The Interior Ministry held a ceremony to promote 119 generals on Tuesday, according to secretary of state Em Sam An, who presided over the meeting.
In his speech at the ministry in Phnom Penh, Mr. Sam An said that 68 officials were made brigadier generals, 32 became major generals, and 19 were promoted to lieutenant general—a rank of one, two and three stars, respectively.
“Senior officials must control their forces properly with morality and must strengthen the effectiveness of their officials during working hours,” he said.
Mr. Sam An also said that the ministry had established a commission to review the number of staff employed by its departments nationwide to determine which were overstaffed and which lacked workers.
Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said the promotions would encourage the generals.
“We are armed forces and we have been working for many years, so they were promoted according to normal procedure,” General Sopheak said by telephone.
“I wish to state that the promotion was not meant to strengthen security but to encourage officials to contribute to maintaining security.”
