Power grab thwarts Cambodia development

By Edward Neilan

TOKYO (JP): Seeing Cambodian statesman Son Sann on television recently, reflecting from retirement in France on a lifetime of his nation's frustration, was at once joyful and sad.

There was an upbeat feeling because it was good to see the 87- year old Son Sann in such good spirits and apparent good health, speaking articulately on the cruel fate dealt to his country during his span of years.

The depressing part is that Cambodia needs men like Son Sann -- dedicated, unselfish, intelligent -- right now in one of the nation's darkest moments.

Although he was briefly the leader of one of the three contesting factions in Cambodia, Son Sann remains deferential to King Norodom Sihanouk whom he served in many capacities over the years. In the televised comments, he said that Sihanouk's "dreams for Cambodia were thwarted by Lon Nol, Pol Pot and Hun Sen."

He might as well have identified the culprits further and said the United States, China and Vietnam as they were the respective backers of the individuals mentioned.

The U.S. backed Premier Lon Nol in a 1970 coup aimed at removing at least 40,000 North Vietnamese troops from Cambodian territory, allowed to remain there by Sihanouk's policy of neutrality which harmed U.S. support for neighboring South Vietnam.

China supported the Khmer Rouge which captured Phnom Penh in April 1975. Under Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge systematically killed over one million Cambodians.

Fighting broke out with Vietnam in 1978 and formation of a Vietnam-backed government was announced on Jan. 8, 1979, one day after the capture of Phnom Penh from the Khmer Rouge. Hun Sen, once a member of the Khmer Rouge, defected and was put in power in 1979 by Vietnam.

United Nations-sponsored elections in Cambodia in 1993 resulted in a sharing of power and a new constitution was enacted with Sihanouk becoming king for a second time (the first, 1941- 1955; then head of state from 1960). The Khmer Rouge boycotted the elections and armed violence continued as did serious refugee problems along the Thai border.

Hun Sen, whose forces seized power from coalition partner and First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh in July, says he wants the United Nations to guarantee and support elections next May 23 -- if the world body will lift its ban on seating his government. The UN says it doesn't have the funds or capability to do that unless Hun Sen cooperates fully by allowing exiled politicians to return.

The UN has refused to recognize the Hun Sen government seat at the UN until Hun Sen is less ambiguous over whether he will use force against Ranariddh.

Sihanouk, who earned the descriptive "mercurial" from journalists in the 1960s for his policy swerves, says he is "caught in the middle."

Sihanouk "cannot say 'no' to Hun Sen," says Ranariddh who happens to be Sihanouk's son.

Cambodia was to have joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) but that has been put hold pending the outcome of the current struggle, which is pivotal to stability in the region. Hun Sen has "never won an election for dogcatcher," one western diplomat said. But this is just about the last straw in Cambodia, so everyone is pushing for the elections to be held on the up and up, as naive and as based on wishful-thinking as that sounds.

The past two decades have seen Phnom Penh go from a tranquil post-colonial city with a definite French imprint of tree-lined avenues, fine restaurants and sidewalk cafes, to a dusty, war- torn capital. Who could forget the 1960s ambience and international clientele of the Cafe de la Poste, Hotel Royale, Cafe de Paris, and Bar Jean? Or the Cambodian and Chinese floating restaurants on the Mekong?

For Son Sann, the accompanying political wrangling is old hat. I first met him in New Delhi, India, where Sihanouk had sent him to negotiate possible new relations with the Americans in the opulent surroundings of Hyderabad House. Sihanouk had a list of serious grievances against the Americans which he had used in breaking ties in 1965, but the final incident -- an emotional loss by his palace volleyball team to the U.S. aid mission team -- was an unprecedented trigger for diplomatic retaliation.

Later in several meetings in Phnom Penh and elsewhere, Son Sann was impressive as a sophisticated statesman working under difficult circumstances.

During the 1980s he was pushed into the position of leading one of the three factions struggling for power. He had realized that talk alone wouldn't help his faction. He needed weapons, although making such requests was out of character for the bespectacled, mild-mannered official.

"Mr. Neilan, can you help me get 2,000 rifles, to save Cambodia?" he said during our last meeting in the U.S. capital more than 10 years ago, when I was foreign editor of The Washington Times.

I assured him I had no access to rifles and that his request would be more appropriate down the street at the Pentagon.

Son Sann was a polished citizen, with international political awareness, ahead of his time among Cambodian politicians, when Hun Sen was still in elementary school. The problem with negotiating with Hun Sen is that he holds most of the cards in the present Cambodian situation.

Firm pressure from ASEAN, already being applied, appears to be the best course. Influence from Japan, United States, Australia, Canada and Russia should come through the UN mostly.

Thus UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative in Cambodia, representative Laklan Mehrotra of India, may become a key player in the drama. China and Vietnam, whose influence is strongly felt behind the scenes, should be among the guarantors of the election.

Perhaps Japan must again play a special role in Cambodia as peacekeeper or election monitor; at least Hun Sen and Ranariddh think so judging by the separate visits each has scheduled to Tokyo in coming weeks.

An active Japan role, carried out deftly without stepping on any ASEAN toes, would surely help in Tokyo's quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

The writer is an analyst of Northeast Asian affairs based in Tokyo.