A Funcinpec resistance general who pledged loyalty Friday to the government, has verbally attacked Prince Norodom Ranariddh in an interview rebroadcast several times on TVK.
Brigadier General Kheang Savorn, a senior RCAF naval officer who had been fighting with resistance forces in the Samlot district of Battambang province, blasted the prince for “never thinking about” the men fighting for his name at the Thai border.
“He never visited us during eight months at the border,” said Kheang Savorn, who also cooperated with the prince in the 1980s as a fighter in the royalist army.
In a statement issued Friday, Kheang Savorn claimed to defect to the government with 350 soldiers, including colonels Ouch Savan and En Sitha, and 150 families.
A Sunday statement from resistance army officials at the embattled town of O’Smach claimed Kheang Savorn left the resistance because of a “personal dispute with local people” and has no more than 60 followers.
“Mr Kheang Savorn has been bought by the tandem, Pol Saroeun and Su Kim Sun. We wish him good luck,” the statement read.
Su Kim Sun, a military adviser to Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, could not be reached Monday.
But Pol Saroeun, an RCAF Deputy Chief of General Staff, dismissed the “useless” allegations.
“My salary is small, so how can I have money to buy him,” Pol Saroeun said by telephone. “He just wants peace.” (Additional reporting by Kimsan Chantara)
