Ung Huot

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Ung Huot ( khm .: អ៊ឹ ង ហួត; born January 1, 1945 in Kandal ) is a Cambodian politician who served alongside Hun Sen as Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1997 to 1998 . As a member of the monarchist FUNCINPEC (French for Front Uni National pour un Cambodge Indépendant, Neutre, Pacifique, et Coopératif ) he was first Minister for Post and Telecommunications, then First Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. He later founded the Reastr Niyum Party , but failed to win a seat in the 1998 general election and had to resign.

education

Ung Huot received a scholarship to study accounting and finance in Australia under the Colombo Plan in 1971, when the Cambodian Civil War began . He settled in Melbourne and declared himself leader of the Cambodian emigration committee in that city. After completing his studies, he only wanted to return to Cambodia in 1975, but then changed his plans and stayed in Australia, which, according to his own admission, probably saved his life. The majority of his colleagues who returned were victims of the Khmer Rouge massacre . He took on Australian nationality and worked in telecommunications for around a dozen years.

Political career

In 1991, when the communist government fell under Pol Pot , he entered politics and in 1982 became FUNCINPEC's representative in Australia. After the 1991 Paris Peace Treaty, he returned to Cambodia and became a senior official in FUNCINPEC and Minister of Post and Telecommunications. In the parliamentary elections in 1993 , which FUNCINPEC won, he was the party's campaign leader. In 1994 he was appointed Foreign Minister to succeed Prince Norodom Sirivudh.

In July 1997 FUNCINPEC's leader, Norodom Ranariddh , who served as First Prime Minister, was ousted in a bloody coup by Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, leader of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), rival and coalition partner of FUNCINPEC. Hun Sen invited Ung Huot to become First Prime Minister, replacing Ranariddh. Ranariddh's father, King Norodom Sihanouk , initially refused to recognize the corresponding agreement, but Ung Huot was elected First Prime Minister by Parliament on July 16, 1997, whereupon the King relented. Ung Huot was subsequently charged with corruption by FUNCINPEC and expelled from the party. He founded his own party, the Reastr Niyum Party ("Populist Party"), which did not win a seat in parliament in the 1998 elections , which meant that Ung had to resign as first prime minister and foreign minister. Hun thus remained the sole prime minister.

Ung later returned to FUNCINPEC and became one of its senators.

family

Ung Huot is married to Ung Malis Yvonne.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Justin J. Corfield: The History of Cambodia. Greenwood Press, Santa Barbara, CA 2009, ISBN 978-0-313-35722-0 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  2. ^ The Cabinet changes in full. In: The Phnom Penh Post . November 4, 1994.
  3. ↑ A pawn or a realist? Ung Huot moves up. In: The Phnom Penh Post. July 25, 1997.
  4. ↑ Sihanouk does not want to recognize changes in power. In: Junge Welt . July 30, 1997.
  5. ^ A new co-premier in Cambodia. In: The world . August 7, 1997.
  6. ↑ Kay Hanisch: Fall of the Monarchists. In: World in focus. August 2007.
  7. ↑ Catherine Philp: Ung Huot Bows Out of PM Seat Gracefully. In: The Cambodia Daily . 4th August 1998.
  8. ↑ Freya Williams: Ung Huot, Democratically, Stands in Line. In: The Cambodia Daily. July 27, 1998.
personal data
SURNAME Ung Huot
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cambodian politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Kandal