Washington wants peaceful solution to Cambodian crisis
Washington wants peaceful solution to Cambodian crisis
PHNOM PENH: (Agencies): The United States called yesterday for a peaceful solution to the Cambodian crisis, to allow supporters of the country's ousted first premier to return home ahead of elections next year.
U.S. special envoy to Cambodia Stephen Solarz made the call after three hours of talks with the country's strong-arm Second Prime Minister Hun Sen aimed at finding ways of resolving the turmoil gripping the country.
"I have just had a very frank and, in some respects very constructive discussions, with the second prime minister," he told reporters after emerging from the meeting in the Cambodian capital.
"I would hope the kind of dialog and discussions that I had with the second prime minister this morning can be extended to include all of the relevant and interested parties to the situation in Cambodia.
"If that can happen, it would make a positive contribution to the resolution of the problem," he said.
A Hun Sen spokesman said the talks had been "cordial" and that the two sides had agreed on three main principles:
-- respect for the 1991 Paris peace accords and the results of the 1993 UN-brokered election,
-- allowing exiled members of parliament and politicians to return to Cambodia, and
-- holding free and fair elections as scheduled next May.
"They agreed in principle," said Prak Sokhon, adding that Solarz had said nothing about U.S. aid for Cambodia which was temporarily suspended after Hun Sen effectively ousted First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh after a weekend of bloody street fighting in Phnom Penh.
The prince left the country on the eve of his ouster and many members of his royalist party and sympathizers fled in the aftermath of the takeover.
In his talks with Solarz, Hun Sen repeated that Ranariddh could return but he must face trial for his alleged crimes if he came back, a Hun Sen aide said.
Prak Sokhonn said Solarz and Hun Sen had agreed that exiled politicians should be able to return, that Cambodia's next elections should be held on May 23 as planned and the poll should be free and fair.
Solarz, in an apparent reference to proposed mediation efforts by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), said he hoped other parties could get involved in dialog on Cambodia.
"I hope the constructive dialog and discussion that I had with the second prime minister can be extended to include all of the relevant and interested parties," Solarz said.
ASEAN delayed Cambodia's entry into the regional grouping after Hun Sen overthrew Ranariddh. ASEAN said it wanted to help negotiate peace in Cambodia.
But earlier yesterday Hun Sen said the only role ASEAN could play in his country's crisis was to prevent foreign interference. In a statement issued by his office ahead of the meeting with Solarz, Hun Sen said his earlier comments about mediation had been misinterpreted.
"The internal problems of Cambodia must be solved by Cambodia itself," the statement said.
Yesterday, Solarz indicated the United States might support a replacement for Ranariddh if the new first prime minister was chosen in an appropriate manner by the National Assembly, Prak Sokhonn said.
In a related development, Ranariddh arrived in Beijing yesterday for a planned meeting with his father, King Sihanouk, who has denied any link between the visit and the current crisis in Cambodia.