/REPEAT/U.S.-CAMBODIA: U.S. to Press Asians for Stronger Measures

By Jim Lobe Reprint | | Print |

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Sep 4 1997 (IPS) - The United States is making a new effort to persuade key allies in Asia to press Cambodian strongman Hun Sen into respecting human rights and the political opposition.

Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth has Cambodia near the top of his agenda when he sets out Friday on his maiden trip to the Asia, where he will meet top officials in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Testifying Thursday before a sceptical Senate subcommittee on Asia, Roth said Washington also counted on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia’s titular leader, to take lead roles in resolving the ongoing political crisis that was touched off by Hun Sen’s seizure of power two months ago.

“I don’t believe that the game is by any means over,” Roth said, noting that there is “an emerging consensus in principle” among all the parties involved in the crisis on the elements needed to restore stability.

Roth’s remarks – the first extended statement of U.S. policy since Hun Sen ousted First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh July 5 – came after King Sihanouk, Ranarridh’s father, returned to Cambodia from China, apparently to try to broker a solution to the crisis. Roth said he was “optimistic” about the King’s efforts.

His Asian trip comes amid a continuing offensive by Hun Sen against Ranariddh’s beleaguered forces near the village of O Smach along the Thai border. Despite repeated calls by the international community for a cease-fire, Hun Sen, who served as Second Prime Minister in Ranariddh’s faction-ridden government, appears determined to drive his foes from the country.

After grabbing power, Hun Sen, who lost UN-organised elections to Ranariddh’s FUNCINPEC party in 1993, charged that the prince had been conspiring to infiltrate Khmer Rouge forces into Phnom Penh to launch his own coup. Army units loyal to Hun Sen subsequently rounded up and executed dozens of FUNCINPEC officials, according to independent human rights groups.

Ranariddh, who was outside the country when Hun Sen made his move, vehemently denied plotting with the Khmer Rouge with which he was allied during the civil war between 1979 and the 1991 Paris peace accords.

Ranariddh has not returned to Cambodia and has been charged with treason by Hun Sen who has pressed dissident FUNCINPEC members into joining his administration. Ranariddh’s foreign minister, Ung Huot, for example, was chosen by parliament to replace his former boss as First Prime Minister, whose selection Sihanouk has declined to confirm.

Throughout the crisis, Washington, a major sponsor of the Paris accords, has generally deferred to its ASEAN allies. Meeting in late July, the regional group indefinitely delayed Cambodia’s admission to ASEAN and initiated a mediation effort led by the foreign ministers of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand.

After the coup, Washington suspended for 30 days its bilateral aid – worth about 40 million dollars a year — to the Phnom Penh government, while continuing to supply through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) about 15 million dollars a year in humanitarian aid and programmes to build democratic institutions.

Roth said Thursday that aid to the government will not resume “until we see that there’s been improvements on the ground, particularly with respect to the preparation for free and fair elections” in May, 1998. In addition, Washington will not support loans from multilateral development banks for large infrastructure projects in Cambodia. “We will also urge other major donors to adopt a similar approach,” he said.

In that connection, he stressed the importancve of his upcoming talks with Japanese leaders. “We are trying to ensure that Japan does not have a full-scale resumption of its aid programme,” Roth told senators.

Cambodia’s largest bilateral aid donor, Tokyo provides about 150 million dollars a year. Japan has failed to take a clear position on whether it will hold up aid as pressure on Hun Sen, although it initially withdrew its aid workers from the country. Similarly, France, a major donor, has so far declined to suspend its aid to Cambodia, while Australia has suspended only its military aid programme.

The Phnom Penh government depends for almost 60 percent of its total budget on foreign aid which, according to experts here, gives the international donor community enormous leverage. Roth said he hoped the United States could mobilise this advantage while continuing to view ASEAN as the key external actor.

Roth noted that Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong stated recently that his government would oppose Cambodia’s admission to ASEAN until it holds free and fair elections. “That is a very tough position,” he said.

He also insisted that there is an “emerging consensus in principle” shared by Hun Sen, the other Cambodian parties, and outside actors that a solution to the crisis lies in creating confidence in next year’s elections to which, he said, Washington was prepared to contribute generously.

That could be accomplished if all parties renounce the use of force and links to the Khmer Rouge; halt acts of political intimidation; respect freedom of the press and the independence of the judiciary; de-politicise and garrison the military, disarm the rural militia and guarantee the safety of exiled political parties and personalities, he said.

“It’s one thing to have agreement in principle, including from Hun Sen, and another thing to have implementation on the ground,” he admitted.

To improve the climate in Phnom Penh, Washington also is exploring ways to “strengthen the capability of the U.N. Centre for Human Rights in Phnom Penh” by increasing its staff of monitors, according to Roth. Hun Sen demanded last month that the United Nations replace its human rights team, which is headed by former Amnesty International director Thomas Hammarberg, who issued a blistering report on the repression carried out against FUNCINPEC after the coup.

The U.N. Security Council rejected the demand in a resolution calling on the government to guarantee the the protection of human rights workers.