Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered 500 troops and 200 anti-aircraft weapons systems to four northeastern provinces bordering Vietnam on Tuesday, to hunt down drones that allegedly violated the country’s airspace, according to Cambodian media.
Hun Sen said the drones are believed to be operated by “ethnic insurgents” in Vietnam, but Vietnamese authorities have denied that the aircraft were theirs. The Cambodian leader ordered the drones to be shot down.
“This is to prevent all forms of invasion or espionage, while we do not yet know the origin of those drones,” he said, adding “The only way to deal with them is to shoot them down.”
The Khmer Times reported that, in a voice message addressed to Defence Minister General Tea Banh and other senior military officers yesterday (Tuesday), the premier said that the Vietnamese government has no involvement with these airborne devices.
“We urge those countries that allow drones to violate Cambodian airspace to immediately halt their actions,” he said, adding “It is an act of terrorism against Cambodia.”
Radio Free Asia said Hun Sen urged calm, in a pre-recorded address released via ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) mouthpiece FreshNews. The residents of Kratie, Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri and Tboung Khmum provinces have no reason to fear an impending conflict, he said.
“Don’t worry about war in Cambodia. Our troops are intervention troops, (sent) to help local authorities due to repeated violations by drones, the source of which we do not yet know,” he said.
Radio Free Asia quoted members of Cambodia’s opposition as saying that they believe Hun Sen, who has been in power since 1985, is using the development to scare voters into throwing their support behind the CPP, ahead of a general election on July 23rd.
