Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Thu, 7 Jan 1993 17:32:00 -0500
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      CAM: Sihanouk's son stops cooperation with UN

01/05

SIHANOUK'S SON STOPS COOPERATION WITH U.N.

    By Mark Dodd
    PHNOM PENH, Jan 5, Reuter - U.N. officials have reacted angrily to the
decision by Prince Norodom Sihanouk to stop cooperating with the Cambodia peace
mission but the plan unravelled further on Tuesday when the prince's son ceased
working with the U.N. force.
    "If the old man really cared for the Cambodian people, maybe he would get
his royal behind over here instead of throwing mud at us from Beijing," a
senior U.N. official who declined to be identified said of Sihanouk.
    Sihanouk, recognised by Cambodia's four rival factions as neutral head of
state, and his son Prince Norodom Ranariddh, leader of the Royalist party, gave
the same reason for their moves.
    They said the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) was
doing nothing to stop a spate of attacks on the party in which 17 of its
members have been killed.
    "As president of FUNCINPEC I must cease all working relations with UNTAC as
long as energetic and effective measures are not taken to decisively end the
current climate of violence," Ranariddh said in a letter to UNTAC head Yasushi
Akashi and reaffirmed to reporters in Bangkok.
    FUNCINPEC is the French acronym for the Royalist guerrilla group which was
allied to the Khmer Rouge during the 12-year civil war against the government
which Vietnam installed after invading to oust the Khmer Rouge in early 1979.
    The Royalist group has emerged as the most popular opposition party since a
1991 Paris peace accord reintroduced multi-party politics.
    Blaming the violence on the Phnom Penh government, Ranariddh also said he
was quitting the capital because he feared for his safety.
    The peace plan is already in deep trouble, with Khmer Rouge guerrillas
violating the accord frequently and blatantly. The violence prompted Phnom Penh
Prime Minister Hun Sen to say on Tuesday that the guerrillas must rejoin the
process by January 31 or be hunted down as outlaws.
    Some 22,000 foreign soldiers and civilians have been sent to disarm the
factions and guide the country to elections in May. UNTAC is supposed to
supervise the country in tandem with an all-faction Supreme National Council
chaired by Sihanouk.
    U.N. officials told Reuters on Tuesday that in a letter to Akashi written
from his residence in Beijing, Sihanouk said he was no longer interested in
discussing any aspects of the peace agreement or elections with UNTAC.
    Decision-making should be handled by the Supreme National Council and the
five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, he said.
    Sihanouk also dismissed an agenda of topics which Akashi wishes to discuss
during a planned visit to Beijing on Friday.
    Ranariddh meanwhile told reporters in Bangkok: "I don't trust the
capability of UNTAC to provide security for me if I continue staying in Phnom
Penh so I am abandoning Phnom Penh.
    "I will live with my security forces in Oddar Meanchay (western Cambodia),"
said the prince, who as a guerrilla commander actually spent most of his time
in Bangkok and France.
    He accused the Phnom Penh authorities of persecuting monks and students as
well as FUNCINPEC members. Cambodia had slipped into a vicious cycle, with
government forces rearming because the Khmer Rouge refused to disarm, then
using their guns on other opposition figures, he said.
    Hun Sen in turn accused UNTAC of "lacking courage" and said the U.N. troops
should forcibly enter Khmer Rouge zones.
    "We propose to consider the Khmer Rouge as insurgents and outlaws if they
do not come into the agreement by January 31, 1993," he told a news conference.
    The shadowy organisation refuses to disarm its fighters or allow UNTAC free
access to its zones on the unsubstantiated grounds that Vietnamese troops are
supporting Phnom Penh.
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