Thai's PM Chuan to meet exiled Ranariddh
Thai's PM Chuan to meet exiled Ranariddh
BANGKOK (AFP): Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai is due to meet Cambodia's ousted Premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh for talks on the strife-torn country later this week, Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said yesterday.
The long-mooted meeting will come just ahead of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) troika of countries trying to broker a peace deal between Cambodia's warring factions, he added.
"On Feb. 12, the prime minister will meet with Prince Ranariddh," Surin said yesterday before leaving for Indonesia, one of the three members of the Friends of Cambodia troika. Thailand and the Philippines are the other two.
Chuan has said that Thailand is willing to mediate between Cambodia's warring factions, despite difficulties getting both sides to the negotiating table.
Cambodia was thrown into turmoil last July when powerful Second Premier Hun Sen ousted the prince after a weekend of violence in Phnom Penh.
Since then the forces of the two rivals have been battling it out for control of pockets of the northwest of the country.
The prince, who was out of Cambodia when the July fighting erupted, is living in exile in Bangkok, while members of the international community have appealed for him to be allowed to return without fear of conviction.
Hun Sen, who has accepted an invitation from Chuan to visit Bangkok, has said he has no interest in meeting the prince for talks.
Meanwhile, former Khmer Rouge deputy premier Ieng Sary has returned to Phnom Penh for only the second time since the guerrillas were ousted from power in 1979.
Pol Pot's former foreign minister and brother-in-law, who split from the hardline central leadership two years ago and now cooperates with Phnom Penh, arrived in the capital on Sunday accompanied by his wife, Khieu Thirith, the sister of Pol Pot's first wife, Khieu Ponnary.
His return also came just one week after two of his top aides officially joined a new political party,
Ieng Sary, who had a luncheon meeting with powerful Second Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday and plans to meet other senior officials, told reporters that his visit was not politically related.
"I just came to visit the capital and I will stay for a while longer," he said yesterday, adding: "This is just a family visit."
He said he would not stand as a candidate in July's scheduled election but that members of his Democratic National Union Movement (DNUM) would be running for parliament as members of registered political parties.
Surin said yesterday that the fact that several countries in the world community wanted to take part in helping to resolve Cambodia's problems was a positive development.
He said three major political and economic forces -- Japan, the European Union and United States -- were interested in seeking a solution to tensions in Cambodia.
The European Union has offered conditional aid to pay for elections planned for Cambodia in July, while Japan is thought to have a peace plan in the pipeline.