Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Fri, 18 Dec 1992 11:48:51 -0500
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      CAM: Khmer Rouge take 46 UN peacekeepers

12/17

KHMER ROUGE SOLDIERS IN CAMBODIA TAKE 46 MORE UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPERS

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (DEC. 17) UPI - Khmer Rouge soldiers in central Cambodia
detained 46 United Nations peacekeepers within hours of releasing another 21
U.N. personnel, a U.N. spokesman said Thursday night.

The 46 men - all Indonesian soldiers - had helped secure the release of the 21
peacekeepers taken earlier and then were told by the Khmer Rouge soldiers that
they were not free to leave, the spokesman said.

The 21 captives were freed just after dawn Thursday, and the group of 46
Indonesian peace-keeping soldiers moved in afterward to talk with the
guerrillas who had held them at military post 95 miles northwest of Phnom Penh.

''After discussions, they were about to leave the location when someone in the
(Khmer Rouge) group intervened and said, 'You can't go,''' U.N. spokesman Eric
Falt said.

The soldiers of the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia, UNTAC, were being
held by about 70 Khmer Rouge soldiers at a post about 6 miles east of Kompong
Thom town, Falt said.

''There is potential for conflict, which the U.N. is attempting to avoid as per
the U.N. rules for engagement,'' Falt told a news briefing in Phnom Penh.

Falt said both groups were heavily armed. The Khmer Rouge soldiers had B-40
grenade launchers and the area was believed to be heavily mined.

The Khmer Rouge chief holding the 46 men told UNTAC he would release the
Indonesian troops when he receives written instructions from his commander.

The incident marked the third time in two weeks that a group of UNTAC
peacekeepers has been held by Khmer Rouge soldiers.

Only two weeks ago six military observers - three Britons, two Filipinos and a
New Zealander - were taken hostage by another group of Khmer Rouge soldiers on
the Sen River, and released after 72 hours.

An UNTAC spokesman said early Thursday the seizure of the 21 previous captives
appeared to be a unilateral action by a local commander, and that it was
reversed upon the orders of Khmer Rouge leaders at their base in the western
Cambodian town of Pailin.

Asked whether the 46 new captives were ordered not to use their weapons, Falt
said: ''The orders are the usual standard orders - they can use their weapons
for self-defense.

''We are here to avoid conflict between the Cambodians and between ourselves
and any of the four (Cambodian) factions,'' he said.

Falt said the U.N. did not view the 46 peacekeepers as hostages, as no demands
were being made for their release.

Asked when the captives would be released, Falt said: ''Released is not the
word I'm using - let go. They are not detainees. They have been prevented
leaving the location.''

The UNTAC is overseeing implementation of a peace agreement signed one year ago
in Paris by the Phnom Penh government, the Khmer Rouge and two non-communist
factions aimed at ending 13 years of conflict in Cambodia.

Under the accord, the UNTAC was to guide the country to elections scheduled for
May 1993.

But the Khmer Rouge since mid-June has refused to cooperate with U.N.
peace-keeping efforts.
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