Khmer Rogue in from the cold

It should not surprise anyone that the breakaway Khmer Rouge commanders have finally agreed to join the Cambodian government after more than two months of tough negotiations.

It is clear that from now on, they and their fighters -- which number around 4,000 -- will be a factor to be reckoned with as far as politics in Cambodia is concerned.

During the 1993 election, the Khmer Rouge decided to stay away from the polls and were adamant that they could still continue their armed struggle.

However, the notion that the Khmer Rouge can continue waging a guerrilla war seems to be dissipating fast. There is a realization now that without political power, they are nothing.

Sooner or later, many other members of the Khmer Rouge will defect to the government. The smooth integration of these rebel fighters into the government in the months to come will serve as an incentive for those who are still undecided and hiding in the jungle.

The latest agreement between the Khmer Rogue commanders and the government has also boosted the profile of Ieng Sary like never before.

Although the remaining hard-line members of the Khmer Rouge continue to reject Phnom Penh's peace overture, there is a possibility that the moderate Khieu Samphan, who had played an important role during the presence of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia, will finally join the Cambodian government.

The pardon granted in September to Ieng Sary -- who played a key role in the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979 and the subsequent royal amnesty from a death sentence handed down in 1979 -- is still fresh in the minds of many, who believe that the same thing will be applied to Khieu Samphan.

The fact that King Norodom Sihanouk recently wrote a letter to him asking for his cooperation in finding a British mine remover and his interpreter is an indication of rapport between the two.

To Sihanouk, Khieu Samphan still represents a moderate image of the Khmer Rouge, despite the atrocities committed against the members of the monarch's family. In fact, Khieu Samphan is probably the only remaining leader of the Marxist faction who can be granted this privilege in the coming weeks or months.

Given this overall turn of events in Cambodia, those who once were left out in the cold for whatever reasons, including the exiled Prince Norodom Sirivudh, can now return to the political mainstream in Cambodia.

Without the U.N.'s presence, Cambodian politics, as the saying goes, is a whole new ball game that every Cambodian is welcome to join.

-- The Nation, Bangkok