Vietnamese military ties that bind and choke Cambodia!!!

Vietnamese, Cambodian militaries foster ties

Wed, July 4, 2012
VNA

Vietnam’s Military Zone 5 has gifted Military Zone 1 in Cambodia a new headquarters building and an access road in Stung Streng, 300 km north of Phnom Penh.

When addressing the inauguration ceremony, General Pol Saroeun, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, thanked the Vietnamese Government and army for their kind support.

He said the present is a symbol of the friendship and traditional solidarity between the two armies and peoples. In particular, the cooperation shown between Military Zone 5 in Vietnam and Military Zone 1 in Cambodia has significantly helped Zone 1 to ensure the country’s national security and territorial integrity.

Nuon Chea's Lawyers' Press Release and Case 003 Forwarding Order (The need to interview: Heng Samrin, Chea Sim, Ouk Bunchhoeung and Pol Saroeun)

https://www.box.com/s/98d21540c92f9a8db82a


https://www.box.com/s/0c58eca04a4dd90e2b06

Khmer Rouge court judge’s request dead [-Exonerating the CPP leaders who were former KR killers?]

Wednesday, 06 June 2012
Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

Extended investigations requested by former UN investigating judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet would not proceed at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, co-prosecutors said yesterday.

The investigations, relating to alleged Democratic Kampuchea incursions into Vietnam, “were already investigated as part of Case 002” and “bear no relation to the crime sites in Case 003”, Chea Leang and Andrew Cayley said.

“Accordingly, the Co-Prosecutors have respectfully declined to seise the Co-Investigating Judges of these alleged new facts,” they said, adding that they had considered the gravity of the crimes, the scope of the current investigation and “the importance of prioritising the efficient completion of ongoing investigations and trial proceedings before the ECCC”.

On his final day in office, Kasper-Ansermet issued a “forwarding order” saying he had discovered “new facts” in Case 003 that, in his view, required investigation.

Top officials eyed in KRT probe: report

Monday, 04 June 2012
Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodian People’s Party heavyweights Chea Sim and Heng Samrin are named along with Cambodian Army chief Pol Sareoun and another senator as “persons of interest” in an investigation into government opposed Case 003 at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, Australian newspaper The Age reported yesterday.

International reserve co-investigating judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet named the four as potentially having information about “atrocities committed against ethnic Vietnamese civilians living on the border with Cambodia”, the paper reported.

Additionally, documents obtained by the Post over the weekend show that Brother No 2 Nuon Chea’s defence team has filed a motion for public disclosure of the “forwarding order” by the now-resigned Swiss judge.

“In a forwarding order issued shortly before his departure (the ‘Forwarding Order’), Judge Kasper-Ansermet made it known to the [Office of the Co-Prosecutors] that – in his considered judicial opinion – Heng Samrin, Chea Sim, Ouk Bunchhoeun and Pol Sareoun may fall within the ECCC’s personal jurisdiction,” the request, filed on Friday, reads.

Cambodian officials named over Khmer Rouge genocide

June 3, 2012The Sydney Morning Herald
Phnom Penh

FOUR senior officials in the Cambodian government have been named as persons of interest by an investigating judge involved in the Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal, confidential documents obtained by The Age reveal.

A United Nations investigating judge who quit the court in early May, citing dysfunctional investigations into the case, has named current Cambodian senate president Chea Sim, National Assembly president Heng Samrin, the chief of the army and another senator as persons of interest.

All were officials in the brutal Khmer Rouge regime that ruled the country from 1975 until 1979 and were named by investigators into Case 003, which includes the imprisonment and murder of thousands of people at the Tuol Sleng prison.

The Cambodian government has blocked prosecutions in the case against former Khmer Rouge air force commander Sou Met and navy chief Meas Muth. Mr Meas Muth allegedly sent two Australian yachtsmen to their death at Tuol Sleng.

In the documents, the UN investigator said the four senior members of the ruling Cambodia People's Party held positions of authority in the Khmer Rouge regime and are key witnesses to atrocities committed against ethnic Vietnamese civilians living on the border with Cambodia.

When one has to depend on donated foreign military uniforms?

