RESIGNATION OF LON NOL CONSIDERED

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33791, 13 March 1975, Page 17

RESIGNATION OF LON NOL CONSIDERED

(N Z P.A ‘Reuter—Copyright /

PHNOM PENH, March 12.

President Lon Nol accepted the resignation of his top military chief and ordered a Cabinet reshuffle, as high-level talks were reported in Phnom Penh on whether he should step down himself.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Cambodian Armed Forces, General Sothene Fernandez, offered to resign yesterday as Communist gunners fired more than 60 shells and rockets into the besieged Cambodian capital.

His resignation was accepted and the President, who also ordered an immediate reshuffle of the Cabinet, said that he hao abolished the post of Commander-in-Chief and had named General

iSaksuth Sakhan as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. ; Marshal Lon Nol, who | holds the title of Supreme : Commander, could now take personal command of the Armed Forces, but observers i believed that the President I was unlikely to make such a ' move. Informed sources said that ‘the resignation of President Lon No! himself was under discussion at a high level. The President might decide to step down if he was convinced that it would lead to genuine peace negotiations with Communist-led Khmer Rouge insurgents, they said. General Saksuth Sakhan was a former Defence Minister under Prince Norodom Sihanouk, now titular leader of the forces seeking to oust the Lon Nol Government, i Observers said that the resignation of General Fernandez—one of several people on the insurgents’ stated “death list” — appeared to be the Government’s first move to prepare for negotiations with the insurgents. The insurgents’ death list also includes President Lon Nol and the Prime Minister, Mr Long Boret. Informed sources said that Mr Boret had asked people outside the ruling SocioRepublican Party to join the Cabinet, but it was not likely that they would accept the offer unless the President himself gave up his office. Meanwhile, the United States resumed its airlift of food and military supplies to: Phnom Penh from Saigon to-! day.

The airlift of rice and fuel was temporarily suspended yesterday afternon as rockets, which have been hitting Phnom Penh’s Pochentong Airport daily, began coming in closer to the area where the planes land.