DATE=8/19/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CAMBODIA/UNITED NATIONS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-252913
BYLINE=JOE COCHRANE
DATELINE=PHNOM PENH
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A deadline is looming for Cambodia and the
United Nations to reach agreement on a joint
tribunal to prosecute members of the Khmer Rouge
"Killing Fields" regime. As Joe Cochrane reports
from Phnom Penh, a U-N team will arrive in
Cambodia next week to offer a deal, even though
its current proposal has already been rejected.
TEXT: After more than two years of drawn-out
debate among officials from Cambodia, the United
States, China and the United Nations, the issue
of finding justice for as many as two million
Khmer Rouge victims could be decided in the
coming days.
A delegation led by U-N Assistant Secretary-
General Ralph Zacklin will hold talks with senior
Cambodian leaders, including what is expected to
be a decisive meeting with Prime Minister Hun
Sen.
One western diplomat in Phnom Penh says the
meetings will likely be the final chance for the
United Nations to ensure an internationally
acceptable trial. The Cambodian government has
rejected an international tribunal abroad,
asserting its beleaguered courts can handle the
job.
The United Nations is proposing a joint tribunal
under Cambodian law to try senior Khmer Rouge
leaders for genocide, crimes against humanity and
war crimes.
Under the proposal, which was made public last
week, the chief prosecutor and a majority of the
five-member panel of judges would be from foreign
countries. The prosecutor, and not Cambodian
authorities, would determine who is indicted to
stand trial.
The disclosures were not received well by
Cambodia's leadership, prompting U-N officials in
Phnom Penh to do damage control to keep the
process from derailing.
Lakhan Mehrotra, the U-N Resident Representative
in Phnom Penh, insists the arriving delegation is
flexible and that the proposal is open to
negotiation.
Hun Sen has already rejected the U-N plan, as it
stands now. The Prime Minister said during an
interview with journalists earlier this week that
his government must be in control of the process
to ensure ex-Khmer Rouge members are not scared
back into the jungle to resume their civil war.
//Hun Sen act: in Khmer: establish fade-down//
He says the United Nations wants to come to
Cambodia and cooperate, but it wants to play a
majority role. The Prime Minister says it is
Cambodia that must play the lead role.
The Maoist-inspired Khmer Rouge is blamed for the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians
during its reign of terror in the late 1970s from
forced labor, disease, starvation and summary
executions. (SIGNED)
NEB/JC/FC
19-Aug-1999 03:38 AM LOC (19-Aug-1999 0738 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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