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King Sihanouk abdicates

AFP, Phnom Penh
Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk has abdicated while in self-imposed exile in Beijing, plunging the country into a new political crisis, his son, the national assembly president, said yesterday.
"According to a royal message that we have received and read to the national assembly, the king has
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abdicated," Prince Norodom Ranariddh told reporters.
The king -- a major Asian political figure of the 20th century -- posted a note on his website late Wednesday saying ill health prevented him from staying on as king and asking Cambodians to allow him to step down.
"The king said Chea Sim (the Senate president) will be the acting head of state and he has written that from now on, Norodom Sihanouk is retired," the clearly emotional prince said.
The king, 81, who first came to the throne 65 years ago, called off his plans to return to Cambodia on Thursday after repeated threats to abdicate since leaving the country in January.
He was furious about being sidelined after trying to resolve a year-long political crisis following inconclusive national elections in July 2003 and concerned about his successor.
"We still hope that the king tomorrow or the day after tomorrow will agree to be the king again," said Ranariddh. He said the nine-member throne council, which is supposed to elect a successor from the king's bloodline, should ask him to reconsider.
Diplomats and observers said they believed the king's decision could be seen as hislast big push toinfluence the naming of his successor.
The king is known to favour Prince Sihamoni, 51, a former dancer and Ranariddh's half-brother.
One observer said it was "too early to tell what this means, but it could be a move on his part to move things forward," referring to a new law promised by Hun Sen and Ranariddh to clarify how the king's heir would be chosen.
"We've got to maintain a bit of scepticism given Sihanouk's previous bouts of 'abdicationism'," a Western diplomat told AFP, referring to his repeated threats to abdicate.
Premier Hun Sen last month cast doubt on the legal right of the king to abdicate -- the constitution says that
the king reigns for life -- and warned that the move could plunge the country into chaos.
The post-election feuding ended when Hun Sen and Ranariddh eventually formed a government in July this year.
Afterwards some analysts said that Hun Sen, who controls a majority of positions in the throne council, secretly promised to support Ranariddh's succession to the throne in return for him joining his government. Ranariddh, 60, later publicly gave his support to Sihamoni.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday wrote to the king warning of "at least verbally violent demonstrations" to mark his return. The protests were not connected to his party, he said.
"Sam Rainsy's letter yesterday to the king not only led to the king deciding not to return, but also to abdicate," Ranariddh said.
"I think that Sam Rainsy's activities have been aimed at bringing political and constitutional turmoil because the king's abdication will lead to a serious situation in the nation," he said. Rainsy denied the charge.
After news of the abdication, the capital, which has descended into unrest during previous times of political crisis, remained calm.
Ranariddh said he, Chea Sim and Hun Sen would try to meet the king in Beijing to try to get him to change his mind.
The king has steered his country through turbulent decades marked by coups, wars, genocide, and eventually peace.
During the genocidal years of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s, he spent the year under house arrest and five of his 14 children were killed.
After another period in exile after the Khmer Rouge was ousted, he returned home in 1991 and was restored to the throne two years later.