Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday threatened to retaliate against the opposition if the EU withdraws duty-free trading access over human rights concerns.
The EU in November last year began a formal procedure to strip Cambodia of its Everything but Arms (EBA) status after Hun Sen returned to power in a July general election in which his party won all of the seats after a crackdown on the opposition.
“If you want the opposition dead, just cut it,” Hun Sen said in a speech at the inauguration of a ring road around the capital, Phnom Penh, addressing the EU and referring to Cambodia’s EBA status.
Photo: AFP
“If you want the opposition alive, don’t do it — and come and hold talks together,” he said.
EBA is an initiative aimed at helping poorer countries. It can be withdrawn in the case of serious violations of human rights conventions.
The EU threatened to withdraw the trade preferences because of a crackdown on the opposition ahead of the July election, which the EU said was not credible.
Hun Sen, 66, who also marked his 34th year as prime minister yesterday, said that he would not forgive those who had appealed to Western countries to cut aid to influence his government, adding that critics should get ready to flee abroad.
“People are prepared to flee, be prepared,” Hun Sen said. “I won’t forgive them.”
The Cambodian Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and banned 118 party members in 2017 at the request of the government after accusations that the party was plotting to take power with the help of the US.
The party and Washington deny that there was any such plot.
CNRP leader Kem Sokha was released from prison in September last year after spending more than a year in jail on treason charges, but remains under house arrest in Phnom Penh.
He denies any wrongdoing.
Other senior party members have left the country, in fear of arrest.
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