On July 5 to 6, 1997 the Cambodian co-prime minister Hun Sen used his forces to crush those of the other co-prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, in factional fighting in Phnom Penh, ousting Ranariddh from power while he was abroad. Cambodia had been governed since the 1993 UN-supervised elections by an uneasy coalition in which Ranariddh's royalist FUNCINPEC, which had won the vote, shared power as first prime minister with Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party as second prime minister, the CPP retaining control of the security apparatus. Tensions escalated into armed clashes on July 5 to 6, 1997; Hun Sen's forces defeated Ranariddh's, and Hun Sen declared Ranariddh ousted.
Ranariddh, who was outside the country, went into exile in Paris, and other FUNCINPEC leaders fled; CPP forces summarily executed a number of FUNCINPEC figures. Ranariddh was not physically harmed.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, ousted by Hun Sen's forces on July 5 to 6, 1997 while he was abroad; he went into exile in Paris and was not physically harmed.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Norodom Ranariddh (first prime minister ousted)
Hun Sen (second prime minister who seized full power)
Sources
The 1997 Cambodian coup took place from July to September 1997, and as a result co-premier Hun Sen ousted the other co-premier Norodom Ranariddh, with at least 32 people killed during the coup.
Hun Sen declared Ranariddh ousted from power, and following the seizure of power Prince Ranariddh went into exile in Paris while other FUNCINPEC leaders were forced to flee the country, after CPP forces carried out summary executions of FUNCINPEC ministers with between 41 and 60 people executed in custody.
Prince Ranariddh's royalist FUNCINPEC Party was the top vote recipient in the 1993 election with 45.5% of the vote, but had to enter a coalition with Hun Sen's CPP which refused to relinquish power, and Ranariddh and Hun Sen became First and Second Prime Ministers, with the CPP having largely maintained control of the state apparatus including the armed forces despite losing the election.
The UN Special Representative on human rights in Cambodia Thomas Hammarberg condemned the violence and made clear in his October 1997 report that the events of July 5 to 6 were a coup, and Ung Huot was elected as the new First Prime Minister.
Coding note: the dataset labels this a palace coup with a not-physically-harmed fate, dated July 5, 1997. It captures Hun Sen's violent removal of his co-prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh in the factional fighting of July 5 to 6, 1997, an internal seizure of full power within the governing coalition. Fate coding: the ousted first prime minister Ranariddh was abroad during the fighting and went into exile in Paris; he was not physically harmed, matching the dataset. Who is coded deposed: Prince Norodom Ranariddh, whose FUNCINPEC had actually won the 1993 election but had been forced to share power with Hun Sen's CPP, which retained control of the security forces. Mass-violence context handled with care and cited: at least 32 people were killed during the coup, and CPP forces carried out summary executions of a number of FUNCINPEC figures (sources cite between 41 and 60 executed in custody), documented by the UN; these figures are attributed to their sources rather than asserted, without gratuitous detail. Contested subject handled neutrally: Hun Sen characterized the events as a response to a FUNCINPEC threat, while the UN and others called it a coup; both framings are recorded. Historical weight recorded: the takeover cemented Hun Sen's long dominance of Cambodian politics. Neutrality maintained on a contested subject.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, ousted by Hun Sen's forces on July 5 to 6, 1997 while he was abroad; he went into exile in Paris and was not physically harmed..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Two Cambodian Parties Battle Outside Capital,” July 5, 1997
“Faction Surrenders in Cambodia,” by Seth Mydans, July 7, 1997
“World Gets Plea to Act On Cambodia,” July 10, 1997
“Cry for Cambodia,” July 10, 1997
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →