Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 2 Sep 1992 14:09:42 -0400
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      CAM: UN studying Khmer Rouge peace conditions
X-To:         FISHLM%SNYBUFVA@pucc.princeton.edu, seasia-l@msu.BITNET

08/24

U.N. STUDYING KHMER ROUGE PEACE CONDITIONS

    PHNOM PENH, Aug 24, Reuter - The United Nations is studying new conditions
set by the Khmer Rouge for the guerrilla group to implement Cambodia's peace
accords, a U.N. spokesman said on Monday.
    Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan delivered the conditions to a meeting of
Cambodia's Supreme National Council (SNC) in Phnom Penh, Khmer Rouge and U.N.
sources said.
    The Khmer Rouge wants the SNC's power increased by the establishment of
consultative committees to work with the U.N. in supervising the administration
and policing of the four rival political factions.
    The proposals had been forwarded to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, who had "expressed interest," the U.N. spokesman said.
    The Khmer Rouge has refused to implement the crucial cantonment, disarmament
and demobilisation phase of the accords, saying the U.N.'s interpretation of the
treaty favours the Vietnamese-installed Phnom Penh government.
    This stance has jeopardised the success of the massive U.N. peace-keeping
operation introduced to steer the country to elections next April or May.
    Khieu Samphan earlier issued a statement rejecting the electoral law adopted
by the U.N.'s chief in Cambodia, Yasushi Akashi, at an SNC meeting earlier this
month.
    It said the law played into the hands of the Vietnamese, which the Khmer
Rouge says is out to colonise its smaller neighbour. Vietnam's invasion of
Cambodia in 1978 led to the ousting of the Khmer Rouge, who had been in power
since 1975.
    Khieu Samphan said Hanoi's intentions "hang like the sword of Damocles over
the heads of all the Cambodian people."
    Prime Minister Hun Sen told reporters after the SNC meeting that the Khmer
Rouge proposals on the new committees were not applicable under the peace
accords, which all four Cambodian factions signed in Paris in October.
    The four factions are the Phnom Penh government, the followers of Prince
Norodom Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge and a non-communist alliance led by Son Sann.
    Tadashi Ikeda, chief of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia department, who
discussed the Khmer Rouge proposal in Thailand at the weekend with Khieu Samphan
and Thai officials, said he did not think all the factions would agree to it.
    According to Khmer Rouge official Mak Ben, the SNC's reaction was "generally
positive and encouraging."
    He said if all the four factions agreed to the proposal further discussion
could be held on how to implement it.
    He declined to comment when asked if his group would drop its demand for
U.N. verification of Vietnam's 1989 troop withdrawal if the proposal was
accepted. Such verification is another condition the Khmer Rouge has set for
joining the demobilisation phase.
    The United Nations says the Khmer Rouge has offered no evidence to support
its claims that Vietnam is still militarily active in Cambodia.
    Earlier on Monday, Hun Sen's government proposed presidential elections be
held before the parliamentary elections to appoint Sihanouk as head of state.
    In a statement given to diplomats attending the SNC meeting it said such a
move would contribute to national reconciliation.
    The SNC met as usual in one of the palaces of Sihanouk's royal compound,
from where he has ruled as head of state, acknowledged by all factions, since
returning from exile last October.
    Sihanouk has dominated Cambodian politics for decades as a boy god-king, as
a prime minister and as figurehead president for the Khmer Rouge.
    Diplomats said he had been actively campaigning for a presidential poll
before parliamentary elections due next May under the peace treaty signed in
Paris last October.
    The government said a presidential vote would not interfere with the
parliamentary elections.
    "The fact that Cambodia has its president or head of state legitimately and
directly elected by the Cambodian people would only help in the implementation
of the Paris agreements, especially in promoting a neutral environment and
stability..." it said.
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