Killing, acid attack dash hopes for peaceful election in Cambodia
Hopes that Cambodia can deliver a peaceful election campaign have been dashed with the weekend killing of a prominent opposition journalist and an acid attack on a ruling party official, prompting concern among human rights groups yesterday.
Ngor Srun, a secretary of state with the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), was doused with acid on Sunday morning and later rushed to Thailand, officials said, as preparations were being made in Phnom Penh for the cremation of journalist Khim Sambo and his 22-year-old son, Khat Sarin Theada.
The father and son were shot while travelling on their motorbike on a busy street outside a sports stadium in the capital on Friday evening. Previous Cambodian elections have been marred by killings and violence, and Khim Sambo, affiliated with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, was the twelfth journalist known to have been killed since 1992.
He had been working for the daily Khmer-language Moneakseka Khmer (Khmer Conscience), a newspaper allied with opposition leader Sam Rainsy, since 1997.
Sam Rainsy said the killing could derail the election process, and compared Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
'It is being derailed by the political assassination of journalists who disseminate what the opposition has to say,' he said. 'It is the beginning of a terror campaign by the ruling party ... Hun Sen is like Mugabe: he wants to stay in power forever.'
Government officials have rejected such claims and say investigations have been launched.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders urged authorities to act quickly and noted that Khim Sambo had written about corruption cases allegedly involving leading government officials, and that his editor, Dam Sith, was recently charged with libelling Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.
It also warned that such murders would have a considerable impact on the election if they went unpunished.
Their call was supported by monitors from the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), who said an increase in pre-election violence ahead of the July 27 poll followed a familiar pattern established during the lead-up to polls in 1998 and 2003, and that the killing of a journalist and a political activist required serious action by the government.
'The attacks, both of them, will scare and increase fear among those wishing to express themselves,' Comfrel executive director Koul Panha said. 'During election campaigns, people criticise harshly, it goes too far and it can become violent. It is difficult to be completely sure that either of the attacks were politically motivated, but because they occurred during an election campaign, the result is the same: people are scared.'
Campaigning had been quiet, with complaints of intimidation restricted to the grass-roots level. Politicians were winning rare praise, and the poll was being touted as potentially the best yet as the country continues to grapple with a culture of impunity after decades of war.
Eleven parties are contesting the fourth election since a United Nations-sponsored poll in 1993 restored the democratic vote. The CPP's dominance in the rural heartland and the cities is expected to ensure Hun Sen is returned as prime minister.
Human rights advocate Theary Seng said the killing of Khim Sambo was part of a pre-election pattern and was unlikely to impact on the final result. She said Khim Sambo was well-known for his opposition views and believed the killing was in retaliation for this.
He had extensively covered illegal logging, fishing and land grabbing for Moneakseka Khmer.
Khim Sambo's family and Cambodian's information minister, Khieu Kanharith, have condemned the killings and said the culprits had to be found. Investigations were also under way into the attack on Ngor Srun, which occurred shortly after a day of campaigning for the CPP.
Theary Seng said of the acid attack that pre-election violence was usually aimed at the opposition, but 'the situation twists and turns here, and sometimes it's difficult to tell what is politically motivated'.
'But whatever happens, we know the CPP will win,' she said.
