Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Thu, 7 Jan 1993 17:33:59 -0500
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      CAM: UN to consider ultimatum against Khmer Rouge

01/06

U.N. TO CONSIDER ULTIMATUM AGAINST KHMER ROUGE

    By Mark Dodd
    PHNOM PENH, Jan 6, Reuter - The United Nations will consider a demand by
the Phnom Penh government that the Khmer Rouge be expelled from the Cambodian
peace process, a U.N. spokesman said on Wednesday, but he played down the
possibility that the radical guerrilla group would be isolated.
    An ultimatum by the Phnom Penh government had been passed to U.N.
headquarters in New York, the spokesman told reporters.
    "We have listened to (prime minister) Mr Hun Sen and his frustration and
comments.... If the two co-chairmen and the Security Council decide to follow
up, it will be their sovereign decision," he added.
    But he played down the possibility of the Khmer Rouge being expelled.
    "Our position has always been to keep the door open and it will remain open
to everybody... We need everybody to participate in the peace process."
    France and Indonesia are the two co-chairmen of the Paris International
Peace Conference responsible for drafting the Cambodian peace accords that the
Khmer Rouge and three other factions signed in October, 1991.
    On Tuesday Hun Sen accused UNTAC (United Nations Transitional Authority in
Cambodia) of lacking the courage to implement its mandate and proposed a
January 31 deadline for the Khmer Rouge to fully comply with the Paris peace
agreement.
    The Khmer Rouge have withdrawn from the U.N-sponsored peace agreement and
have refused to disarm their fighters and allow voter registration in areas
under their control.
    The ambitious $2 billion U.N. peace plan is in deep trouble because of
Khmer Rouge intransigence and a decision this week by Cambodian head of state
Prince Norodom Sihanouk to stop cooperating with UNTAC and the Phnom Penh
government.
    Prince Sihanouk, joined by his son Prince Norodom Rannariddh, says he took
the decision because of escalating incidents of political violence directed
primarily against the pro-royalist FUNCINPEC party led by his son.
    Sihanouk blamed UNTAC and the Phnom Penh government for failing to prevent
the violence.
    Yasushi Akashi, a Japanese diplomat heading UNTAC, will leave Phnom Penh on
Thursday to make a "personal" visit to see the prince in Beijing, the U.N.
spokesman said.
    Sihanouk has a residence in the Chinese capital where he spent long spells
in exile during Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia in the 1980s.
    Vietnam ousted the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge in early 1979, ending a
bloody four-year reign of terror, installed Hun Sen in power in Phnom Penh and
withdrew its troops in 1989.
    In a speech to a mass parade of UNTAC peacekeepers on October 23, Akashi
warned that "great difficulties lie before us" but said the peace mission had
"the full and consistent support of His Royal Highness Prince Norodom
Sihanouk."
    The UNTAC spokesman rejected Sihanouk's accusation that peacekeepers had
failed to achieve a neutral political environment.
    "UNTAC has acted energetically to acts of political violence which have
occurred in various parts of the country, most notably in the zones controlled
by the party of the State of Cambodia (Phnom Penh government).
    "Who can dare say that UNTAC's presence has not made a difference?" the
spokesman said citing two proposals to establish special U.N courts and the
immediate provision of police and armed U.N military to provide protection for
opposition political parties.
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