DATE=9/18/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CAMBODIA / U-N / L-O
NUMBER=2-254041
BYLINE=KAY JOHNSON
DATELINE=PHNOM PENH
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has rejected a
proposed joint tribunal with the United Nations to
bring leaders of the Khmer Rouge movement to trial for
atrocities during their 1970's rule. As Kay Johnson
reports from Phnom Penh, the United Nations now faces
the difficult choice of whether to participate in the
trials, which some observers fear will be influenced
by present-day Cambodian politics
TEXT: Hun Sen's unyielding stance -- maintained in his
meeting this week with Secretary-General Kofi Annan --
is a key part in an ongoing debate over how to obtain
justice for the more than one million victims of the
Khmer Rouge.
The prime minister flatly rejects a proposed tribunal,
jointly run by U-N and Cambodian personnel. He says
any international involvement must be subject to the
authority of Cambodia's existing court system.
Hun Sen has laid out three options for the United
Nations: send international judges to work as guests
in Cambodian courts' dispatch legal experts to advise
but not participate in the trials; or pull out of the
process and let Cambodians handle the matter,
themselves.
Sources close to the negotiations say Secretary-
General Annan will be reluctant to sign on to a court
that the United Nations cannot control.
Observers fear Cambodia's present-day politics may
color the process -- handing out justice based on
political loyalties - if the tribunals are solely run
by Phnom Penh.
Several prominent leaders of the 1970's regime have
defected to the government and are now allies of Hun
Sen. So far, only two Khmer Rouge leaders have been
arrested. They are guerrilla holdout Ta Mok -- the
last major leader of the movement who had not defected
-- and the alleged torture chief, known as "Duch."
Another half-dozen former leaders of the regime are
allowed to live free in autonomous zones in northwest
Cambodia. Hun Sen has said no one will be immune
from prosecution. However, he also has warned that
bringing defectors to trial might restart Cambodia's
recently ended civil war.
It has been nearly 25 years since the ultra-Maoist
Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, emptying cities --
executing intellectuals and forcing most of the
population to work in slavery. (Signed)
NEB / wd
18-Sep-1999 04:54 AM LOC (18-Sep-1999 0854 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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