Army chief of staff Pol Saroeun visiting troops in Preah Vihear: 7 soldiers, 3 different types of uniforms. Looks like General Pol Saroeun prefers "Desert Storm"-type uniforms for traveling in Cambodia jungle .... Ooops, we forgot that forests had been deforested long ago, that's explain everything now! (Photo: DAP news)

Border issue not raised during meeting with chief of staff of the Royal Thai Air Force

Ittaporn Subhawong (L) and Pol Saroeun (R)

15 September 2009
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

During the meeting between General Pol Saroeun, the RCAF chief of staff, and Thailand’s Ittaporn Subhawong, the Royal Thai Air Force chief of staff who led a visiting delegation to Cambodia, both sides did not raise nor discuss the border dispute. The problem related to Thai soldiers shooting and killing a Cambodian citizen, as well as burning him alive, was not discussed either. According the Kampuchea Thmei newspaper, during the meeting, Pol Saroeun asked Thailand to provide trainings to Cambodian troops because, in the past, Thailand also accepted to train Cambodian soldiers on many occasions. Pol Saroeun told the Thai party that relationships between Cambodia and Thailand gained the attention of neighboring countries, in particular, when Cambodia decided to pull out troops from the Preah Vihear temple area. Pol Saroeun indicated that the troop pullout decision was a good policy adopted by Hun Xen, and there is nothing else beyond the dialogue between the two countries, then all the points will be accepted by both sides.

Preah Vihear temple hostilities over : Thai and Khmer army chiefs

Friday, September 11, 2009
By Rasmei Kampuchea/Asia News Network, Deutsche Presse Agentur

Phnom Penh - Cambodian and Thai armed forces chiefs said 13 months of sometimes-fatal hostilities around the ancient Preah Vihear temple are at an end.

After the meeting, Thai Supreme Commander Gen Songkitti Jaggabatra said the dispute would no longer be allowed to damage relations between the two kingdoms.

"I would like to clarify again that there will be no more problems between Thailand and Cambodia. The border will not be the cause of any further disputes," he said.

"Cambodia and Thailand can not live separately. As Asean members, both countries shall not be in any cannot confrontation," said Songkiti.

At least seven soldiers from both sides were killed in occasional clashes around the temple complex since mid-2008 in a tense standoff that has had other members of the Asean regional bloc concerned.

Meanwhile Songkitti's counterpart; Gen Pol Saroeun echoed; "We have the same view. Our goal is to achieve peace and solidarity with each other as siblings."

Their meeting came just days after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Cambodia would cut the number of troops stationed at Preah Vihear after Thailand reduced its forces to just 30 soldiers.

Preah Vihear Temple has been at the heart of controversy between Thailand and Cambodia. In 1962, the World Court granted ownership of the temple to Cambodia. The conflict erupted again after the Unesco listed it into the World Heritage List, a move that draw opposition from the Thai side.

Top army leaders of Cambodia, Thailand meet in Phnom Penh

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The top army leaders of Cambodia and Thailand met in Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh on Monday to reiterate their good cooperation and to strengthen their relationship.

Cambodia's military sources said during the meeting Gen. Pol Saroeun, commander-in-chief of Cambodian Royal Armed Forces, and Songkitti Jaggabatara, supreme commander of the Thai army, reiterated their statements of making good cooperation and relations, especially, between the armies of the two nations.

Both Pol Saroeun and Songkitti affirmed that good cooperation and relations are of common interest for both nations, the sourcessaid.

The two sides, however, did not talk on redeployment of troops stationed near khmer Preak Vihear temple, saying the issue shall be left for decision by the two countries' regional commanders there.

It is the first time for Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatara to make a visit to Cambodia and it is also the first time to hold such top army leaders' meeting.

But since the border dispute between the two countries occurred last year that resulted in the deaths of a number of soldiers, and several others injured, many round of talks at different levels were held including prime ministers, defense and foreign ministerial level down to regional commanders.

Songkitti Jaggabatara who arrived in Cambodia late Monday will return to Thailand on Tuesday after a planned brief sightseeing visit to Angkor Wat in Siem Reap province.

