CAMBODIA: CAMBODIA'S OPPOSITION ARMY RETREATS INTO THE COUNTRY'S JUNGLES AS SECOND PRIME MINISTER HUN SEN MOVES TO CONSOLIDATE HIS GRIP ON POWER
Record ID:
496470
CAMBODIA: CAMBODIA'S OPPOSITION ARMY RETREATS INTO THE COUNTRY'S JUNGLES AS SECOND PRIME MINISTER HUN SEN MOVES TO CONSOLIDATE HIS GRIP ON POWER
- Title: CAMBODIA: CAMBODIA'S OPPOSITION ARMY RETREATS INTO THE COUNTRY'S JUNGLES AS SECOND PRIME MINISTER HUN SEN MOVES TO CONSOLIDATE HIS GRIP ON POWER
- Date: 13th July 1997
- Summary: PLANG RIVER (50 KM FROM SIEM REAP), CAMBODIA (JULY 13, 1997) 1. LV FORCES LOYAL TO SECOND PRIME MINISTER HUN SEN FIRING HOWITZER AT FORCES LOYAL TO FIRST PRIME MINISTER PRINCE NORODOM RANARIDDH 0.10 2. LV SECOND HOWITZER FIRING 0.16 3. LAS HUN SEN FORCES' TANKS HEADING NORTH 0.26 4. TV HUN SEN TROOPS LOADING HOWITZER 0.34 5. TV HUN SEN SOLDIER LOOKING AT MAP 0.38 6. SLV OF SOLDIERS HEADING NORTH TOWARDS ROYALIST TROOPS AND KHMER ROUGE FORCES (2 SHOTS) 1.06 7. SV BOY SOLDIER ON TANK 1.14 8. SLV SOLDIERS BY ROADSIDE AS TANK PULLS AWAY 1.33 9. GV TANKS MOVING ACROSS FIELD 1.40 KOMPONG THOM, CAMBODIA (JULY 14, 1997) 10. TV HUN SEN ARRIVING AT TEMPLE 1.49 11. SLV HUN SEN KNEELING INSIDE TEMPLE 1.56 12. SV OF HUN SEN IN TEMPLE 2.07 13. LV OF TEMPLE DURING CEREMONY 2.14 14. SV HUN SEN LEAVING TEMPLE 2.27 15. MCU HUN SEN SAYING: "WE GO TO ASEAN (ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH EAST ASIAN NATIONS) OR WE STOP. I WANT TO STOP, CAMBODIA'S ENTRY TO ASEAN, IF ASEAN CONTINUE TO INTERFERE IN THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE NATION (ENGLISH) 2.43 16. SV HUN SEN GETTING INTO HELICOPTER 2.50 17. CU PULL OUT LV HELICOPTER TAKES OFF 3.08 PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (JULY 14, 1997) 18. MCU UNG HUOT, FUNCINPEC FOREIGN MINISTER, RETURNING TO CAMBODIA FROM FRANCE 3.13 19. MCU UNG HUOT SAYING "ASEAN? YES WE WILL BE ATTENDING ON THE 23RD BECAUSE AS YOU KNOW, THE ASEAN COUNTRIES DECIDED TO DELAY THE CAMBODIAN ADMISSION FOR AN INDEFINITE TIME. INDEFINITE TIME MEANS ANY TIME" (ENGLISH) 3.42 20. SV UNG HUOT WALKS OFF 3.50 Initials P3 S3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 28th July 1997 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PLANG RIVER, KOMPONG THOM AND PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
- City:
- Country: Cambodia
- Reuters ID: LVA76ZZ2BZWL6JSZ85F23JZ7N2Q0
- Story Text: Cambodia's opposition army is desperately retreating into the country's jungles as Second Prime Minister Hun Sen moves to consolidate his grip on power.
Soldiers loyal to deposed First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh are withdrawing into northwestern Cambodia along with some Khmer Rouge forces, laying mines, blowing up bridges and counting on the rainy season to delay pursuing government troops.
Government troops chased them along Route 6 through rice paddies as far as Kralanh and Route 68 on Sunday (July 13), about 60 km (37 miles) west of Siem Reap and the Angkor Wat temple complex.
The government troops of Hun Sen outnumber and outgun the beleagured royalist forces.
As his forces move to wipe out the Royalist remnants, Hun Sen has been asserting his hold on power.
In Kompong Thom on Monday Hun Sen warned that Cambodia might withdraw its application to join the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) if what he called its interference in Cambodia's affairs continued.
ASEAN said last week it was postponing Cambodia's entrance into the grouping, originally scheduled for later this month, in response to Hun Sen's ousting of Ranariddh last week.
ASEAN, which groups Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam, said it would send envoys to meet King Norodom Sihanouk in Beijing and to talk to Ranariddh and Hun Sen in an effort to find a solution to the political crisis.
Also on Monday, Cambodian Foreign Minister Ung Huot returned to Phnom Penh from abroad saying the country had to prove it was on a democratic path to win back international aid. He also said he would attend the ASEAN meeting.
Ung Huot, a member of Ranariddh's royalist party, was in France attending a meeting of Cambodia's aid donors when fighting erupted.
Many FUNCINPEC officials and supporters left the country in the aftermath of Ranariddh's ousting and the subsequent killing of a senior FUNCINPEC official.
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