DATE=5/2/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CAMBODIA / KHMER ROUGE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261892
BYLINE=KAY JOHNSON
DATELINE=PHNOM PENH
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations' preliminary deal to
try leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge for
genocide appeared in jeopardy Tuesday. Prime
Minister Hun Sen raised doubts as to whether the
pact will pass the Cambodian parliament. Kay
Johnson reports from Phnom Penh.
TEXT: Just days after a breakthrough agreement,
Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed concern that
plans for a special court for leaders of the
1970's "killing fields" regime might fall apart
in Cambodia's parliament.
Hun Sen said Tuesday there is a "growing current"
in the National Assembly to expand the tribunal's
scope to include the entire 30 years of
Cambodia's 30-year civil war, rather than
limiting it to atrocities of the Khmer Rouge's
reign of terror from 1975 to 1979. That
expansion could kill the deal to try architects
of the policies that killed more than one million
Cambodians.
While he said he wants the United Nations
involved in the long-awaited trials, Hun Sen said
he cannot stop the National Assembly from making
changes to a draft law to be debated May 25.
Still, the National Assembly is not known for
contradicting Hun Sen's wishes. His Cambodian
People's Party holds a majority, and though there
have been reports of division within the party
over the tribunal, it would be unprecedented for
the parliament to reject a plan he supports.
Critics say that if the parliament changes the
plan, it will be because that is what Hun Sen
wants. He has been under increasing
international pressure to make a deal with the
United Nations on the trials, but has been
reluctant to give up control. Having the
parliament shoot down the plan could allow him to
save face while pointing to the independence of
Cambodia's democratic institutions.
The United Nations and Cambodia have been
wrangling for more than a year over how the
genocide trials should be run. There are fears
that Hun Sen wants to retain control so that he
can protect prominent Khmer Rouge defectors who
are now allied with his government. (Signed)
NEB/KJ/KL
02-May-2000 07:57 AM EDT (02-May-2000 1157 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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