Cambodia no longer allows Thai troops to return to Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak Pagoda anymore

Thursday 02 July 2009
DAP news
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

In the morning of Thursday 02 July, General Pol Saroeun, RCAF chief of staff, met with all Cambodian army commanders stationed in Preah Vihear temple, and he ordered them not to allow Thai troops to come to Wat Keo Sekha Kiri Svarak Pagoda and Chomrak anymore. In particular, the remaining 60 Thai troops are no longer allowed inside Cambodian territories anymore.

Second Opposition Lawmaker Called to Court [-Hanoi Military PhDs without schooling are not worthless, they are absolute rubbish]

SRP MP Ho Vann (L) seen here with journalist Dam Sith following the latter's release from jail

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
05 June 2009

An opposition parliamentarian has been summoned to Phnom Penh Municipal Court, following a suit filed by a group of senior military leaders.

Sam Rainsy Party member Ho Vann told local media in April that certificates awarded to 22 senior military officials by the Vietnamese Infantry Institute were “worthless.”

Ho Vann told reporters after his questioning he had not incited or defamed, and denied calling the certificates worthless. He said he had made numerous attempts to correct both the Cambodia Daily and the Phnom Penh Post for corrections.

Pol Saroeun and his deputy, Lt. Gen. Kun Kim, received doctorates in military science from the Vietnamese Infantry Institute in 2007, while 20 other senior military officials earned the master’s degrees.

Pol Saroeun declined to comment on the case. Tann Mengsroy, lawyer for the plaintiffs, also declined comment.

Free Vietcong training and indoctrination offered ... with guaranteed Hanoi PhD

Vietnam Offers Military Training to Cambodia

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
20 April 2009

Vietnam’s deputy defense minister on Monday offered aid in military training to Cambodian soldiers and officers, at a time when Cambodian and Thai troops are entangled in a protracted border dispute in the north.

Maj. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh made the offer to Prime Minister Hun Sen following a ceremony for 22 senior military officials who recently returned from PhD and master’s programs in military science at the Army Institute of Vietnam, in Hanoi.

“He is ready to help for human resources development in the field of national defense and to strengthen the cooperation between the Cambodian Defense Ministry and the Vietnamese Defense Ministry,” Hun Sen’s spokesman, Ieng Sophaleth, told reporters Monday. “Vietnam and the Vietnamese army are ready to learn and share experiences between Cambodia and Vietnam, with the purpose of strengthening and building-up the capacity of territorial defense and the defense of respective sovereignties.”

Military officials have received training in Vietnam since the 1980s, when Cambodia was under Vietnamese occupation following the ouster of the Khmer Rouge, in 1979.

“From 2001 to 2009, there have been 170 Cambodian military senior officials going to study at the institute,” Nguyen Duc Xe, director of the Army Institute, said in remarks Monday.

The 22 graduates, all officers, wrote theses that “are not made for offensives to invade any countries,” Hun Sen said at the ceremony Monday, “but they are just about management and order of the military, to defend national sovereignty. This shows that Cambodia is not thinking about sending its troops to invade any countries.”

Graduates of the Army Institute who were recognized on Monday included Gen. Pol Saroeun, commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, and his deputy, Gen. Kun Kim, both of whom earned PhDs.

Pol Saroeun wrote his thesis on the defense of Military Region 3, which comprises the provinces of Kampong Speu, Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk and Takeo. Kun Kim wrote about Military Region 5, which includes the provinces of Banteay Meanchey, Battambang and Pursat, as well as Pailin.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Thai and Cambodian troops have been entrenched along the northern border of Preah Vihear province since July, when Preah Vihear temple was included on a list of World Heritage sites, sparking protests in Thailand. Talks have failed to bring about a resolution, and troops have clashed at least twice, leading to deaths on each side.

Cambodia to host ASEAN-U.S. military exercise in 2010

PHNOM PENH, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will host a large-scale ASEAN-U.S. military exercise in 2010, Khmer-language newspaper the Deum Ampil said on Tuesday.

"It is an honor for Cambodia to be chosen by ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and superpower U.S. as the location for such a large-scale international military exercise," Pol Saroeurn, Commander-in-Chief of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), told the paper.

"We will take efforts to make it a success," he said, adding that he will also instruct all his subordinates to be careful with the work.

