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Hun Sen plays a winning hand

A WEEK after gambling on elections to legitimise his rule, Hun Sen seems to be holding the aces.

As his rival Prince Norodom Ranariddh rested in Bangkok, the Cambodian strongman yesterday served up a Khmer Rouge head on a platter to cap a week of canny political manoeuvring to intensify his grip on power.

The arrest of former Khmer Rouge commander Nuon Paet - the man who ordered the killing of Australian, French and British travellers in 1994 - is expected to deepen international support for his continued rule.

Nuon Paet was arrested in a dawn raid at Phnom Penh's military air base on direct orders from the Second Prime Minister.

A recent defector to government forces, he had been lured from relative safety in the defector's stronghold of Pailin to the capital on promises of a car trading deal.

He was arrested as soon as his military-supplied helicopter hit the tarmac.

'We've drawn the tiger out of his lair,' Mr Hun Sen said yesterday.

'I have informed the foreign embassies involved and I request them to urgently send lawyers to represent the victims.

'Our government wants the courts to sentence Nuon Paet as soon as possible.' Nuon Paet is accused of ordering the execution of Briton Mark Slater, Australian David Wilson and Frenchman Jean-Michael Braquet after they were abducted in a 1994 train ambush in the southern province of Kampot.

The executions followed two months of botched negotiations while government artillery continued to shell the guerilla's base at Phnom Vour - one round killing members of Nuon Paet's family.

Investigations under international diplomatic pressure led authorities to the elusive Nuon Paet and it has been an 'open secret' that he was among defectors in Pailin - protected by an apparent lack of political will to approach the still-powerful defectors.

Senior foreign diplomats said they had no option but to welcome the move.

'It is not a complete surprise. The CPP [Hun Sen's Cambodia People's Party] are feeling very confident and this could be seen as a reward for the countries that backed him in this election,' one Western ambassador said.

'Hun Sen always said he would get the election over before dealing with a number of difficult issues. Certainly any action against Nuon Paet before the election could have created difficulties in Pailin. I think it is obvious that this is a legitimising tactic to win diplomatic support and strengthen his hand before moving into a potentially difficult political period.' The arrest comes after a week that saw the optimism of a successful polling day that saw 90 per cent of 5.4 million eligible voters cast ballots degenerate into confusion and fears of reprisals.

Official preliminary results have yet to be announced but independent poll watchers believe Mr Hun Sen's party will defeat both the Funcinpec Party of Prince Ranariddh and outspoken liberal Sam Rainsy.

The pair have teamed to claim the polling day - hailed by international observers - was riddled with fraud and manipulation by the CPP and they are refusing to share power with the leader of last year's coup until investigations are complete.

Mr Hun Sen meanwhile has won apparent agreement from Prince Ranariddh's father, King Sihanouk, for a coalition of 'national unity' under which his political cronies can hold virtually all key posts.

Asian diplomats believe the king and his wife, Queen Monique, are keen to back the continued rule of Mr Hun Sen and want Prince Ranariddh - an illegitimate son - out of politics.

Despite mounting evidence of violent reprisals, intimidation and politically motivated murders, few analysts expect a firm rejection of the election results from the international community.

And in any coalition, they see no threat to the CPP's vast communist-style network of village chiefs and police bosses who are virtually omnipotent in rural areas.

Mr Hun Sen moved to calm the post-poll atmosphere by appealing to his supporters to stop the harassment of opposition party members.

'We are the winners and as winners we should act with honour,' he said in a televised interview yesterday.

'If we discover the people who are guilty [of harassment] we will send them to court,' he said.

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