Sam Rainsy declares formation of ‘Independent Cambodian Government’ on Paris Peace Accord anniversary

Exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy, former head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), announced the formation of the “Independent Cambodian Government of October 23”, marking the 34th anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords.

In a statement issued from France under the name of the Cambodia National Resistance Council (CNRC), Rainsy said the new government aims to restore democracy, protect national sovereignty, and combat state-protected organised crime under the current Phnom Penh regime.

He accused the Hun family of colluding with criminals, declaring that the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) must remove the Huns from leadership “if it does not wish to be branded a party of thieves.”

The CNRC’s statement reaffirmed its origins in the CNRP, which had won overwhelming popular support in 2013 and 2017 before being dissolved by Hun Sen’s government, which feared a democratic uprising. The CNRC insists that both Hun Sen and Hun Manet’s administrations lack legitimacy for “destroying the people’s will expressed through elections.”

The initiative, Rainsy said, seeks to revive the principles of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, which enshrined democracy, sovereignty, and peace as the foundation of Cambodia’s survival as a pluralist state. He accused Hun Sen of systematically violating those principles, turning Cambodia into a “mafia state” where online fraud and transnational crime thrive under official protection.

The CNRC praised the United States for its October 14 2025 sanctions against Chinese tycoon Chen Zhi and several Cambodian elites linked to global scam networks, calling it “a turning point in the global war against corruption and state-backed crime.”

The statement urged nations whose citizens have been victims of online scams or human trafficking in Cambodia to join efforts to dismantle these criminal structures. It reaffirmed that the Paris Peace Accords remain the sole legitimate framework for Cambodia’s peace, sovereignty, and democracy, outlining three guiding principles:

1. Cambodia’s territorial integrity must be protected by international treaty guarantees to prevent armed conflict.
2. Cambodia must return to genuine democracy and uphold human rights, eroded under decades of dictatorship.
3. Cambodia must reclaim full independence through strict neutrality — ending the Chinese naval base in Ream and removing all foreign troops.

“The Independent Cambodian Government of October 23 will restore the spirit of the Paris Peace Accords, rebuild democratic institutions, uphold the rule of law, and return power to the Cambodian people — the true source of national sovereignty,” the statement declared.