Cambodia's Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy(Photo Sok Serey, RFA)
(Kyodo) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday he hopes that opposition leader Sam Rainsy will soon be able to return home from self-exile in France.
The premier made the remarks in a letter responding to Sam Rainsy, who wrote to Hun Sen expressing his regrets over his accusations that Hun Sen was behind the deadly grenade attacks in front of the National Assembly in 1997 and the alleged attempts to assassinate five political figures who are Hun Sen's critics.
"The problem that has arisen between Your Excellency and myself seems to have ended...and I'd like to encourage Your Excellency to solve it well with Prince Norodom Ranariddh," Hun Sen said in the letter, a copy of which was seen by Kyodo News.
"The way that you have taken to end the above mentioned problem brings me a strong hope that Your Excellency can return, pretty soon, to your political life so as to work together" for the nation, the premier added.
In October, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Sam Rainsy in absentia to 18 months in prison for defaming Hun Sen and Prince Ranariddh, who is head of the National Assembly.
Prince Ranariddh, also leader of the FUNCINPEC party, sued Sam Rainsy, on Sept. 3, 2004, for allegedly stating that the prince accepted bribes from Hun Sen in exchange for agreeing to form a coalition government with Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party in that year.
The opposition leader also faced a suit filed by Hun Sen on Sept. 22, 2005, after he allegedly stated that Hun Sen had a role in the grenade attacks on an opposition rally in front of the National Assembly in 1997, which left 16 people dead and 117 others injured.
Sam Rainsy fled the country and went into self-exile in France in February last year, shortly after the assembly stripped him of his parliamentary immunity from prosecution.
In a letter addressed to Hun Sen dated Friday, Sam Rainsy said he will not make such accusations against Hun Sen anymore in the future.
"From today, I will change my attitude to end these problems and to prevent such problems from recurring," Sam Rainsy said.
"I am determined to focus on the nation's interest," he added.
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