Prime Minister praises sport for helping Cambodia recover from Khmer Rouge
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has welcomed delegates to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), General Assembly, here, and referenced the country’s tragic history in issuing an emotional plea for peace.
Hun Sen was present at the key gathering of Asian Olympic officials in Phnom Penh, and shared the story of the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979,
Hun Sen fought for the Khmer Rouge in the Cambodian Civil War after joining them in 1972 and was a battalion commander in Democratic Kampuchea, the one-party totalitarian state which encompassed modern-day Cambodia.
The Khmer Rouge were responsible for the death of up to two million Cambodians, wiping out 25 percent of the country’s population.
Hun Sen defected in 1977 and fought alongside Vietnamese forces in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War from 1979 until 1986 and again from 1987 to 1990,
He served as Cambodia’s Foreign Minister in the Vietnamese occupied Government before being elected Prime Minister in 1985 and has led Cambodia, in one form or another, since then.
Hun Sen claimed sport had helped Cambodia recover from the genocide.
“After the liberation on January 7, 1979, the Cambodian people were left empty-handed and everything was completely destroyed, so the Cambodian people gradually made efforts to rebuild the country in all sectors, including sports, by gathering former coaches and athletes, who survived the slaughter, to organize activities and restructure sport,” Hun Sen told delegates here.
Agencies