Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Tue, 8 Sep 1992 10:00:16 -0400
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      CAM: Cambodia to hold elections with or without Khmer Rouge

09/04

ANALYSIS: CAMBODIA TO HOLD ELECTIONS WITH OR WITHOUT KHMER ROUGE

JAKARTA (SEPT. 4) IPS - Cambodia will hold its first elections in more than 15
years with or without the Khmer Rouge, the radical group threatening to boycott
unless its conditions are met.

"I have advised (the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia) to go ahead with
the elections next March. If the Khmer Rouge will not participate, so be it,"
Cambodian leader Prince Norodom Sihanouk told IPS.

Sihanouk heads the Cambodian delegation to this week's Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) summit in Jakarta in his capacity as chairman of Cambodia's Supreme
National Council (SNC).

More than one million people died of starvation, torture and executions during
the Khmer Rouge's four-year rule in the 1970's before they were ousted by
invading Vietnamese troops in 1979.

The Khmer Rouge and two other Cambodian factions fought a fierce guerrilla war
against the Hanoi installed Phnom Penh regime of Prime Minister Hun Sen,
sending 350,000 Cambodians to seek refuge across the border with Thailand.

The peace plan signed by the four factions in Paris last October called for the
dispatch of U.N. peacekeeping forces to pave the way for multi-party elections
next year.

But analysts fear the Khmer Rouge's refusal to join the elections could mean a
resumption of fighting. "I know it's a big risk to exclude the Khmer Rouge and
isolate them from the peace plan, but Cambodia needs to forge ahead," said
Sihanouk. "We need to develop the economy and social services for the people,
who have suffered through two wars."

He said even without the Khmer Rouge, about 85 percent of Cambodians would be
taking part in the elections, more than enough of a mandate to elect a new
government.

The SNC, comprising representatives of the Khmer Rouge, the Khmer People's
National Liberation Front, the Cambodia National United Front, and the Phnom
Penh regime advises the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) in its
peacekeeping mission.

The Paris peace agreement stipulates the council's temporary control over the
ministries of defense, foreign affairs, finance, information and security
pending the formation of a new government.

In January, UNTAC began implementing its four phase peace plan aimed at
establishing a secure environment towards elections and national
reconciliation.

But the Khmer Rouge refused to disarm and demobilize its forces, as required by
the second phase of the plan saying that UNTAC was biased towards the
pro-Vietnamese Phnom Penh regime.

UNTAC and Prime Minister Hun Sen have rejected a recent Khmer Rouge proposal to
place a committee of consultants from the three other factions inside the five
ministries.

"We will not change our position (unless) UNTAC also changes its stance," said
Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan, also attending the NAM summit in Jakarta as a
member of the Cambodian delegation.

The Khmer Rouge radio station recently demanded the resignation of UNTAC chief
Yasushi Akashi.

Sihanouk said a new elected government is urgently needed to rehabilitate and
rebuild Cambodia, whose infrastructure and basic services have been destroyed
by continuous warfare.

"We used to be prosperous, now we are considered one of the United Nations'
least developed countries. We have to develop, we cannot wait any longer," he
said.

Echoing the gloomy predictions of diplomats and analysts, Sihanouk is not
optimistic about this country's future, but said he could not afford to be
pessimistic.

"Our country can be compared to a seriously ill person whose very serious
wounds have not had time to heal fully despite the peace agreement," Sihanouk
told delegates of the 108-member NAM.

He questioned the Khmer Rouge's intransigence. "I don't know why they are
stalling the peace plan. Is this their strategy to stage another revolution in
Cambodia? I don't know," he said.

Sihanouk is encouraged by the lull in the fighting between Khmer Rouge
guerrillas and Phnom Penh forces in the northwestern provinces of Kompong Thom
and Preah Vihar last month.

"I am told they are retreating to zones under their control and because they
are having problems within their organization, this is not just tactical
retreat," he said.

In Jakarta, Sihanouk retook the Cambodian seat left vacant for the past 15
years of civil war, in anticipation of peace and a chance to build prosperity
in Cambodia.
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