Cambodian court orders arrest of opposition leader

PHOTO

Cambodia opposition party leader Sam Rainsy is greeted by his supporters on the street during the Labor day march in the capital Phnom Penh May 1, 2006. A court in Cambodia has ordered the arrest of Sam Rainsy. [Reuters]

By Robert Carmichael
ABC Radio Australia

A court in Cambodia has ordered the arrest of an opposition leader after he failed to appear in court on charges relating to the contested eastern border with Vietnam.

The arrest warrant for Sam Rainsy, the leader of the country's main opposition party was issued after he missed his court hearing earlier this week.

Sam Rainsy, who is currently in France, had been charged with racial incitement and destruction of property.

Those charges followed an incident in October when the veteran politician removed several wooden border posts marking the boundary between Cambodia and Vietnam.

The two countries are halfway through a six-year process to demarcate their 1,300-kilometre long common border.

A spokesman for the opposition said Sam Rainsy had done nothing wrong by removing the posts.

He blamed the authorities for marking the border without consulting local farmers who as a result had lost their land.

The spokesman said Sam Rainsy would return to Cambodia once a political solution to the court case was in place.

Rejecting the court as a political tool of the ruling party, the spokesman said the opposition would instead petition Cambodia's king to resolve the issue.