Cambodia’s former opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, has accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of plotting a “massacre” after a leaked audio recording apparently showed the long-ruling former Khmer Rouge commander saying the opposition would be “destroyed” if the European Union removed the country from a preferential trade scheme. He vowed again on Friday to go back to Cambodia after more than three years abroad, defying threats by ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen to arrest him but declining to set a clear date for his return. And then he claimed his notorious wager with Prime Minister Hun Sen over the fate of Kem Sokha was null and void, arguing his opponent had changed the terms of the bet. Kem Sokha’s lawyers slammed Sam Rainsy for using the fate of their client in a bet with Prime Minister Hun Sen, a wager he was almost certain to lose, with one saying he would be “cursed for hundreds of years”. They complained of being attacked by supporters of Sam Rainsy, his fellow party co-founder.
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Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior on Thursday issued detailed instructions for the political rehabilitation of lawmakers from the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), but a party official said it had no interest in returning while leader Kem Sokha remained in jail.
Political veteran Kong Korm, who is currently the honorary president of the Khmer Will Party, weighed into the EBA debate , saying that withdrawing Cambodia’s trade preferences was tantamount to a Khmer saying, “getting angry with the oxen, but beating the oxen-driven cart”.
Khmer National United Party president Nhek Bun Chhay has warned party officials not to nominate relatives in the upcoming sub-national election.https://bit.ly/2V7wIQQ;
