Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Thu, 8 Oct 1992 16:46:41 -0400
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      CAM: The Khmer Rouge is still the rogue

10/06

CAMBODIA ANALYSIS: THE KHMER ROUGE IS STILL THE ROGUE

PHNOM PENH, (OCT. 6) IPS - After months of brazen defiance of the United
Nations peace plan by Cambodia's most-dreaded guerrilla faction, a U.N. envoy
for the country has flown back to New York seeking Security Council
intervention to break the impasse.

The head of the United Nations Transition Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) Yasushi
Akashi is in New York this week for talks which Cambodian head of state Prince
Norodom Sihanouk will not be able to attend because of health problems.

Still, there is no international consensus on what to do. France and Australia
want sanctions against the Khmer Rouge to force them to show a little more
respect for U.N. authority.

Last year's Paris peace agreement gives the Khmer Rouge, blamed for the deaths
of at least one million Cambodians during its rule from 1975-1979, unique
political rehabilitation.

They get immunity from prosecution for the mass murders, but the Khmer Rouge
has refused to abide by the peace accord.

It has refused to disarm, continues to shell villages and seize territory from
the government side and has even shot at UNTAC helicopters.

"Everybody is so polite to the Khmer Rouge. Everybody is licking their feet,
and yet everybody knows they are criminals," says Onesta Carpene of Australian
Catholic Relief in Phnom Penh.

That politeness was in evidence recently when Khmer Rouge's dapper-dressed
chief diplomat, Khieu Samphan, briefly invited Akashi, head of state Prince
Norodom Sihanouk and ambassadors from the big-five members of the Security
Council to its headquarters at Pailin, 25 km from the Thai border.

The invitation was unusual since the Pol Pot faction has adamantly refused to
allow the UNTAC's Dutch peace-keeping batallion to enter its gem-rich
stronghold at Pailin.

Akashi and other diplomats at last month's lunch waxed lyrical about the
culinary skills of the Khmer Rouge, but admitted there had been no progress to
get the group's compliance.

"The atmosphere was friendly, but there was no discussion of any concrete
proposals," Akashi admitted.

For Khieu Samphan, the Pailin lunch was a public relations coup. It also bought
his group more valuable time as it fortifies its coffers by exporting gems and
teak to Thailand.

Relief workers in Cambodia were not much impressed with the peacekeepers
"dining with mass murderers."

"Time is running out for the U.N. peace plan and if everybody is just trying to
please the Khmer Rouge, I think it is unfair," said vice-minister of the Phnom
Penh government, Khieu Kannarith.

"UNTAC should show its firm determination to carry out sanctions if the Khmer
Rouge refuses to comply with the Paris peace agreement," he added.

Sihanouk is hospitalised in Beijing this week. But he has argued that the Khmer
Rouge would not be impressed by sanctions and the best course would be to "stop
negotiating with them."

UNTAC's military chief, Major General John Sanderson from Australia has been
criticised for his "softly-softly" approach towards the Khmer Rouge. But he
told IPS: "clearly there are limits to the international community's patience
on this issue."

Now, the debate over how UNTAC should deal with the Khmer Rouge has been
referred back to the authors of the peace plan -- the five permanent members of
the Security Council.

Voter registration is due to start for next year's elections, and U.N.
officials say if the people of Pailin do not register, they will not be allowed
to vote.

China, a permanent Security Council member, has so far failed to get its former
Khmer Rouge allies to play by the U.N. rules. But Beijing may block an election
that excludes the Khmer Rouge.

The sanction option has been boosted by last week's democratic elections in
neighbouring Thailand.

Thailand's new foreign minister, Prasong Soonsiri, told IPS: "We have to stop
the border trade with the Khmer Rouge. It is our duty to help the U.N. in
Cambodia."

Before the Thai elections, Prasong promised a thorough review of its border
security policy and its provision of sanctuaries and secret support for the
Khmer Rouge.

In New York next week, the Security Council will have to agonise over the
correct blend of the carrot and the stick to force the Khmer Rouge to start
implementing the peace accord.

Said one diplomat here: "It is clear that after seven months, the scorecard
shows that the Pol Pot faction has successfully thwarted all efforts by the
U.N. to implement the peace accord, without making a single important
concession."
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