Cambodian prince removed from power

Cambodia’s royalist party today voted to remove prince Norodom Ranariddh as its leader, saying he was unable to lead the fractious party because he is out of the country too often.

The Funcinpec party said in a statement issued at the end of an extraordinary congress that it had chosen Keo Puth Rasmey, Cambodia’s ambassador to Germany, to replace Ranariddh, whose current whereabouts are not clear.

“It comes to a point where our former president prince Norodom Ranariddh is not able to perform his duty, having lived abroad so long,” Keo Puth Rasmey, the party’s new leader, told reporters.