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.