Cambodia's king reappointed Hun Sen as prime minister yesterday, a major step toward restoring normal government and legislative operations after an 11-month political deadlock.

　　The appointment, made in an official letter signed by King Norodom Sihanouk, gives Hun Sen his third elected term at the country's helm. It should clear the way for a new government to be formed today.

　　The letter from Sihanouk, currently on an extended stay in Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was distributed to reporters by the Information Ministry, which is controlled by Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party.

　　Cambodia has been run by a Hun Sen-led caretaker government since an inconclusive general election on July 27 last year. Hun Sen's party topped the polls, but failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to govern alone.

　　The royalist Funcinpec party, which came in second, initially refused to join Hun Sen, accusing him of corruption, autocratic behavior and mismanagement.

　　After months of on-and-off negotiations, the two parties set aside their differences in late June and agreed to form a coalition.

　　The standoff had kept the government from taking some important steps, including making preparations to join the World Trade Organization and concluding plans for a genocide trial for the country's former Khmer Rouge communist leaders. Much needed foreign assistance was also delayed.

　　The process of forming the new government is expected to wrap up today, when the National Assembly meets.

　　A new government "will be born tomorrow," said Khieu Kanharith, CPP spokesman, yesterday. "In fact, the match up (of names and posts in the parliament and government) has already been made."

　　Lawmakers will give their vote of confidence to Hun Sen's government and vote to fill the National Assembly president, two vice presidents and commission posts by a single show of raised hands.

　　Khieu Kanharith dismissed rumors about an internal rift within Hun Sen's party.

　　(The Associated Press)