PM's political gesture no move toward democracy in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH (AFP) -- Prime Minister Hun Sen's recent moves to reconcile with his opponents are clever politics before next month's donor meeting but he has already cowed critics with a clampdown on dissent, rights groups say.
In an abrupt about-face, the premier appeared to end a long-standing dispute with his fiercest political rival Sam Rainsy, after the exiled opposition leader Friday recanted accusations that Hun Sen was behind a deadly 1997 grenade attack and other violence against his party.
Hun Sen reacted favorably to a letter of apology from Sam Rainsy, saying he hoped the politician -- who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in absentia for defaming the premier -- could return to Cambodia from France.
On Thursday Hun Sen made a plea for clemency for jailed opposition lawmaker Cheam Channy, and last month he said he wanted to see defamation complaints against several prominent government critics dropped.
The gestures won him cautious praise from foreign diplomats and the United Nations, and allayed some of the international anger that erupted over an apparent bid by the government to silence its critics.
But rights groups say they indicate no real willingness by Hun Sen to embrace Cambodia's fledgling democracy movement.
"These are welcome moves in the right direction, but not sufficient and do not evidence a change of heart," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch.
"As always, Hun Sen is trying to give just as little as possible while retaining his position," he told AFP.
As outrage over the defamation arrests mounted, some analysts had warned of damaging fallout at next month's donor meeting, where the international community is expected again to pledge hundreds of millions of dollars to the impoverished kingdom.
"Hun Sen has found himself under pressure and he is doing the minimum possible to keep the donors happy," Adams said. "They should not accept this kind of game and should come to the (donor) meeting with a clear and strong list of demands."
More than a decade after a massive UN intervention in Cambodia, the country remains dependent on donor funding to drive its economy and shore up its crumbling infrastructure.
Watchdog groups have accused the international community of overlooking many of Cambodia's chronic failings in exchange for relative political stability under Hun Sen.
But the recent political crackdown -- the worst in years -- brought an international reaction that sent Hun Sen scrambling to protect his nest egg of foreign money, said Basil Fernando, executive director of the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission.
"He made one huge mistake in the arrest of those human rights activists," Fernando said.
"By doing that he pushed the issue too far and the whole (rights) discussion that had been dormant for a long time came to the surface. Cambodia is now in the limelight" and Hun Sen has to push it back into the shadows.
Fernando said he is doing so with a political sleight of hand which keeps donors satisfied that some measure of democracy is being restored, while keeping his grip firmly on power.
Sam Rainsy has effectively been cowed, vowing not to make any more trouble for the prime minister, he said.
And despite Hun Sen successfully pleading with King Norodom Sihamoni for Cheam Channy's prison term to be cut by four years, the lawmaker remains in jail as a warning to the rest of the political opposition, Fernando said.
"He sort of put a wet towel over the fire but he's really not giving into anything," Fernando said.
Overtures to the rights community, by ordering bail for activists jailed for defamation and eventually withdrawing the complaints against them, have not resulted in their cases being dismissed by the courts.
The courts can continue investigating the cases until a three-year statute of limitations expires, leaving the men at risk of rearrest and trial at any time.
"They (the critics) shouldn't be standing on a trap door for the next three years that can be opened on the whim of Hun Sen," Adams said.
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