The Sihanoukville port will be used as the maritime location of this military haul, the paper also quoted a governmental official as saying on condition of anonymity.

Cambodia once joined international military exercises respectively in Bangladesh and Mongolia and also sent peacekeepers to Sudan for de-mining operation under the U.N. umbrella.

In April 2008, 40 Cambodian soldiers participated in a three-week multi-national peace-keeping exercise in Bangladesh.

The U.S.-led mission was named "Ambassador of Peace" and involved some 400 soldiers from 12 countries, including Bangladesh,India, Indonesia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Nepal, Brunei,Mongolia, Tonga, Cambodia and U.S.

In July 2007, 43 Cambodian soldiers took part in a military exercise for UN peacekeeping mission in Mongolia.

In addition, Cambodia sent 135 deminers to Sudan in 2006 for UN peacekeeping mission, and then 139 in June 2007 to replace the oldones. The deminers were renewed again in 2008.

Kleptocratic regime's reply to Global Witness: Deny! Deny! Deny!

An ore pile at the Cambodia Iron and Steel Mining Industry Group site in Preah Vihear province. London-based watchdog Global Witness is pressing for more transparency in the Kingdom's extractive industries. (FILE PHOTO)

Govt denies mismanaging resources

Friday, 06 February 2009
SEBASTIAN STRANGIO and VONG SOKHENG
The Phnom Penh Post

"OIL IS GOING TO MAKE DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS IN THE COUNTRY MUCH WORSE."

A new report from Hun Sen's bete noire, international NGO Global Witness, says Cambodia's nascent oil, gas and mining industries are being monopolised by a powerful elite.

CORRUPT ruling elites have monopolised Cambodia's emerging oil and mineral sectors, aided by a "total lack" of transparency and a supine foreign donor community, according to a new report from corruption watchdog Global Witness.

The 70-page "Country for Sale" report, released Thursday, takes aim at the "high-level corruption, nepotism and patronage" infusing the Kingdom's extractive resources sector, which it claims is dominated by senior government officials.

On the basis of investigations conducted in 2008, the report's authors say that concessions for mineral and oil exploration are allocated "behind closed doors" and raise fears revenues from these resources will be mismanaged rather than used for infrastructure development or poverty alleviation.

The report goes on to name dozens of high-ranking military and ruling party officials it said have control over the country's resource revenues.

"Cambodia today is a country for sale. The small number of elite powerbrokers who run the state have sold off large concessions in a manner that is non-transparent and highly dubious," the report says.

A "total lack of transparency in the ownership of companies ... serves only one purpose - to protect and entrench the interests of those who benefit from the continued functioning of Cambodia's shadow state".

To date, Global Witness claims the government has granted over 100 mining concessions - including 21 in 2008 - to companies controlled by "elite regime figures", with little environmental oversight.

It raises further concerns about the nature of fees paid by firms to secure mineral exploration agreements, following a 2007 comment by Lim Kean Hor, minister of water resources and meteorology, describing a US$2.5 million BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi social development fund as "tea money".

The report also slams the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority - the institution in charge of the Kingdom's infant oil-and-gas industry - as a "constitutionally dubious body" with "no parliamentary oversight", claiming millions in oil exploration fees have failed to show up in national revenue reports since 2006.

Government denials

RCAF Commander-in-Chief Pol Saroeun, named by Global Witness as the owner of the Rattanak Stone Co, which operates iron ore mines in Preah Vihear province, denied the report's allegations, saying: "I am not involved with the activities in the report."

Om Yentieng, head of the government's Human Rights Committee and reputed co-owner of Float Asia Friendly Mation Co, which the report claims is mining marble from protected areas in eastern Pursat province, also said he had "no time" to dispute the findings.

"I think that the Global Witness report is badly intentioned," he said. "They do not know what is right or wrong."

Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem and officials at the CNPA, including Director General Te Duong Dara and Deputy Director General Men Den, also refused requests for comment Thursday.

But Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said the government was handling its resource explorations in an open and transparent manner.

"We have always announced in public how many blocks of oil we have, and we have never held bidding because no one knows whether there will be oil there or not," he said, adding that Global Witness was motivated by "personal anger" towards Prime Minister Hun Sen.

