Paris, July 18, 2014
CAMBODIA NEEDS A PROCESS OF NATIONAL RECONCILIATION
Today, exactly one year after my return to Cambodia at the end of four
years of forced exiled following a politically motivated 12-year jail
court sentence, I cut short a visit to Europe and am boarding a plane to
return to my country.
Last year, my decision to return in spite
of the pending jail sentence reflected my will to test the state of
democracy in Cambodia in the campaign leading to the July 28, 2013
national elections.
Today, I hope my return will help defuse the
worryingly growing political tension, secure the release of all
detainees allegedly linked to recent political violence, re-start
negotiations aimed at breaking the current political deadlock, and begin
a process of national reconciliation to bring peace and justice to the
Cambodian people.
In my capacity as leader of Cambodia’s
democratic opposition I must draw the attention of the international
community, especially that of the signatories of the 1991 Paris
Agreements, to the fact that the democratization process as guaranteed
by the said Agreements, has completely derailed.
However, following the July 28, 2013 elections, which many independent
observers have denounced as unfree and unfair, and following the
increasingly brutal attempt to eliminate the opposition, Cambodia is –
politically speaking – back to square one with the return to a one-party
system reminiscent of the immediate post-Khmer Rouge period and the
Cold War era.
The international community would lose its
credibility if the Paris Agreements on Cambodia were to be continuously
violated or completely ignored.
A few months before the July 2013
elections, all the opposition lawmakers were expelled from a National
Assembly dominated by the former communist Cambodian People’s Party
(CPP).
On September 23, 2013, in the midst of popular protests
related to unaddressed irregularities at the July 2013 elections, the
CPP convened a controversial constitutive meeting of the National
Assembly. That inaugural meeting and all subsequent sessions of the
Assembly have been boycotted by the opposition, which seriously
questions the legitimacy of the current government stemming from a
one-party Assembly.
Over the last few days, following a violent
clash on July 15 between security forces and pro-opposition
demonstrators asking for the reopening of Freedom Park where
unprecedented anti-government marches have recently started, an
increasing number of opposition members, including seven
lawmakers-elect, have been arrested, with the round-up continuing.
This most serious clampdown has deepened a political crisis whose
gravity is unprecedented since the July 5-6, 1997 coup d’état.
It is time to properly address this deplorable situation for the sake of all the people of Cambodia and their friends.
Sam Rainsy
CNRP President
National Reconciliation is essential. Nothing goes forward without it.
ReplyDeleteIn the interest of Justice, an essential element of that reconciliation, there must be justice for all, including the 350 politically motivated murder victims of the 1993 UNTAC election;
the innumerable politically motivated murder victims in the ensuing years;
the victims of legal decisions made my Hun Sen controlled courts;
the countless victims of land grabbing, forced evictions, and forced "sales" made illegal by Cambodian law due to threats and duress.
Bert
Yes I agree with you on that.
ReplyDelete