Albright bangs the drum of democracy

Albright bangs the drum of democracy

By Nick Cumming-Bruce

BANGKOK: The United States secretary of state, Madeleine
Albright, tried in vain Sunday to persuade Asian nations to use
aid as a lever to end the government crisis in Cambodia and faced
an uphill task urging them to curb repression in Myanmar.

On her way to a security forum convened by the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Albright had said one of her
priorities would be restoring the Cambodian coalition government
torn apart by the coup by the second prime minister, Hun Sen,
earlier this month. Washington hoped Asian countries would
withhold at least some aid to the Phnom Penh government to win
concessions from Hun Sen.

The meeting -- attended by 21 foreign ministers from Asia, the
European Union, Australasia and North America -- agreed that
ASEAN should take the lead in steering Cambodia back into line
with the 1991 peace agreements that underpin its constitutional
commitment to multiparty politics and an elected parliament.

But this consensus embraces a range of different approaches
which, diplomats believe, may yet leave Hun Sen in charge. The
U.S. has suspended aid but Japan, Cambodia's biggest donor, is
maintaining its assistance. China wants a peaceful reconciliation
but says it will not interfere in other countries' internal
affairs.

"We didn't have the same position on aid," the state
department spokesman, Nicholas Burns, said after Albright met
Japan's foreign minister, Yukihiko Ikeda.

Albright, setting out the key principles for any Cambodian
settlement, said the Phnom Penh government had to allow political
parties to operate freely. Party leaders, many of whom fled in
fear of their lives after the coup, must be able to return
safely. ASEAN and the U.S. should monitor elections due next
year. She added that Khmer Rouge guerrillas should be barred from
the political process and that the international community should
set up a tribunal to bring their leaders to justice.

It remains to be seen, however, whether Asian leaders are
ready to tough it out with Hun Sen, who was due to reopen
parliament in Phnom Penh yesterday as he tried to show that
normality was returning and to deflect foreign pressure.

Although ASEAN said last week that it still recognized ousted
Prince Norodom Ranariddh as Cambodia's first prime minister, it
is doubtful that member governments will go to great lengths to
stand up for him.

On Myanmar, which won ASEAN membership last week despite U.S.
and European opposition, Albright must wait and see whether her
calls for tougher action have results. She has called the Myanmar
regime "among the most repressive and intrusive on earth".

"Now that the choice has been made," Albright said of
Myanmar's ASEAN membership, "we must insist that we work together
to promote conditions within Myanmar that will lead towards true
democracy and permit its genuine integration into this region."

But ASEAN leaders, notably Malaysia's prime minister, Mahathir
Mohamad, sharply rebuked Western efforts to press other ASEAN
member states into joining U.S. and European sanctions against
Myanmar in place of the association's current policy of
"constructive engagement".

Albright labelled ASEAN's newest recruit as a country "where
the government protects and profits from the drug trade". Drug
money was being laundered with impunity.

She said ASEAN leaders visiting Myanmar should give the
democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, the support she deserved as
"an elected leader" -- a reference to her 1990 election victory
ignored by the junta.

-- The Guardian