DATE=4/28/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CAMBODIA / TRIBUNAL (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261797
BYLINE=KAY JOHNSON
DATELINE=PHNOM PENH
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: U-S Senator John Kerry arrived in Phnom
Penh on Friday to help broker a deal between the
United Nations and Cambodia on genocide trials
for the Khmer Rouge. But as Kay Johnson reports
from Phnom Penh, Senator Kerry walked into a
controversial situation, as Cambodia abruptly
hardened its position.
TEXT: Senator John Kerry is a familiar figure in
Cambodia. The member of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee has long-standing relations
with Prime Minister Hun Sen. It was Mr. Kerry
who helped convince Mr. Hun Sen to allow foreign
judges in the proposed trials for Khmer Rouge
leaders accused of atrocities.
On his latest mission, he sounded upbeat and
urged Cambodia to finalize a deal quickly.
/// KERRY ACT 1 ///
My message is very simple. This process has
dragged on now for some period of time. It
is time now for Cambodia to show its good
faith and make a decision. And there's a
very, very narrow gap now that separates a
final agreement.
/// END ACT ///
Yet, even as Senator Kerry spoke, the Cambodian
government was distributing a letter from Mr. Hun
Sen to U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan that put
a new obstacle in the way of a tribunal deal.
In the letter, Mr. Hun Sen said any tribunal
would have to cover the entire 29 year period,
from 1979 to 1999, instead of just targeting
atrocities of the 1975 to 1979 Khmer Rouge
"killing fields" regime. The letter came as a
surprise, because Hun Sen had already agreed to a
time frame, limiting the trials to the years of
Khmer Rouge rule.
Cambodians have been waiting for 25 years for
justice for Khmer Rouge crimes. The radical
Communist regime wiped out more than a million
Cambodians -- a quarter of the population -- with
its harsh policies of forced labor.
/// REST OPT ///
The push for a tribunal has become a protracted
chess game between the Cambodia's current leaders
and the international community. It was unclear
whether Friday's visit would lead to any
breakthroughs, but according to Senator Kerry the
basic issues are the same.
/// KERRY ACT 2 ///
The country really has to make a decision.
Is it going to join the international
community of nations in a legitimate and
open way, or are we going to continue to
have great difficulties? And that's really
that choice that's on the table.
/// END ACT ///
With the sudden turnaround on Friday, the
negotiations over the Khmer Rouge trials seem to
be headed for more difficulty. (SIGNED)
NEB/KJ/FC/KL
28-Apr-2000 07:46 AM EDT (28-Apr-2000 1146 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
