Australia, Thailand tense over Khmer Rouge

Australia, Thailand tense over Khmer Rouge

By Patrick Lescot

BANGKOK (AFP): Tension has risen between two of the most
important players in the Cambodian crisis ahead of the Asia-
Pacific summit next week, after Canberra charged Bangkok with
harboring leaders of the outlawed Khmer Rouge.

Speaking against a backdrop of nationwide anger at the killing
by the Khmer Rouge of an Australian backpacker, Australian Prime
Minister Paul Keating told parliament on Monday that Thailand was
providing "sanctuaries" for the leftist guerrillas.

"The Khmer Rouge is getting support from external sources,
some of them in Thailand, and without that support it would
materially curtail their activities," Keating said.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Suwidhya Simaskul vigorously
denied Thailand was sheltering the Khmer Rouge, saying it was
"extremely unhappy with this groundless accusation" and
challenged Australia to come up with proof.

"We do not give sanctuary to the Khmer Rouge," Deputy Foreign
Minister Surin Pitsuwan added.

Keating gave notice he would raise the issue with Thai Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai at the informal summit of the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Jakarta on Nov. 14-15.

Keating's foreign minister, Gareth Evans, said the guerrillas
were able to scuttle across into Thailand "with impunity," as
soon as Phnom Penh's forces put them under pressure.

Evans also hit at timber concessions and ruby mines in
northwest Cambodia -- allegedly run by renegade Thai businessmen
-- "that keeps a supply of cash flowing to the Khmer Rouge."

The Thai-Australian tensions were sparked by the slayings,
confirmed last week, of three western hostages, including
Australian David Wilson, by the Khmer Rouge.

The killings prompted Australia -- one of the architects of
the Cambodian peace plan -- to boost military training for the
ramshackle Cambodian army and urge other western countries to
follow suit.

But it was not the first time the question of alleged Thai
asylum for the Khmer Rouge has been raised. According to repute,
the Khmer Rouge's shadowy leader Pol Pot -- the man blamed for
the genocidal "Killing Fields" of the 1970s -- has a residence in
Thailand. Thailand has denied this.

Members of the Cambodian government leveled this accusation
against Bangkok earlier this year, saying thousands of defeated
guerrillas and their families which had fled an offensive on the
Khmer Rouge "capital" of Pailin in March had been allowed to
regroup in Thailand by the Thai army.

They were then trucked further north, to the Khmer Rouge-held
area of Phoum Malai, despite repeated calls from Phnom Penh for
them to be given a choice of traveling to a government zone or a
guerrilla zone, the government said.

A month later, the guerrillas then took Pailin and forced the
government's army into a demoralizing retreat, it said.

The Khmer Rouge control some 10 percent of Cambodia, most of
it jungle and mountainous terrain in the north and northwest, all
along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Responding to international criticism, the commander-in-chief
of the Thai army, General Wimol Wongwanich, said last month that
his units had been ordered to cut all ties with the Khmer Rouge.

Suvidhya reaffirmed that Thailand only recognized the elected
government in Phnom Penh, and condemned the Khmer Rouge for the
killings of the three hostages.

Chuan last week reminded world opinion that the Khmer Rouge,
along with two other factions, had been supported by an array of
countries -- including Australia -- during the Vietnamese
occupation of Cambodia in the 1980s.

The group has reputedly stashed away several tens of millions
of dollars, some of it in Thai banks.

Questioned Friday on the Thai position regarding Cambodia's
request to freeze Khmer Rouge assets, Chuan insisted that Bangkok
was "ready to cooperate."