SWEDEN STOPS NEW AID TO CAMBODIA

Opposition party CNRP President Kem Sokha leads a rally during the last day of campaigning ahead of 
communal elections in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 2, 2017. 

PHENOM PENH : Sweden said on Tuesday last it was stopping new aid for Cambodia except in Education and Research, and would no longer support a reform programme after-

The main opposition party was outlawed by the Supreme Court at the government's request.

The announcement marked the first concrete action by a European Union country in a protest at a political crackdown in which veteran Prime Minister Hun Sen's main rival-

Has also been arrested and civil rights group and independent media attacked.

The United States cut  election funding and said it would take more punitive steps after last week's ban on Party [CNRP] .

The European Union has also threatened action.

Sweden's embassy in Phnom Penh said the country was reviewing its engagement with Cambodia.

''We will not initiate any new government to government development cooperation agreements, except in the areas of education and research,'' it said in a statement.

As a consequence, it would be unable to support decentralization reform in its current form

The reform aims to strengthen lower levels of government, such as local communes.

The CNRP won control of more than 40% of the communes in elections in June, but has now had to give them up to the ruling Cambodian People's Party [CPP].