process as guaranteed in the Agreements. See related Appeal at http://tinyurl.com/2w7fyxo Retired King Norodom Sihahouk accuses Var Kim Hong of map forgery (1) While opposition leader Sam Rainsy is being accused by the government of forging a map to support his claim that Vietnam has been encroaching on Cambodia’s territory – accusation for which he was condemned last month to ten years in prison –, Var Kim Hong, the government border negotiation team head has been accused by King-Father Norodom Sihanouk of … forging the same map showing the border line between Cambodia an Vietnam. See royal statement in French at http://tinyurl.com/33xv5jh The map in question was produced by the French Indochina colonial authorities in the 1920’s and updated throughout the subsequent years until 1952. Its different versions and relevant portions can be consulted in France at the Institut Géographique National. Also in France, three map experts at the Centre national de la Recherche Scientifique have confirmed that an alleged border post that Sam Rainsy pulled out last year was in fact located in Cambodia’s territory. Government admits “mistake” in border demarcation (2) At a Phnom Penh appeal court hearing on Sam Rainsy’s case on 5 October 2010, a government representative acknowledged that a number of “temporary” border posts, such as the one pulled out by Sam Rainsy last year, were wrongly located and planted at the wrong spots. More and more Cambodian farmers living along the border with Vietnam have been complaining about new “border” posts being forcibly planted on their ancestral rice fields. The government now recognizes there were “technical” errors in the border demarcation process. See arguments at http://tinyurl.com/2wff7jn Reasons behind the sensitivity of the border issue (2) In successive border treaties, Vietnam and Cambodia had agreed that, besides consulting relevant maps for border delimitation on paper, border demarcation on the spot must respect the principle of “effectivité” reflecting a practical approach whereby the national status, properties, customs and practices of the local populations living along both sides of the border line are NOT to be affected. Therefore, Vietnam could manage to displace border markings into Cambodia’s territory -- with weak Cambodian authorities turning a blind eye -- only in very scarcely populated areas (such as in Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces) or when affected Cambodian people/citizens are forced to keep quiet and nobody draws any attention to their fate (such as in Kampong Cham, Takeo and Svay Rieng provinces) so that the principle of “effectivité” is APPARENTLY respected. But by speaking out for the victims and alerting the public opinion about continuous effective border encroachments by Vietnam, Sam Rainsy has been a troublemaker for the Hanoi government and their complacent friends in Phnom Penh. King was forced to sign controversial border treaty with Vietnam (2) Since he was the actual Monarch, King-Father Norodom Sihanouk has asked for an amendment to the Kingdom’s constitution whose inconsistencies he has denounced: For instance, on the one hand the supreme law states that the King is the Guarantor of the Kingdom’s territorial integrity, but on the other hand the King is constitutionally deprived of any power. The now Retired King has logically asked for the deletion from the constitution of any reference to any royal role as the Guarantor of anything he actually cannot ensure or guarantee. See royal statement at http://tinyurl.com/33xv5jh However, Hun Sen’s CPP has continuously rejected the royal request for a constitutional amendment because they want to maintain a misleading confusion allowing them to use the King’s name to endorse and legitimize anything they want, such as the ratification of a controversial border treaty with Vietnam in 2005. On 17 July 2005, Hun Sen publicly threatened to abolish the monarchy if the King did not sign off such the treaty. [End]

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