Cambodian Online

Cambodia's  Information Portal
 

The Editor
Managing Editor
Cambodian Online

Contact Information
Cambodian Mobile:
012-247-125
International Mobile:
(855) 12-247-125

 Information

24-Aug-2005
Last Edited

July 1, 2004 - King waits in the wings as Cambodia emerges from political darkness

PHNOM PENH : Cambodia is awaiting the return of its king, who has spent months in self-imposed exile, so that its bickering political leaders can put a year-long dispute behind them and get on with governing the country.

King Norodom Sihanouk left in disgust in January after failing to break an impasse over inconclusive polls 11 months ago and later threatened to stay away until the deadlock was resolved.

On Wednesday, as the king watched from his North Korean bolthole, political leaders finally sealed a deal that was reached at the weekend to set up a coalition government.

The agreement clears the way for the return of the influential king, but he has given no indication of when that might be. Meanwhile, a key piece of legislation needed to get parliament back to work needs his signature.

The normally voluble king has been silent since the deal was agreed.

"That's been the talk of the town -- it seems he's not in a good mood at all," one senior diplomat told AFP.

King Sihanouk has traditionally played the role of mediator in domestic crises but he was humiliated after his failed attempts to end the post-election upheaval.

After Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) fell short in last July's election of the majority needed to rule outright, the king summoned the three main parties to his palace in November and brokered a deal between them.

The CPP, the royalist FUNCINPEC party and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party all agreed then to form a tripartite government but their fragile pact collapsed shortly afterwards.

Following the rebuff, the 81-year-old king in January left for China for medical checks and then three months later headed to North Korea, where he has remained.

He has posted daily missives on his website, criticising the parties' manoeverings, despite having announced he would halt his sarcasm-laced commentaries.

"Generally, the impression you get is that he has been somewhat marginalised in all of this because he was no longer directly involved in the negotiations," another Phnom Penh-based diplomat told AFP.

"Of course, staying away is not helping either," he said.

The king in May again offered to mediate between the three parties in Pyongyang but he was snubbed by Hun Sen and FUNCINPEC chief Prince Norodom Ranariddh, whose parties were by then locked in talks.

"I have been extremely sad because the serious political crisis in Cambodia has not been solved for almost a year," he wrote while making the offer.

In an apparent gesture of reconciliation, Cambodia's political leadership acknowledged the role of the king when they announced a new coalition government on Wednesday.

Both Hun Sen and Ranariddh told reporters they had resolved the crisis to please the worrying monarch.

But despite the deal, mistrust reigns and Hun Sen wants King Sihanouk to sign a constitutional amendment to allow a special vote to guard against any plot to prevent him from becoming prime minister.

Rights activist Kek Galabru told AFP that Cambodians were eagerly waiting the revered king's response.

"This is the reason why we want to hear from the king. What does he think about this?" she said, adding that Cambodians would feel better with King Sihanouk, a symbol of national reconciliation, back in his palace.

"The deadlock is over, we're going to have a new government and so on, so there's no more reason for the king to stay outside the country -- it's important for the Cambodian people symbolically."