Khmer Rouge, refugee crisis on US’s hands: PM

Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed out against US interference in foreign affairs at a meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly in Siem Reap yesterday.

“What is the benefit of deposing Saddam Hussein in Iraq? Deposing Ben Ali in Tunisia? Gaddafi in Libya?” Hun Sen asked during a discussion of “peace, reconciliation and dialogue in the region”.

He also appeared to blame America for the rise of the Khmer Rouge – for which he was a military commander – and the current migrant crisis in the Middle East and Europe.

“Because they [USA] hated King Sihanouk, they made a coup against him and made war that killed hundreds of thousands of people from 1970 to 1975. And from 1975 to 1979, war killed about 3 million people,” he said.

“Many refugees have moved to Europe but those refugees are not yet accepted by European countries,” Hun Sen said, claiming these nations have an obligation to assist refugees because of their complicity in America’s destablisation of the region and “because you supported the USA to make colour revolutions in Middle East”.

A US Embassy spokesman declined to comment.