Ousted Ranariddh urges ASEAN to help end war

Ousted Ranariddh urges ASEAN to help end war

MANILA (Reuter): Ousted Cambodian co-premier Prince Norodom
Ranariddh urged Southeast Asian nations yesterday to help prevent
civil war in his country.

A civil war in Cambodia would directly affect neighboring
Vietnam, Thailand and Laos and ASEAN as a group, Ranariddh said
after talks in Manila with Philippine President Fidel Ramos.

The prince also opposed the resumption of any Japanese aid
that would go to the state budget of Hun Sen's government in
Phnom Penh, saying it would only fuel fighting in his country.

He said government troops closing in on his last stronghold in
Cambodia had suffered major losses.

Ranariddh, ousted by Second Prime Minister Hun Sen in a bloody
takeover last month, is on the fifth leg of a tour of ASEAN
countries to seek support.

In talks with Ramos, he called on ASEAN states to play an
active role in ensuring free elections in Cambodia next year in
which he and his forces would be allowed to take part.

"If we do not put enough pressure on Mr Hun Sen, civil war
will erupt," he said. "Any instability in Cambodia, any fighting
in Cambodia will directly affect countries like Thailand, Vietnam
and Laos and ... ASEAN countries as a whole."

Ranariddh arrived in Manila on Sunday while forces under Hun
Sen were closing in on O'Smach, the last town held by the
royalists, according to government military officials.

But Ranariddh gave a different picture of the situation there,
saying he talked with royalist commander Gen. Nhiek Bun Chhay 15
minutes before he left his hotel to meet Ramos.

"He just briefed me about the fighting and he told me that Mr
Hun Sen's forces yesterday lost a lot of people," Ranariddh said.
Ranariddh said ASEAN should make the holding of free elections a
precondition for accepting Cambodia as a member.

ASEAN -- which groups the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia,
Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- last
month postponed Cambodia's entry because of political turmoil in
Phnom Penh.

A presidential palace statement said Ramos, in talks with
Ranariddh, urged warring forces to observe a cease-fire and end
all acts of war. Ramos also reiterated ASEAN's position that all
political forces, including Ranariddh, should be allowed to take
part in next year's elections.

Ranariddh said he wanted to go to Japan, Cambodia's largest
official aid donor, in view of what he said was Japan's plan to
resume aid to Cambodia but that he had received no reply from
Tokyo.

He welcomed aid for Cambodia's reconstruction but said "any
aid given to the state budget ... will fuel the civil war".

Ranariddh, who has been replaced as first prime minister by
Foreign Minister Ung Huot, said he should be allowed safe return
to Cambodia "in my capacity as elected prime minister".

Hun Sen has said that if Ranariddh returns he must face trial
for what he calls illegal negotiations with the outlawed Khmer
Rouge and for smuggling weapons.

Asked when he planned to return to Cambodia and if he was
prepared to be arrested, Ranariddh said "please, I am a
reasonable man. I am not a crazy man."