THE PRESS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1989. Failure over Cambodia

Press, 1 September 1989, Page 12

THE PRESS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1989. Failure over Cambodia

The Paris conference on Cambodia began in a way which was much better than expected; yet it has ended in failure. The poor, ravaged country of Cambodia is now likely to continue to be torn by warring factions and the conflict may even allow the Khmer Rouge, who have the terrible record of killing perhaps a million people while they ruled Cambodia, to come to power again. The prospect of continued fighting is horrible; the prospect of the Khmer Rouge regaining power is sickening. . . The conference appeared to be an Initiative by France and had not been expected by many of the South-East Asian nations. At the beginning matters went smoothly, and the question of seating the factions from Cambodia at this meeting was handled with skill. There was history to look to over seating. During peace negotiations during the Vietnam War, arguments about whether the Viet Cong should take part in the talks at all, or under the wing of the North Vietnamese, and what shape the table should be at which the negotiators would sit were matters which held up talks for a long time. All this time people continued to die through the fighting. The Cambodian factions at the Paris conference just held all sat behind the one Cambodian notice and were ranked according to age.

A new effort to settle the Cambodian conflict has been precipitated partly by the fact that the Vietnamese, who invaded the country at the end of 1978, say that they are withdrawing their troops by the end of September. If they do indeed withdraw all their troops, this will leave the country in the hands of the various factions: the Hun Sen Government backed by the Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge, the Khmer People’s National Liberation Front, and the supporters of Prince Sihanouk, once ruler of Cambodia. The three last factions have formed an uneasy coalition, and this coalition is recognised by the United Nations as the official representative of Cambodia.

Various efforts have been made to present the coalition in a more acceptable light than the inclusion of the Khmer Rouge would otherwise give it. These efforts have meant removing the notorious Pol Pot from prominence. The Khmer Rouge has also disclaimed communism as its philosophy. Neither move has been very convincing. Pol Pot has been reported still to be a senior commander and the structures of the Khmer Rouge are said to be the same as they have always been. Even if the attempt at sanitising the Khmer Rouge did not fool many, it has been enough to gain support around the world for the coalition.

There has been more than an element of necessity in all this because the Khmer Rouge could not be ignored. The faction has by far the biggest fighting force. This meant that it was the most powerful group fighting the Vietnamese and the Phnom Penh forces and it had to be taken account of in any balance of military might within Cambodia and on the Thai-Cambodia border. The two issues on which the talks are said to have failed were the crucial ones of power-sharing and the setting up of an international force to monitor peace. After

the talks, the gloomy verdict of Mr Tommy Koh, a senior Singaporean diplomat, was that the parties would not come back to the Paris discussion table until they had tested their military strength and reached an impasse. One Western delegate was quoted as giving what must rate as the ultimate counsel’of despair: “They’ve been fighting for 500 years. They are going to go on fighting.” This would seem to lead to the view that since the parties cannot decide around a conference table how to share power, the Hun Sen Phnom Penh Government and the three factions will determine who is the strongest on the battlefield.

Fighting had intensified just before the talks began as both sides tried to obtain a stronger bargaining position at the negotiating table. Within Phnom Penh anxiety was increasing about the possibility of the return of the Khmer Rouge. The Hun Sen Government launched a drive to draft men and women of more than 18 years of age. Its moves included press-ganging young men into the military from the streets, cafes, cinemas, and video parlours of Phnom Penh. Soviet MiG2l fighters have also recently been flown into the capital’s airport. The Cambodian forces say that they acquired the aircraft in 1985 but kept them in Vietnam. The fighting has once more spilled into Thailand, where some of the guerrilla camps are based. The Khmer Rouge have intensified shelling. This has added to fears that, when the Vietnamese go, the Khmer Rouge will mount a major push against the Phnom Penh forces. Hopes were held for the early establishment of an effective monitoring force in Cambodia to oversee the withdrawal of the Vietnamese. These hopes have been dashed. Fears are held both within Cambodia and by some of Cambodia’s neighbours that the Vietnamese will not really leave but will exchange their Vietnamese uniforms for the uniforms of the Phnom Penh forces. An 11nation United Nations military team visited Cambodia to examine the prospects for setting up a monitoring force. A Norwegian general headed the team, which had to rely on Thailand to show them around. He is reported to have been upset by the fact that, after one visit to inspect an area in which the guerrillas fought, he did not know the name of the place. In the end, the team recommended a force of 6000 under the United Nations control. This was very much larger than had ever been envisaged. It is believed that only 150 people could be included in a force which could be established before the Vietnamese withdraw. China has been a constant backer of the Khmer Rouge and various other countries have helped the other coalition factions. The Soviet Union supported Vietnam but has recently shown a reluctance to continue its unreserved support — a fact that has encouraged Vietnam to leave Cambodia. The danger that lies ahead is that none of the backers of the factions in Cambodia may be able to countenance the defeat of the one •they have supported. Yet pressure from the backers to work for a settlement is surely the only way in which the tragedy of Cambodia can possibly come to an end.