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SCMP Reporter

The top military backer of Prince Norodom Ranariddh officially ended his armed resistance to the Government yesterday, ordering his troops on the northern border near Thailand to re-join the country's army.

 General Nhiek Bun Chhay, whose 700 out-manned and out-gunned soldiers had fought rival army troops backing strongman Hun Sen to a draw for more than a year, resigned and said his future rested with the new coalition Government.

 'All military units of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces loyal to Prince Norodom Ranariddh must prepare for re-integration to their former positions,' General Nhiek Bun Chhay said.

 'This follows the spirit of the November 12 and 13 summit meeting.'  During last month's summit, Mr Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and Prince Ranariddh's royalist Funcinpec party agreed to form a new coalition, ending a 14-week deadlock following a controversial July general election.

 The coalition deal included royal pardons for General Nhiek Bun Chhay and fellow resistance commander General Serey Kosal and the re-integration of their forces.

 Ironically, the last CPP-Funcinpec coalition collapsed in July last year when Mr Hun Sen ousted the prince as his co-premier in a bloody coup in Phnom Penh.

 General Nhiek Bun Chhay's command headquarters came under heavy attack from rival forces backing Mr Hun Sen in two days of fighting before falling on July 6. The general made a daring escape from Phnom Penh on foot and resurfaced two weeks later on the Thai border, where he began commanding resistance forces from O'Smach, northern Cambodia.

 Thousands of troops and civilians are believed to have died during fighting between the two sides, which forced more than 60,000 refugees into Thailand.

 Prince Ranariddh, who fled abroad just before the coup, General Nhiek Bun Chhay and General Serey Kosal were convicted in absentia in a show trial last March of colluding with the Khmer Rouge to topple the Government.

 They were sentenced to lengthy jail terms and fined millions of dollars.

 The prince was later pardoned and returned home for the election, in which Funcinpec finished second.

 Parliament on Monday elected Mr Hun Sen as the sole Prime Minister, five days after it chose Prince Ranariddh as its chairman.



Anti-Hun Sen general gives up resistance