Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Thu, 7 Jan 1993 17:33:00 -0500
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      CAM: UN studies Cam. gov. proposals

01/06

 U.N. STUDIES CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS FOR ...

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (JAN. 6) UPI - The United Nations is studying proposals
by the Phnom Penh government to take tougher action against the radical Khmer
Rouge faction if it refuses to rejoin the U.N. peace process, the U.N. envoy in
Cambodia said Wednesday.
   "The statements have been (sent) to New York," Yasushi Akashi, head of the
U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), said after returning to Phnom
Penh from a private visit to Malaysia.
   "They will be addressed by the U.N. secretary general and the two co-
chairmen (of the Paris Peace Conference), and they will react in due course,"
Akashi said.
   In a statement issued Tuesday, the Phnom Penh government "requested" the
co-chairmen and the U.N. Security Council to take tougher measures against the
Khmer Rouge.
   At a rare press conference Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen, who leads the
largest of the four Cambodian factions, presented four proposals, including one
to set a deadline of Jan. 31 for the Khmer Rouge to agree to take part in the
U.N.-supervised elections, scheduled for May.
   Hun Sen said that if the guerrillas failed to cooperate after that date they
should be regarded as "outlaws" and barred from the Supreme National Council,
which brings together leaders of the four factions that signed a peace accord
in Paris 14 months ago aimed at ending 13 years of conflict.
   The prime minister warned that if the Khmer Rouge refused to take part in
the election, Cambodia could become divided between the Khmer Rouge and the
newly elected government.
   More than one million Cambodians died in a four-year reign of terror by the
Khmer Rouge before it was ousted from power in 1979 by invading Vietnamese
troops.
   Akashi would not comment on any of the government's four proposals, saying
it was up to the U.N. secretary general and the co-chairmen.
   Akashi is due to fly to Beijing Thursday to meet nominal head of state
Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who Monday announced that he was withdrawing his
support for UNTAC.
   The 70-year-old former monarch said he could no longer work with UNTAC and
Hun Sen's government as neither had done enough to stop politically motivated
attacks against opposition parties, particularly FUNCINPEC, the faction run by
his son, Prince Ranariddh.
   "I'm not satisfied with the so-called neutral political environment, "
Akashi said Wednesday, "And will continue to take very vigorous measures with
new energy of the new year."
   The U.N. chief said his two-day trip to Beijing would be private. "I'm very
eager and looking forward to my visit to Prince Sihanouk," said Akashi, who has
been heading the peacekeeping operation since mid-March.
   Sihanouk told Akashi in a statement Jan. 4 that although he would officially
cease working with UNTAC, he would continue non-professional relations with the
U.N. envoy.
   The prince has been in Beijing since Nov. 2, ostensibly for medical
treatment, and Akashi is expected to ask Sihanouk to return to Phnom Penh.
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