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Cambodian PM

alleges new

assassination plot

PHNOM PENH: Cambodian co-Premier Hun Sen has claimed there is a fresh plot to assassinate him and vowed to hit back hard if the bid failed, state radio reported.

His assertion comes amid strained ties in the coalition government between his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the royalist FUNCINPEC party, which last March threatened to withdraw from the government if it did not get more power.

"The last attempt to assassinate me failed and now there is another attempt, but it's no problem," the second prime minister said in a speech at a provincial school opening aired on state radio late on Monday.

Hun Sen was referring to the last alleged plot on his life last year by King Norodom Sihanouk's half brother Prince Norodom Sirivudh.

Sirivudh was arrested in late November, shortly after Hun Sen had warned of an assassination plot, but the prince then left the country for exile in France at the end of December, following the intervention of the king.

A Phnom Penh court earlier this year convicted and sentenced the prince in absentia to 10 years' imprisonment for his alleged role in the plot. The alleged incident and trial were seen by many observers as politically motivated.

The premier warned those plotting against him that "I will step on the neck (of the plotters) if the assassination fails," adding that he would seek his revenge no matter who it was.

He did not identify those allegedly trying to kill him.

First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, leader of FUNCINPEC, at the party's congress on March 22 threatened to pull out of the coalition with the ex-socialist CPP if it failed to meet power-sharing obligations.

The two parties were bitter battlefield foes in the 1980s but agreed to form a coalition government to avoid renewed conflict after FUNCINPEC narrowly won landmark U.N.-run elections in 1993.

The alliance has always been a fragile one but the two leaders appeared to work well together until Ranariddh's demands for a greater share of power in the provinces, districts and villages to reflect its election win.-Reuter