PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)
Prime Minister Hun Sen's government needs to "chill" out and should stop arresting its critics on defamation charges, the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia said in an interview published Friday.
Four people are currently in jail for criticizing a border treaty Hun Sen signed with Vietnam in October, which nationalists allege hands disputed territory to Vietnam. Others have fled the country to avoid arrest.
Hun Sen has defended the arrests as necessary for maintaining national stability and the country's faith in his leadership.
U.S. Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said the government was overreacting.
"The government is not about to topple. They need to just relax a little," Mussomeli said in an interview with the Phnom Penh Post. "As my teenagers say, 'They need to chill.' They're in no real danger here."
Critics, including the United States, the United Nations and international human rights groups, have condemned the government's actions and said they show Cambodia, under Hun Sen's grip, is inching toward authoritarian rule.
"We honestly don't see the justification for the arrests. The border treaty is signed, and there's no indication of instability anywhere in the country," Mussomeli said. "There is widespread concern that the government has gone too far this time, and for no reason."
Mussomeli called it a "tough time" for democracy in Cambodia, adding, "there is a problem right now. How it will play out, I don't know."
No comments:
Post a Comment