Cambodian royalist urges ASEAN cease-fire role

Cambodian royalist urges ASEAN cease-fire role

CHONG CHOM PASS, Thailand (Reuter): The commander of royalist forces fighting to maintain control of a key stronghold in northwest Cambodia yesterday called for regional help to mediate and guarantee a cease-fire in the war-torn country.

General Nhiek Bun Chhay, commander of the besieged royalist forces of ousted co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh, told Reuters that international help was needed, preferably from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to mediate and guarantee a cease-fire.

Fighting has battered Cambodia since Hun Sen, the country's second prime minister, deposed Ranariddh in a coup early last month.

"I am willing to make a cease-fire agreement with Hun Sen's forces provided that the neutral countries, especially ASEAN, could step in and guarantee the cease-fire and our safety," Nhiek Bun Chhay said in a telephone interview from his base in O'Smach.

However, Cambodian government and military officials yesterday rejected the call for a regionally brokered cease-fire by the commander of royalist troops.

Government forces loyal to Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, who seized power in Phnom Penh last month, said it was too late to talk peace in their fight with forces loyal to ousted First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

General Prum Din, commander of special forces, said "We cannot stop fighting. We need to clean up our Cambodian territory."

Echoing a vow this week by Hun Sen to unify the country, he said: "We don't let anyone separate Cambodian territory into two parts."

ASEAN should not interfere in the internal affairs of Cambodia, Prum Din added.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

O'Smach is a town on the border that the royalists have been trying to hold amid fierce fighting over the past weeks. It is considered the last major stronghold of Ranariddh's ragged army as troops loyal to Hun Sen have been gaining ground since the bloody street battles in Phnom Penh on July 5-6.

But Ranariddh told Reuters in Bangkok on Thursday that it was not the only royalist stronghold, and said his forces were reorganizing and that fighting was going on throughout various parts of northern and northwestern Cambodia.

Fighting continued at O'Smach overnight, with small-arms clashes clearly audible from the Thai side of the border. Artillery and mortar fire earlier shook the town. Both royalist and government troops claim control of O'Smach.

Cambodia's co-defense minister Tea Banh said in Bangkok on Friday that fighting in the area was over and urged refugees who fled their war-torn homeland last week to return home.

More than 21,000 Cambodian fled O'Smach through Chong Chom Pass to Thailand last week amid intense fighting as Hun Sen's soldiers closed in on the town. Thailand previously said as many as 33,500 people had fled across the border, but it revised the number on Friday.

Meanwhile, Nhiek Bun Chhay said Hun Sen's troops had captured Khao Laem, a strategic hill about five km (three miles) from the town.

"They have taken Khao Laem, but my soldiers are still holding on in four or five others hills that are good positions to fight back," he said in the interview, conducted in Thai.

Nhiek Bun Chhay, who played a major role in negotiating with Khmer Rouge guerrillas to defect to the government over the past year, said the Khmer Rouge were helping to fight against Hun Sen.

A Thai army source who closely monitors the fighting said the Khmer Rouge were playing a leading role in the battles.

"The Khmer Rouge dominate the fight in the resistance forces. Without them, FUNCINPEC would have given up long ago," he said.

Nhiek Bun Chhay, one of the four senior members of Ranariddh's FUNCINPEC party and considered "most wanted" by Hun Sen, said his 2,000 troops were now facing more than 3,000 fighters loyal to Hun Sen.