Cambodian PM denounces UN envoy

Envoy Yash Ghai said power was too centralised around one person

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has launched a scathing attack on a UN envoy who criticised the government's record on human rights.

Yash Ghai said on Tuesday that Cambodia's government was not committed to human rights, and power had been too centralised around "one individual".

Hun Sen said Mr Ghai was "deranged" and should be sacked by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

UN rights staff in Cambodia were just "long-term tourists", Hun Sen added.

Mr Ghai, a Kenyan lawyer, completed a 10-day fact-finding tour of Cambodia on Tuesday.

He said the Cambodian government was "not very committed to human rights".

You are lucky that this time a deputy prime minister met you. That won't happen next time Hun Sen

This year Hun Sen has filed, and subsequently dropped, defamation charges against about a dozen government critics.

Last year opposition leader Sam Rainsy was also sentenced to 18 months in prison for criminal defamation, although he was granted a royal pardon in February.

"Some of the improvements have taken place not because of, but in spite of, the government," Mr Ghai said.

"I have been quite struck by the enormous centralisation of power, not in the government but in one individual," he added.

"I have talked to judges, so many people, politicians, and everyone is so scared."

Mr Ghai said donor countries, on whom Cambodia relies for half its budget, should "put pressure on the government to use this opportunity to put laws and institutions in place".

The comments brought a furious reaction from Hun Sen.

"Kofi Annan should remove him. He knows nothing [about Cambodia], and came to talk like this. I will never meet with you [Yash Ghai]," he said.

"You don't even know about your own poor country, Kenya, in which over 50% of people live in poverty. You are lucky that this time a deputy prime minister met you. That won't happen next time."

Hun Sen said the UN rights staff in Cambodia were nothing more than "long-term tourists" from whom "our people can get some money from renting their houses".