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Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen won a landslide victory last August by banning any opposition party. REUTERS / Samrang Pring

Last October, the European Union threatened Cambodia with taxing Cambodian exports as a means of retaliating against pressure from the Cambodian opposition. Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday accused the EU of taking the country " hostage " fearing Cambodian clothing exports to the now taxed European markets.

The strongman of Cambodia did not like being forced to hand and told former Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny that he was visiting Phnom Penh. As quoted by his spokesman to the press Saturday, Hun Sen lamented that " some 16 million Cambodians are being held hostage " by this agreement with the EU.

The preferential agreement that threatens to suspend the Union with Cambodia authorizes Phnom Penh to export its products, excepted arms, to the Member States without paying customs duties. The textile manufacturing sector, employing hundreds of thousands of workers, benefits mainly from this agreement, whose exports to Europe represent a treasure trove of billions of dollars.

Since then, the government of Hun Sen Cambodian opponents , including dozens living for months in exile after the ban of their party, would be allowed to " resume their activities ."

The main opposition party was disbanded and its leader jailed before last July's general elections, when the Hun Sen regime swept all seats in parliament, making Cambodia a one -party country .

These elections were denounced as flawed, leading the EU to threaten to return to duty-free access for Cambodian products. At the end of December, Hun Sen denigrated Westerners who advocate " what is called democracy and human rights " for his country.

(With AFP)