However, David Lempert, an international development consultant, agreed with the report that the coming windfall of resource profits would paralyse local development.

"Cambodia's oil is going to make development problems in the country much worse ... by postponing the key problems of sustainability, [of] balancing population with productive, renewable resources," he said.

Spineless donors

Foreign donors - which have pledged nearly $1 billion in aid to Cambodia for 2009 - are also to blame for granting "international legitimacy" to high-level corruption, the report says.

Donors "have refused to acknowledge the fact that the government is thoroughly corrupt and does not act in the best interests of the population", it says.

Independent analyst Chea Vannath said that countries needed a certain amount of tolerance for corruption if they wanted to do business in Cambodia, and that rising levels of Chinese aid - rarely accompanied by conditions - discouraged foreign donors from taking a strong stance on corruption.

"Each country's agenda ... is to have business ventures in Cambodia - not to lecture the Cambodian government about corruption," she said.

Global Witness made headlines in June 2007 when its "Family Trees" report - alleging widespread involvement of senior government officials in illegal logging - was banned in Cambodia, with the prime minister's brother, Hun Neng, saying that he would "hit [Global Witness staff] until their heads are broken". The organisation's staff have been barred from the country since 2005.

Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Global Witness had the right to conduct investigations into corruption issues, but warned they would "face lawsuits" if they published inaccurate information about government officials.

He added that there were clear laws relating to the allocation of mineral and oil concessions, and that the government was trying to root out "individual officials at the local level" engaged in corrupt activities.

"The prime minister has shown a commitment to fight corruption, and he has taken action step by step," he said.

"I think that Global Witness should not take an issue from one dark corner to criticise the government."

Eleanor Nichol, a Global Witness campaigner, said the organisation would welcome an "independent and credible investigation" into the allegations contained in the report, but said that she was "not aware of a government investigation into corruption in the oil and mining sectors".

Nichol also expressed hopes the government would shy away from banning the report, as it did in 2007.

"One of the reasons we put this report together is that there is very little information in the public domain about extractive resources available to the Cambodian public," she said by phone from Bangkok.

"For this reason, we very much hope that the current government does not take the same action."

Hun Sen surrounds himself with generals acting as advisors

The Strongman and his chiefs

03 Feb 2009
By Ung Chamroeun
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

“Cambodia hold the world record in useless nominations to government positions. This creates an important drain on state resources” - Rong Chhun, CITA President

Following a royal decree signed by King Norodom Sihamoni on 27 January 2009, 19 high-ranking army officers were nominated as personal advisors to Hun Sen.

Among these advisors, two will hold a rank equivalent to that of state minister: Pol Saroeun, the newly nominated army chief of staff, and Meas Sopha, Pol Saroeun’s deputy. Six other generals will hold a rank equivalent to that of a minister, and 11 will hold a rank equivalent to that of a secretary of state. All these new advisors already occupy important positions at the National Defense ministry, in particular, Ung Samkhan, the army deputy-chief of staff, Tea Vinh, [Tea Banh’s brother] the royal navy chief, and Soeung Samnang, the air force chief.

As a matter of fact, on 04 October 2008, King Sihamoni already signed another royal decree nominating 104 high-ranking officials to the position of Hun Sen’s advisors, following the latter’s re-election to office.

To an astute observer, this plethora of advisors is a mean [used by Hun Sen] to neutralize some high-ranking government officials. Rong Chhun, President of the Cambodia Independent Trachers’ Association (CITA), declared over the phone to Cambodge Soir Hebdo: “Cambodia hold the world record in useless nominations to government positions. This creates an important waste of state resources.”

More RCAF officers to be removed: source

Monday, 02 February 2009
Written by Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

A PROPOSAL to remove another 20 senior military commanders from all areas of the army is under consideration by the minister of defence, a top official said.

"[Commander-in-Chief] Pol Saroeun has requested that dozens of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces [RCAF] commanders be removed and promoted. The proposal has been received by Defence Minister Tea Banh," a senior official at the Defence Ministry who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media told the Post Sunday.

"The list is being examined by Tea Banh but has not yet been approved," he said, adding that the reshuffle would affect the infantry divisions, the navy, RCAF command headquarters and the Ministry of Defence itself.

