
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 24, 1993                   TAG: 9309240009
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA                                LENGTH: Medium

SIHANOUK RETURNS TEARFULLY TO LOST CAMBODIAN THRONE

Prince Norodom Sihanouk, shedding tears of emotion, returned to his homeland Thursday to become king again, 23 years after he was ousted as Cambodia's leader in a coup.

The nation has endured revolution and civil war, with hundreds of thousands of deaths, in the intervening years. Sihanouk's return to the throne and the installation of a new government follow a U.N. peacekeeping mission that guided the nation through elections in May.

Sihanouk resumes the throne today under a constitution that was adopted Tuesday by the 120-member assembly elected in that balloting.

He stood under a golden parasol at Pochentong Airport as a marching band in starched white uniforms played the national anthem. Both the anthem and the red, white and blue national flag carried by aides date from Sihanouk's earlier years in power.

Foreign ambassadors, senior U.N. officials and Cambodian leaders waited several hours at the airport to greet the 70-year-old Sihanouk upon his arrival from China, where he has been receiving treatment for a prostate tumor.

"To be a king again is not important for me, but it's good for Cambodia to be reunited . . . by the royal regime where the king reigns but does not govern," Sihanouk told reporters.

"I think that we can be proud of being, from now on, a genuine liberal democracy, where the people will be the only masters of their destiny and will exercise their power through their legal representatives."

Tears welled in his eyes as Sihanouk got into his black luxury car and sped off down the flag-lined streets to the Royal Palace.

Hundreds of children waved tiny Cambodian flags in welcome, standing underneath signs proclaiming the new national motto, "Nation, Religion and King."

Sihanouk helped broker the 1991 peace accord that authorized the U.N.-organized elections. The party led by Sihanouk's son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, won the most seats and has been working ever since on a constitution to return Sihanouk to the throne.

Sihanouk is to sign the constitution today and then assume the throne later in the day.

"These days are crucial and very great days for the new Cambodia," said the U.N. mission chief in Cambodia, Yasushi Akashi.

The formation of the government will mark the end of the 18-month U.N. peacekeeping operation in Cambodia, the world body's biggest ever.

by CNB