ASEAN 'dismayed' over Cambodia

ASEAN 'dismayed' over Cambodia

JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) issued a joint statement yesterday saying it was
"dismayed" by the turn of events in Cambodia and announced a
special ministerial meeting tomorrow to deliberate the crisis.

Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas underlined the
importance of the meeting to be held in Kuala Lumpur aimed at
"examining developments in Cambodia in its all aspects."

However he balked when asked if it included a review of
Cambodia's impending membership of the grouping.

Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are set to join ASEAN on July 23.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The months of political infighting between Cambodian co-
premiers Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen boiled over
Saturday. Fighting began after Hun Sen's troops moved against
Ranariddh's men.

Hun Sen announced that he was now first prime minister after
Ranariddh fled to Paris.

Alatas was speaking yesterday after an unscheduled meeting
with President Soeharto to inform him on the developments in
Cambodia and tomorrow's planned meeting. Soeharto has closely
followed the crisis and on Monday expressed concern over it.

ASEAN, and particularly Indonesia, played a large role in
brokering peace talks which in 1991 ended the civil war in
Cambodia.

Alatas had said Monday that if asked by the two conflicting
sides, Jakarta would be happy to help resolve the clash.

While admitting that tomorrow's meeting was an Indonesian
initiative, Alatas would not label any subsequent decision as an
Indonesian move. "Hey, don't make it Indonesia's responsibility
(alone) ... Any decision taken would be a consensus and the
responsibility of ASEAN foreign ministers," he remarked.

Malaysia as current chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee
issued a joint statement on behalf of the other six members
calling for an immediate cease-fire and urged the Cambodian two
premiers to resolve their differences peacefully.

"The Cambodian people have suffered from conflict for the past
two decades. It will be tragic for the conflict to reignite in a
country that has long suffered from war," the statement said.

It called on Phnom Penh to "take immediate steps to ensure the
safety of foreign nationals and provide protection to their
properties in that country."

Quiet

Phnom Penh was quiet yesterday but markets, shops and offices
remained closed after a night broken by bursts of apparently
random rifle fire.

Hun Sen's forces are concentrated mainly in Phnom Penh and in
the east, but Ranaridhh's forces have greater strength in the
north and northwest of the country.

There were still no official casualty figures from the
fighting. A police source said preliminary investigation showed
there were 58 deaths, both combatants and civilians, and as many
as 200 wounded in the violence.

Hun Sen told the world yesterday to stay out of Cambodia's
affairs.

"Let the Cambodian people solve this problem by themselves
without any interference and external pressure," he said in a
speech broadcast on television.

Ranariddh denounced the move as a coup and told reporters in
Paris that a new civil war could sweep Cambodia if Hun Sen
refused to share power with him.

"I am willing to see Hun Sen to solve this problem in an
existing legal framework, but if we cannot, there would be, alas,
a civil war in my poor country," he said.

Sources said royalist Defense Minister Tea Champat, well
respected by soldiers of both sides, was planning to fly to Phnom
Penh from Thailand today to try to maintain a role for
Ranariddh's FUNCINPEC party in the government.

A senior FUNCINPEC official said Tea Champat would go to Phnom
Penh as the party's representative and suggested he might even be
able to take Ranariddh's place in the ruling coalition.

A member of Hun Sen's party told reporters in Phnom Penh that
senior FUNCINPEC official Ho Sok had been shot and killed after
being arrested by troops loyal to Hun Sen, but he did not know
who had killed him.

Editorial -- Page 4

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Evacuation -- Page 6

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