Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Ranariddh, former prime minister and son of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, died on Sunday in France, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith announced on his Facebook page. He was 77 years old.
Ranariddh has been sick since a automobile accident in Cambodia in 2018. An aide of Ranariddh, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said he traveled to Paris in late 2019 to treating a patient with a broken pelvis.
Ranariddh’s profession has at all times been overshadowed by his charismatic father Sihanouk and the cunning and ruthless political rival Hun Sen, with whom he shared power before being dismissed. Hun Sen stays prime minister.
Ranariddh traded on his position as Sihanouk’s son, but he lacked his father’s strong personality and political skill. Ranariddh’s half-brother, Norodom Sihamoni, became king in 2004 after the abdication of Sihanouk, who died in 2012. Sihamoni’s Facebook page confirmed Ranariddh’s death.
Ranariddh, a law graduate in France, entered public life in 1983 when he assumed leadership of Funcinpec, an armed resistance movement against the Hun Sen-led government installed in Vietnam that replaced the brutal communist Khmer Rouge regime of 1975-79.
Ranariddh transformed Funcinpec right into a royalist party, which won UN-sponsored elections in 1993. The elections were a part of a peace process following the autumn of the Khmer Rouge and thirty years of civil war.
Hun Sen’s post-election threats to unleash the safety forces he still controlled resulted in him becoming the second prime minister under Ranariddh to be appointed prime minister.
Hun Sen staged a successful coup in 1997 after two days of fighting within the capital, Phnom Penh. Ranariddh lost his position after fleeing into temporary exile, and Funcinpec got here under the strong influence of Hun Sen.
Injured former Cambodian prime minister airlifted to Bangkok after automobile crash that killed his wife
Injured former Cambodian prime minister airlifted to Bangkok after automobile crash that killed his wife
Ranariddh made several comeback attempts and founded the Norodom Ranariddh Party in 2006, but he was destined to stay a marginal political player.
Ranariddha’s last position was as chief advisor to his half-brother, King Sihamoni. He was also the leader of the remnant Funcinpec party, which announced on Sunday evening that his body would soon be sent back to Cambodia.
Ranariddh’s second wife, Ouk Phalla, a classical dancer greater than thirty years his junior, with whom he had two children, died in a automobile accident in 2018.
