Chea Sim Returns From Week in Hospital

Senate President Chea Sim was greeted by colleagues, government ministers and relatives when he returned home Sunday from Bangkok, where he had spent a week recovering from a stroke.

Chea Sim, who is also president of the ruling CPP, did not need help walking, but a bodyguard did assist him down the stairs from the airplane onto the ground. The senior official walk­ed slowly to greet well-wishers at Pochen­tong Airport, and had an especially warm greeting for three of his grandchildren, whom he patted on the head.

“Your face is still the same as before,” Chea Sim’s wife told him.

Foreign Minister Hor Nam­hong, Agricultural Minister Chhea Song, both CPP members, and Senate Second Vice President Nhiek Bhun Chhay, a Funcinpec member, were among the officials at the airport to greet Chea Sim.

Chea Son, chief of cabinet for Chea Sim, said his boss was in good health and will return to work this week. The Senate is now on recess and will resume in December, when Chea Sim is expected to lead the opening session.

“His health has become normal,” said Kunthea Borei, Chea Sim’s chief of protocol. “He can work from now on.”

Chea Sim was to go to Beijing on Oct 23 to prepare for Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s visit next month. Chea Sim’s trip was canceled because of the stroke he suffered on Oct 21. His visit to China has been rescheduled.

Chea Sim, like Prime Minister Hun Sen, was a member of the Khmer Rouge, but fled the movement in 1977. He later returned with the Vietnamese, which drove out the Khmer Rouge and occupied Cambodia from 1979 to 1989. He officially renounced communism in 1993 after the UN-sponsored elections, but is still seen as a hard-liner, compared to Hun Sen’s more moderate stance.

 

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