In a sweeping reshuffle of the Kingdom's military leadership, Ke Kim Yan was removed from his post last week and his former deputy, General Pol Saroeun, was appointed the new commander-in-chief. Seven officers were bumped up to the post of deputy commander-in-chief, including four-star General Kun Kim and General Meas Sophea, in a move observers said was politically motivated.

New RCAF Commander-in-Chief Pol Saroeun insisted that the new list was not a political shake-up.

"It is not a reshuffle. It is not this at all," he told the Post Sunday.

According to Bun Seng, commander of Military Region 5, which covers Pursat, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Pailin provinces, it is up to the Kingdom's military leaders whether to shake up the army or not.

"The region is not affected by this. Any reshuffle is just for top leaders," he said.

Tea Banh: All's well in the not-so-well RCAF

Military Stable After Shake-Up: Minister

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
30 January 2009

Seeking to quell rumors of further shake-ups in the military after the sacking of its commander-in-chief last week, Defense Minsiter Tea Banh said Thursday the military is now stable.

Gen. Ke Kim Yan was removed from his post commander of the Royal Cambodia Armed Forces in a surprise order last week, with Prime Minister Hun Sen accusing him of conducting private business enterprises rather than running the military.

The shake-up, which put Gen. Pol Saroeun as military chief, led to worries amid the ranks of regional and division forces that further firings were possible.

“People who say that are just talking, but nothing has happened,” Tea Banh said Thursday.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Tuol Krasaing-Armed Forces

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Cambodia’s army changes its head

Hun Sen showing Ke Kim Yan the exit door?
Cambodia's Gen. Ke Kim Yan, left, commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, listens to his Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, during the celebration of Independent Day, Nov. 9, 2007, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The head of Cambodia's armed forces has been dismissed from his post and replaced by a loyalist of Prime Minister Hun Sen. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

22 Jan 2009
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

General Ke Kim Yan, the current army commander-in-chief, was sacked to make way for his deputy.

General Ke Kim Yan was replaced at the head of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces by one of his deputies, General Pol Saroeun. The latter will be aided in his new duty by the following generals: Kun Kim, Meas Sophea, Mol Roeup, Chea Dara, Hing Bun Heang, Sao Sokha and Ung Samkhan.

Following this nomination musical chair, General Ung Samkhan will leave his position as chief of the navy to General Tea Vinh.

The nominations were conducted through a royal decree signed by King Norodom Sihamoni on Thursday 22 January.

Khieu Kanharith, the government spokesman, indicated that the replacement of the commander-in-chief was part of the current state reform (sic!). Khieu Kanharith indicated also that “General Ke Kim Yan will stay with the RCAF,” without indicating the new position of the sacked general.

Ke Kim Yan fired ... and replaced by Pol Saroeun, a loyalist of Hun Sen: Power struggle among the CPP?

Ke Kim Yan (L) and Pol Saroeun (R)

Cambodian armed forces commander fired

2009-01-22
Associated Press

The head of Cambodia's armed forces was dismissed from his post Thursday and replaced with a longtime loyalist of Prime Minister Hun Sen with whom he served in the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s.

A royal decree announced the removal of Gen. Ke Kim Yan, the commander in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, who was replaced by his deputy, Gen. Pol Saroeun.

No reason was given for the move. Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said it was a normal reshuffle, which was initiated by the government.

After Ke Kim Yan, 53, failed to support Hun Sen's 1997 coup against then co-Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh, he was marginalized and left without any real power. He was threatened several times with dismissal by the prime minister, whose control of the country is virtually unchallenged.

Ke Kim Yan joined the Cambodian armed forces in 1979 and became its head in 1999. Politically he allied himself with Hun Sen's rivals in the ruling Cambodian People's Party leadership.

Pol Saroeun, meanwhile, is known to have close ties to Hun Sen. Both served during the communist Khmer Rouge regime that took power in 1975, and both fled the murderous group before it was ousted in 1979.

Several other top members of the ruling Cambodian People's Party are also former members of the Khmer Rouge, whose radical policies are widely considered responsible for the deaths of at least 1.7 million people though execution, starvation, overwork and starvation. Several members are the regime have been charged with war crimes at a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal.