Thailand has barred a top leader of Cambodia’s opposition party from entering the country, casting doubt on plans for its exiled leaders to return to their homeland against the Cambodian government’s wishes.
Mu Sochua, a former lawmaker of the court-disbanded Cambodia National Rescue Party, said she was deported Sunday after arriving at Bangkok’s international airport.
Party co-founder Sam Rainsy has declared that he and other exiled colleagues plan to return to Cambodia on Nov. 9, along with a mass of Cambodian supporters who also live outside the country. While Thailand has never been publicly specified, it is the only practical location for such a plan. Thailand hosts hundreds of thousands of Cambodian migrant workers, and Cambodia’s other neighbors are its political allies with authoritarian governments.
