via CAAI
October 27, 2010 Wednesday
PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA'S outspoken prime minister told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday to remove a local UN representative and instruct Khmer Rouge war crimes prosecutors to limit the scope of their investigation.
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, who attended a meeting between Ban and Hun Sen, said the long-serving premier threatened to close the office of the United Nation's human rights body if its representative, Christophe Peschoux, was not replaced.
'Peschoux has not been working on human rights issues with the government but has been the spokesperson for opposition parties,' Namhong told reporters, quoting Hun Sen as telling Ban.
'Remove Peschoux. If Peschoux is not removed, the human rights office in Cambodia will be closed,' he added.
Hun Sen also urged Ban to ensure prosecutors in the joint Cambodian-UN Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal did not seek more indictments, which he said could create conflict in the war-scarred country.
The five-year-old, multi-million-dollar (US) tribunal is preparing to hear its second case, dubbed 002, against four former top cadres of Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist regime, which is blamed for the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians from 1975-1979. -- REUTERS
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