Cambodia hails ASEAN initiative
By Santi WE Soekanto
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia (JP): An ASEAN ministerial mission led by Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas will go to Phnom Penh to engage in "silent diplomacy" after receiving confirmation yesterday that they would be welcomed by Cambodian Second Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Alatas said after the closing of the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference (PMC) here yesterday that the grouping had received a written confirmation welcoming ASEAN's role in the crisis.
"It's possible," Alatas said when asked whether he and two other foreign ministers, who make up the ASEAN mission, might leave for Phnom Penh this week.
Alatas, who returned to Jakarta yesterday afternoon shortly after the close of the two-day PMC, pointed out that he would first report to President Soeharto and consult his colleagues on how and when to go about the mission.
The other two foreign ministers making up the team are the Philippines' Domingo L. Siazon and Thailand's Prachuab Chaiyasarn.
Alatas maintained that the mission would not offer "specific prescriptions on how to resolve the crisis" to Hun Sen.
"We are going to talk in general terms, we're going to listen, to exchange views with Second Prime Minister Hun Sen about the possible elements for a possible solution.
"We have suggestions (about how to restore political stability) but at this stage we cannot reveal what they are," he said when pressed for details.
"If we did that, it would be counterproductive, and if all parties knew what we were going to say, they could say 'no' even before we come," he said adding that "we must have quiet, silent diplomacy until we reach a certain stage".
Similarly Siazon said: "We'd like to be assured that stability (in Cambodia) will exist sufficiently well enough in the long run for them to be able to fulfill their commitments (to the Paris Peace Accords)."
Sources revealed that the written confirmation was received here early yesterday morning and addressed to the three foreign ministers. It was signed by Cambodian Foreign Minister Ung Huot.
"I have the pleasure to reconfirm to your excellencies that Cambodia welcomes ASEAN's role in helping to restore political stability in the country.
"Therefore I would like to invite your excellencies ... to come to Cambodia at a date convenient to your excellencies, if possible this week," read a copy of the signed letter.
The fragile peace and coalition in Cambodia ruptured earlier this month after Hun Sen took over political power from First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
Initial efforts by ASEAN to offer their good offices were rebuffed by Hun Sen. The uncertainty in Cambodia prompted ASEAN to delay its membership which was originally slated for last week.
ASEAN currently groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Alatas yesterday would not say whether the ASEAN mission would also meet again with Prince Ranariddh or his father Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk.
"We are going to first visit Hun Sen ... after that we can look whether to visit (Ranariddh or Sihanouk)," he said.
Alatas lauded the latest development saying "at least now all the parties concerned are willing to accept ASEAN's role" in restoring stability.
He underlined that the mission's main aim was to exchange views so that "an agreement can be reached, one that is enduring enough until the time comes for the general election" next May.
Alatas said no deadline had been set for the Cambodian mission.
Cambodia's Ung Huot last week held direct consultations with the ASEAN ministers who were here to attend the annual ministerial meeting.
Despite reports that Ung Huot had been expelled from Ranariddh's royalist FUNCINPEC party, Alatas said the grouping still recognized him as foreign minister.
"We'll see. He is so far still the foreign minister, and we are dealing with him as such. We'll see how far our position needs to be adjusted if there are changes."
Ung Huot had earlier been tipped to replace Ranariddh as co- premier.