Waldheim fails to find solution

Press, 6 August 1980, Page 8

Waldheim fails to find solution

NZPA-Reuter Bangkok : The Secretary-General of the United Nations (Dr Kurt Waldheim) left Bangkok by helicopter yesterday for a first-hand look at the tense Thai-Kampuchean border. . Senior Thai officials said Dr Waldheim arid the Thai Foreign Minister (Mr Siddhi Savetsila) would use the seven-hour trip to further their talks on how to. ease tension between Hanoi and Bangkok, heightened since Vietnamese troops >. crossed into Thailand from- Kampuchea ■ last June. Vietnam has an estimated 200,00.0 troops in Kampuchea. Dr Waldheim arrived in Bangkok on Monday after two days of talks in, Hanoi with Vietnamese leaders on the dispute. However, Thai sources said the possibility of a breakthrough appeared remote and Dr Waldheim was

likely to return to New York with nothing more than a better understanding of the issues. “It is obvious that we and the Vietnamese are talking about different things,” commented one source.

Each country has rejected proposals made by the other for reducing the tension along the frontier and blamed the other for causing it-

The Thai Prime Minister (General Prem Tinsulanonda)

said at a dinner for Dr Waldheim that the issue was the presence of Vietnamese troops in Kampuchea and the implementation of a United Nations resolution calling for their immediate and total withdrawal. Vietnam has demanded a demilitarised zone on both sides of the border, under international control, and the direct riegotiations between Thailand and Kampuchea’s Vietnamese-backed Heng Samrin Government. Thailand, with its rioncommunist allies in ■ the Association of South-East Asian Nations, wants : a demilitarised peace zone inside Kampuchea where refugees could be assured of safety; A.S.E.A.N. has refused to recognise the Phnom Penh leadership. ■; ■ The Thai sources said the taLks showed that there was no common ground between the two views.

The Khmer Rouge Government,, ousted by Vietnameseled troops 19 months ago but still recognised by the United Nations, said yesterday' it would accept Thailand’s proposals for a demilitarised .peace zone inside Kampuchea. • Khmer Rouge radio made the announcement and quoted a Foreign Ministry statement Forces loyal to the ousted government have been fighting a guerrilla war against Phnom Penh,