Cambodia, 1994 — dissident coup attempt

Event Summary

On 2 July 1994 a coup was attempted in Cambodia by Prince Norodom Chakrapong, a son of King Norodom Sihanouk and half brother of the co prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, together with General Sin Song, a former interior minister, against the fragile coalition government that had emerged from the United Nations sponsored 1993 elections. Cambodia was then governed by an uneasy power sharing arrangement between Ranariddh's royalist FUNCINPEC and Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, the former communist party, with the two men serving as first and second prime ministers. Chakrapong, who had earlier led a short lived secession attempt in 1993, and Sin Song, both aligned with hardline elements of the former communist establishment, sought to seize power, reportedly plotting to arrest government leaders.

The attempt was quickly discovered and suppressed by forces loyal to the government; Chakrapong was arrested but then allowed to go into exile, while Sin Song fled. The coup failed and the shaky coalition survived, but the episode underscored the deep instability of Cambodian politics, which would erupt again in 1997 when Hun Sen ousted Ranariddh by force and consolidated his long dominance.