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.

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