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."