Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen launched a verbal broadside of monumental proportions against UN human rights envoy Yash Ghai on Tuesday.
Mr. Ghai, in Cambodia on a 10-day fact finding trip, apparently had the gall to criticize Cambodia's commitment to human rights. He went on to state the obvious by saying too much power has been centralized around one person (that would be Hun Sen, for those of you following along at home).
Hun Sen took the paranoid-former-Khmer-Rouge-pretending-to-be-reformed track in responding, calling Mr. Ghai "deranged", insisting Kofi Annan sack him, and pointing out that Kenya (Ghai's home country) has a poverty problem too.
Hun Sen, in power in Cambodia since the Vietnamese installed him in 1979, has never been one to play by the rules. He's bullied his way into government when he didn't receive the votes to be involved, his Cambodian Peoples' Party has often been accused of strong-arm tactics, and he's done everything he can do to stall the trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders to prevent unsavory details about his own past from coming to light. Even by his standards, though, Hun Sen has been acting increasingly paranoid and insecure lately, charging multiple opposition figures with criminal defamation, only to drop the charges after the headlines subside.
Cambodia continues to be one of the poorest countries on earth, seemingly unable to recover from its decent into hell under the Khmer Rouge 30 years ago. It seems clear Cambodia will not make any significant progress while Hun Sen keeps his hands firmly on the reins.
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