RI reports progress on UN role in Cambodia

RI reports progress on UN role in Cambodia

UNITED NATIONS (Reuter): Southeast Asian countries secured an agreement from rival Cambodian leaders for the United Nations (UN) to monitor the return of exiled politicians before crucial elections next year, Indonesia said on Friday.

But neither side was willing to talk yet about a permanent cease-fire, although they might agree to a temporary one, Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told reporters. He said fighting had subsided only because of the rainy season in Cambodia.

Alatas, however, said "little headway" had been made in getting charges dropped against Prince Norodom Ranariddh, ousted by his co-prime minister Hun Sen in June.

Hun Sen still insists he face trial on charges that include the illegal importation of arms and alleged collaboration with remnants of the Khmer Rouge guerrillas.

Alatas, along with the foreign ministers of Thailand and the Philippines met Hun Sen and Ranariddh in New York this week on guarantees for returning politicians and other issues. They are members of a mediation team on Cambodia set up by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"The United Nations would observe, would be the eyes and ears of their return, monitoring their return, observing how they are received and ensuring that nothing untowards was happening," he said.

"Both sides agreed that that would be a good way of ensuring this," he added. "The actual physical arrangements are now being worked out."

Hun Sen, Cambodia's second prime minister, toppled Ranariddh, his senior coalition partner, on July 6, The prince, whose party won UN-supervised elections in 1993, was out of the country and has since been trying to rally opposition to Hun Sen.

The return of exiled politicians is crucial for new elections, due to be held in May, before which it is doubtful Cambodia's government will be recognized by most countries, including the United Nations. Hun Sen's government is currently drafting election laws.

Facilitation

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said discussions were going on on facilitating "the return of politicians and members of parliament with a view to ensuring that elections can be held in a free, fair and credible manner." But he said a precise role for UN monitoring had yet to be worked out.

Alatas, however, made clear that the United Nations, which spent US$2 billion on peacekeepers to organize elections in 1993, could not play the same major role.

Instead he said the international community would be restricted to monitoring and report on any major violations. But he stressed that it was important for exiled politicians to have an input now in drafting election laws.

Alatas also noted that the 1991 Paris agreements, negotiated by UN members, allowed all factions to retain their separate armies because of the Khmer Rouge's refusal to adhere to the main points in the peace pact.

The idea of disarmament and forming a national army was scrapped. Hun Sen at the time argued that only he could stop the Khmer Rouge from seeking power again, he said.

"So reluctantly, the United Nations said 'okay' and no one was disarmed and that is why ... the two sides today still had armies and everyone in Cambodia is well armed," he said.

The Khmer Rouge were responsible for the deaths of more than a million Cambodians in the 1970s. They were toppled by Vietnam in 1979, which put Hun Sen in power.