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."