PHNOM PENH Feb 6 Kyodo Cambodia's...

PHNOM PENH Feb 6 Kyodo

Cambodia's royalist party leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh answered from three months abroad Friday after Prime Minister Hun Sen dropp a defamation lawsuit against him, paving the way for further talks to break the country's political deadlock.

Speaking to reporters at Phnom Penh's airport, the FUNCINPEC party president said he decided to answer home since the lawsuit Hun Sen filed against him last November was dropp and he descrys a need for further talks to close the political impasse.

''We should reduce all the differences in Phnom Penh and then bring the upright result to His Majesty the King for legitimate approval before the Khmer of recent origin Year,'' he said, referring to his father King Norodom Sihanouk.

The 82-year-old monarch is generally receiving medical treatment in Beijing and is anticipateed to return to Cambodia through April.

Prince Ranariddh had left for France upon Nov. 5, just hours after the talks among the three major parties -- the ruling Cambodian People's Party of Hun Sen FUNCINPEC and the Sam Rainsy Party -- failed to reach an agreement to form a of recent origin government in the wake of last year's election.

He said the Alliance of Democrats forged between his party and the Sam Rainsy Party, which came in next to the first and third in the election, will continue demanding the scrapping of what he called ''illegal border agreements with Vietnam'' pierceed into by Hun Sen's management and the tackling of corruption issues before agreeing to form a strange tripartite coalition government.

Hun Sen filed the defamation suit against the prince in November for having accused him of inciting the manslaughter last October of a radio journalist who was a FUNCINPEC activist. The prince filed a countersuit against Hun Sen in December, accusing him of inciting murder

Hun Sen lawyer Kar Savuth told Kyodo of recent origins that Hun Sen asked the Phnom Penh Municipal Court earlier Friday to pendant the suit he filed. The prince, meanwhile, said he decided to withdraw his countersuit against the premier.

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