S AM Rainsy's deputy Ngoun Soeur has been sacked and has petitioned the government

to be allowed to hold an alternative Khmer Nation Party (KNP) congress.

Soeur said that he would take "thousands" of KNP supporters with him and

that whoever can convice the government to legally recognize the KNP - which Rainsy

has been unsuccessfully trying to do for more than three months - "would

be rightful to lead it."

Rainsy compared Soeur's move with what happened last year to split the Buddhist Liberal

Democratic Party (BLDP).

Rainsy blamed the government for "organizing" the split within his party.

It was a bad week for Rainsy:

• Feb 14, Soeur was sacked. Rainsy and Soeur traded insults;

• Feb 15, Rainsy asked the Phnom Penh court for a legal ruling on the government's

  refusal to recognize the KNP as a political party;

• Feb 16, perhaps the most sensational news of the fortnight, another of Rainsy's

  deputies, Moung Mondale, was sacked. KNP members in America alleged Mondale was under

  investigation there for murdering his wife's uncle, an allegation denied by California

  police. Mondale had left the country on Feb 13 for "three weeks for medical

  reasons";

• Feb 16, the Ministry of Interior offered to talk to Rainsy about the legitimacy

  of the KNP;

• Feb 17, Rainsy agreed to the ministry's invitation, and proposed the talks go

  ahead on Feb 22.

• Feb 20, Rainsy faxed news media saying that the ministry has postponed the talks.

  Ngoun Soeur told the Post that he had asked the government for permission to hold

  an alternative KNP congress.

Rainsy said that the postponement of the talks was "hiding [government] manuevers

to promote a dissident group [within the KNP] which benefits from political, financial

and logistical support of the government." Rainsy was clearly speaking about

what may emerge as a "Nguon Soeur faction."

"These manuevers recall the ones that Ieng Mouly used to divide BLDP,"

he said.

The ministry though couldn't make the Feb 22 appointment because Prum Sokha - who

was designated to meet Rainsy - was away in Bangkok. "We're not obliged to be

busy with just KNP alone," said a ministry spokesman.

Meanwhile, Rainsy's Feb 15 complaint to the court was done, he said, to resolve the

question of his party's legitimacy.

He told the court: "Rather it is the decision of the Government itself [to declare

the KNP unlawful] which has violated the Constitution, [and] has no legal basis...

and which should thus be considered unlawful and annulled".

In the case of Mondale, the KNP steering committee voted unanimously to sack him

from his position as third vice-president after receiving an allegation from KNP

supporters in Long Beach that "Moung Mondale is under investigation by the City

of Long Beach Police Department on the killing of his wife's uncle. He doesn't deserve

his position".

But Long Beach police told the Post that there is no investigation involving Mondale.

"No one by the name of Moung Mondale has been listed as a suspect in any murder

investigation going back to 1993," a Long Beach Police spokesman said.

The same KNP supporters in Long Beach also said Mondale had conducted "dubious

activities" harmful to the party and that he made "the most improper comment...

by claiming that he is an agent of other group to sabotage our success."

Beyond repair now is the relationship between Rainsy and Soeur. They called each

other "egocentric" and "tricky" during the past fortnight which

culminated in Soeur's sacking.

Soeur's former colleagues said he had "incited fractions within the party",

while Rainsy - claiming to be talking on behalf of most of his steering committee

- describing Soeur as an "egocentric" with a temper that was difficult

to work with.

He said that Soeur has "directly and indirectly" threatened to accuse him

of having contacts with the Khmer Rouge, illegally hiding weapons, plotting to topple

the government and to kill Hun Sen. Soeur has denied such charges.

Soeur called his expulsion illegal and claimed he still remained the KNP vice-president.

At a press conference on Feb 16, he called Rainsy "tricky" and asked "If

he's tricky like this, how can he be the leader of the country in the future?"

"Don't assume that the problem is over with Ngoun Soeur's expulsion. The show

has just begun."

Rainsy said: "Some change of the top level is not important. What is important

is the confidence, the hope the Cambodian people place in the KNP which is the only

alternative to this corrupt and authoritarian government."

Meanwhile, the car the Ministry of Interior confiscated from KNP's deputy treasurer

Kuoy Bunroeun has been returned to its original owner Sea Chin Leng.

Bunroeun's uncle, Sea Savoeun - who had lent the car to Bunroeun - said a solution

was reached when he agreed to accept $2,000 from the wife of Pang Seak Hong - the

man who cheated Chin Leng of his vehicle.

Hong has disappeared after collecting $3,000 from mortgaging Chin Leng's car to Savoeun.

When Bunroeun borrowed the car from Savoeun, police stopped him and accused him of

stealing it.

That led to a three-hour armed siege on the KNP's office on Jan 29.