RIGHTS: U.N. Tries to Aid Return of Political Exiles to Cambodia

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 1997 (IPS) - U.N. officials believe that the de facto government in Cambodia intends to allow the safe return of some 20 politicians who have been out of the country since the Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh was ousted in July.

The United Nations is boosting the presence of its own staff in Cambodia, adding four people to a staff of nine U.N. regular and human rights officials in Phnom Penh, in order to help monitor security for the returning politicians. But officials add they are “fairly confident” that the de facto government, led by Second Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), will take the lead in ensuring the returnees’ safety.

“We felt that the authorities in Phnom Penh will have every interest in delivering on the guarantees that they have promised,” said U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto. Among those guarantees, he noted, is the provision of security arrangements to discourage any threats to any of the returning politicians – including, he contended, Prince Ranariddh himself.

U.N. officials are also prodding the Hun Sen government to make sure that any returning politicians will be able to contest the country’s next elections, which are planned for next May 23. The rulers in Phnom Penh have guaranteed that they can do so – but Hun Sen also insists that, if Ranariddh himself returns, he stands to face trial on charges of treason.

The criminal case against Ranariddh – based on CPP claims that he fostered ties with the rebel Khmer Rouge – has convinced the prince, son of Cambodian monarch King Norodom Sihanouk, that he is still not able to return.

Last week, Ranariddh said, he offered Hun Sen that he “would not insist to be re-instated to (his) functions as first prime minister” as long as all the criminal charges against him were dropped. “Unfortunately, my proposal has, once again, been rejected … It is clear, however, that Hun Sen and the regime of Phnom Penh opt for a military solution,” Ranariddh said.

In a recent statement, however, the de facto government repeated its promise that “all who want to participate in a legitimate manner in the political process can do so” and that all politicians “who oppose the government…can return without fear and re-enter political life.”

Some politicians have decided to test those promises. De Soto said that Sam Rainsy, leader of the opposition Khmer Nation Party, is returning this week, while several other exiled leaders – potentially including members of Ranariddh’s royalist FUNCINPEC party – are expected to arrive on Dec. 1.

“This is really a work in progress,” de Soto said of the unfolding plans for the returns. As part of the effort, he added, the United Nations was devising plans to accompany or monitor the returnees with its regular and human rights staff.

“Monitoring the return does not mean actually protecting the people who return,” de Soto cautioned. “It is the government in Phnom Penh which is responsible for the safety of these people.”

Despite Hun Sen’s promises, that is not the most reassuring arrangement. Thomas Hammarberg, the U.N. human rights representative in Cambodia, argued in a recent report that more than 40 FUNCINPEC officials were killed in custody following the July ouster of Ranariddh, which followed two days of turbulent street fighting in Phnom Penh.

Many nations – including the United States – have resisted calling the overthrow a ‘coup’. But Hammarberg’s report left no doubt that the killings and ongoing fighting were part of a CPP coup against FUNCINPEC, with which the formerly Vietnam-backed Hun Sen leadership formed a ‘co-government’ after 1993 elections were won by Ranariddh.

Both sides have accused the other of collaboration with the Khmer Rouge, which is blamed for the deaths of as many as two million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979, when its leader, Pol Pot, ruled in Phnom Penh.

Hun Sen – who eventually led the government which ousted Pol Pot – claimed that Ranariddh tried to forge an alliance with the Khmer Rouge leadership and brought arms illicitly into the capital prior to the July fighting, while FUNCINPEC in turn blames Hun Sen for bringing Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary back to Phnom Penh.

The divisions between the main parties are not the United Nations’ only concern. U.N. officials are already worried about whether the CPP will ensure a “level playing field” prior to the May elections or will use its current dominance to influence the system. On Wednesday, the U.N. General Assembly called for Cambodia to provide “free, fair and credible elections” by May.

U.N. monitors are supposed to organise an international team of election inspectors, as part of an arrangement worked out earlier this year by both Ranariddh and Hun Sen. However, some officials believe that the elections could even be postponed until later in 1998 because of the continuing tensions and military conflict in parts of Cambodia.